Google thought Apple’s introduction of RCS (Rich Communication Services) would solve everything, but the messaging protocol is still far behind iMessage due to a lack of carrier support, device support and encryption.
According to a list from Foxt Dev, RCS support is limited to a few popular carriers in the US, Canada, Spain, UK, Germany, Belgium and France – apart from these countries, there is no support whatsoever for RCS on the iPhone.
In the UK, you need to be on EE to benefit from it meaning the likes of Vodafone, O2 and Three are yet to get it though Apple lists them as supporting the feature.
Although some operators in selected countries enable RCS, it is far from a global or universal messaging protocol. Google, for example, uses its own implementation and not the standard developed by the GSMA.
This article originally appeared on our sister publication Macworld Sweden and was translated and adapted from Swedish.
