Apple has begun testing end-to-end encrypted Rich Communication Services (RCS) messages in a recently released developer beta of iOS 26.4.

The company said the initial implementation introduces testing of encrypted RCS messaging, though for now the feature is limited to communication between Apple devices. 

Apple noted that encryption is “not yet testable with other platforms” and confirmed that the functionality will not be included in the public release of iOS 26.4. Instead, fully supported encrypted RCS messaging is expected to arrive in a future software update.

RCS is widely regarded as a successor to traditional SMS and MMS messaging, offering improved media sharing, typing indicators and read receipts. While Apple adopted RCS support to enhance messaging between iPhone and Android users, the absence of cross-platform end-to-end encryption has remained a notable gap.