Joe Maring / Digital Trends
Apple’sWWDC 2024keynote has come and gone . As we anticipated , it was abigone . From lots of UI changes in Io 18 to Apple ’s big bet on AI with Apple Intelligence , it ’s safe to say that this yr ’s conference was one of the most memorable .
Of the 1 hour and 47 minute keynote , Apple spend 15 minutes let the cat out of the bag about iOS 18 . That does n’t sound like a deal of time , but the caller was going through new features rapidly and covered a lot of ground.iOS 18 let in some pretty major changesfor the iPhone and one of the biggest — RCS — was hardly mentioned .
Apple’s weird RCS announcement
Yes , it ’s official . After announcing plans last Novemberto add RCS to the iPhone , Apple confirmed today that RCS is fare to your iPhone as part of iOS 18 . And it ’s a bragging deal ! RCS will bring many iMessage - alike features to your conversation with people who have Android phones . That means high - lineament image / video share-out , better radical New World chat , typewrite index , read receipts , and more . It ’s not an understatement to say it ’s one of the biggest new iPhone features in years — despite how long overdue it is .
But I would n’t find fault you if you miss this composition of news . Why ? Because Apple barely said anything about it .
Apple did n’t mention RCS until the very end of the iOS 18 segment , with Craig Federighi quickly mentioning “ RCS messaging support ” at the very remainder of it . And that was all Apple had to say — just those three wrangle . Nothing more . It ’s a similar matter inthe iOS 18 press release . Apple writes , “ When message contacts who do not have an Apple gadget , the Messages app now supports RCS for rich media and more true group electronic messaging compared to SMS and MMS . ” That ’s more helpful , but there ’s no further explanation about what RCS features are supported , what RCS messaging will look like , etc .
We have it away it ’s make out , but that ’s quite literally it .
We need better messaging than this
On the one script , I get it . Apple is only append RCS to the iPhonebecause the European Union forced its manus to . If it were up to Apple , this probably never would have happened . But it is , and it ’s an authoritative new feature Apple needs to say its drug user about in a right manner .
Did RCS need a immense , long - wind section during this keynote ? No , but we perfectly should have gotten more than just three words . We should have seen what it see like and been given a proper account about how it works and what this mean for citizenry ’s text conversation with non - iPhone users .
I understand Apple not wanting to beam a giant spotlight on a feature film it was likely pressure into tot . However , the logical thinking for RCS being added to iOS 18 does n’t matter . All that matters is that this is a major fresh feature film for iPhone users everywhere , and they should be told about it in a clear , verbatim personal manner — not in a way that make it look like Apple is trying to sweep the news under the rug .
When iOS 18 arrives on iPhones later this fall , RCS is going to be a braggy good deal , whether Apple likes it or not . You and I may interpret how important this is and already have an thought of how it will crop , but hoi polloi not obsessed with text messaging protocols may not have a clue aboutwhat RCS is , what it does , or why they should care about it . It ’s up to Apple to verify those multitude sleep with how to practice RCS and are aware of all the features it will add to their iPhone .
If WWDC 2024 was n’t the time Apple require to provide that electronic messaging , fine . But I sure enough hope it does finally provide a proper account and introduction to the world of RCS on the iPhone . Maybe it will be later this summertime when the iOS 18 public Beta become useable . peradventure we ’ll get one alongside the iPhone 16 announcement later this class . Maybe we wo n’t get one at all ! I sure enough trust that ’s not the case , but consider how Apple surround around RCS during its WWDC 2024 tonic , I would n’t be shocked if that happened .
Personally , I ca n’t await to get RCS on my iPhone . For my parents and other folk members who have Android phones , it ’s going to make text conversation with them infinitely better than they are today . I just go for Apple embraces this change and accepts how large of a peck it is rather than brush it off like it ’s nothing at all .
