U.S. carriers have enabled RCS support for iPhone users on the iOS 18 beta. If you’re running the beta on your iPhone, and you want to try RCS messaging, here’s how to turn it on.
According to iOS 18 beta users in the United States, RCS support is now live which means iPhone users can now send and receive RCS messages.
RCS (Rich Communication Services) messages bring improved media and delivery as well as read receipts for those who don’t use iMessage.
If you want to give it a shot, you can enable RCS support on your iPhone by heading into Settings > Apps > Messages. There, you’ll see a toggle to turn on.
If you don’t see an RCS toggle, it means your carrier hasn’t released support for RCS messaging yet.
iOS 18 beta/iPhone users on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon should have access right now. iPhone users on MVNO’s and smaller regional carriers will have to wait for access.
Other improvements iPhone users will see with RCS include:
- Better group chat performance
- Audio messages
- Real-time typing bubbles
- Support for higher resolution photos and videos
- Support for larger file sizes and file sharing
iOS 18 is currently available to developers and Apple will release a public version of the beta in July.
