iPhone and Android Users Can Now Text Each Other With Full Encryption

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Apple and Google have rolled out end-to-end encryption for messages sent between iPhone and Android devices, closing a long-standing privacy gap for billions of people who text across the two platforms.

The feature became available on Monday, rolling out in beta for iPhone users running iOS 26.5 and Android users on the latest version of Google Messages. It works through RCS a modern messaging standard that has been replacing traditional SMS in recent years.

Encryption is turned on by default, so users do not need to switch anything on manually. When a conversation is encrypted, a small lock icon appears in the chat.

For the feature to work, both the sender and the receiver must be using a carrier that supports the latest version of RCS. Apple has published a list of supported carriers on its website, and that list is expected to grow over time.

What this means in practice is that messages sent between an iPhone and an Android phone can no longer be intercepted and read by a third party not by carriers, not by hackers, and not by anyone else in between.

Billions of messages are sent between iPhone and Android users every day. Until now, none of them were protected. Carriers could see them, and so could anyone with access to carrier infrastructure.

Apps like WhatsApp and Signal have offered this kind of protection for years, but those require both people to download the same app. This update means that, for the first time, two people on different phone systems can have a fully encrypted conversation without needing a third-party app.

For people across Africa, where WhatsApp is widely used partly because of its security and reliability, this development means the default messaging apps on both iPhone and Android are now catching up in terms of privacy protection.

Apple worked with Google and the GSM Association the body that sets global mobile standards to bring encryption to RCS. The feature is built on a protocol called Messaging Layer Security and is part of RCS Universal Profile 3.0.

Apple first announced plans to add encryption to RCS messages back in March 2025. Testing began in an earlier iOS beta but was pulled before release. It returned in the iOS 26.5 beta and has now shipped to the public.

The update is a significant step, but cross-platform texting still has some limits. iPhone users currently cannot unsend messages or reply to specific threads in Android conversations, and message editing still only works on Android.

Both Apple and Google have described the rollout as a beta, meaning it will expand gradually as more carriers come on board.