Can You Get RCS Messages on Your iPhone? Here’s How to Find Out and Enable Them in iOS 18

With iOS 18 officially launching this week, the iPhone operating system update is bringing a slew of new features, including support for Rich Communications Services (RCS) in the Messages app.

However, just because your iPhone can now send RCS messages doesn’t mean your carrier will support this capability. RCS must be enabled by your carrier.

RCS is meant to be a replacement for SMS and MMS, which have become obsolete. Unlike Apple’s iMessage, RCS is designed to work within the standard text messaging app while also offering read receipts and live typing indicators.

With iPhones, Apple owners can finally send high-quality images and videos to Android users and vice versa via RCS messages instead of the heavily compressed images that are currently used. Messages from Android to iOS will still have a green bubble, but the Messages app will now show “Text Message – RCS” in the feed.

Fortunately, Apple has a list on its wireless carrier support page that shows which carriers support RCS on your iPhone.

In the U.S., the three largest carriers—AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon—have supported RCS since day one. But when you get to the smaller carriers, it’s all in their own way. Some, like Metro and US Cellular operated by T-Mobile, support RCS, but others, like Mint Mobile and Ryan Reynold’s Boost Mobile, don’t currently support RCS.

Outside the US, some carriers in Canada, Europe, and Asia provide RCS support, but it is not universal. In general, the larger carriers seem to offer RCS.

How to Get RCS Messages on Your iPhone

ios 18 messages with rcs support showing tapback

(Photo source: Future)

To use RCS messaging, you need to update your iPhone to iOS 18. Once you have done that, you can enable RCS by following these steps:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Apps.
3. Click on Messages
4. Select RCS Messaging under Text Messaging
5. Now tap on the toggle next to RCS Messages

You should see RCS as an option. If you don’t see it, your carrier doesn’t support RCS yet.

Additionally, your carrier must send out an update that enables support on your iPhone. Over the past few months, these carrier updates have only appeared in new iOS 18 beta builds. If RCS isn’t available yet, you may need to wait for a carrier update. Otherwise, more carriers should add RCS support in the coming months.

The iOS 18 update is available to download right now if you have an iPhone XR or later. If you haven’t updated yet, you can do so by going to Settings — General — Software Update.