It Will Soon Be Possible to Securely Text Between iPhone and Android

iPhone and Android haven’t always played nice. You might know that texts between two iPhones or two Androids has traditionally been a smooth experience, but texting between one and the other can be difficult—especially when it comes to group chats. That’s because, for years, Apple refused to support RCS, the modern text message protocol many Android devices use. Instead, it opted to route iPhone to Android texts through SMS, an outdated protocol that lacks many modern features.

That changed in recent years. Apple now supports RCS, which is why group chats between iPhone and Android users isn’t always a mess these days, and why photos and videos can be sent in high quality between the two devices. It isn’t always perfect: Some Androids still default to SMS, so the issues persist. But if your Android device, messaging app, and carrier support RCS, your texting experience will be better with iPhones.

Well, in every way but one. One of RCS’ biggest perks over SMS is in security. RCS support end-to-end encryption, which means your messages can only be read by who you’re texting directly. If someone tried to intercept the message, they’d only see a jumble of code. SMS, on the other hand, can be stolen and read as-is, making RCS a much more secure messaging protocol.

Unfortunately, even after Apple started supported RCS, it didn’t support end-to-end encryption for the protocol. The overall experience might be better, but the security is still the same as it was on SMS. If you have anything sensitive to send, like your Social Security number or confidential business info, you’re better off saving that for an encrypted chat app, like Signal.

Soon, this won’t be the case. Apple is currently testing end-to-end encryption for RCS, though there is no clear timeline for when it will roll out. Beta testers can send encrypted RCS messages to Android users, but Apple hasn’t announced when the feature will open up to everyone. Still, it’s great news: Some time soon, you can text Android users over RCS with as much security as iMessage, Signal, or any other messaging platform that is end-to-end encrypted by default.