RCS is now available in iOS 18 beta 2, but only through select US carriers.
The second developer beta of iOS 18 introduced the RCS toggle in Messages, and RCS is now available to users running the beta on select US carriers.
With the introduction of RCS support from Apple and carriers, users can now send rich text messages with audio, read receipts, and media files to devices running Android. Users of social media platform X discovered the feature’s limited availability early Tuesday.
iOS 18 beta 2 only includes updated carrier bundles from the three major U.S. carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon), so iPhone users will only be able to use RCS on those three networks for the time being. If your carrier supports RCS on your iPhone, you can enable it by going to Settings > Apps > Messages and toggling the RCS option.
MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) and smaller carriers do not seem to support this feature yet. That’s likely to change in the near future as iOS 18 gets closer to its final release version, which is expected to debut in September 2024.
