Apple's iPhones are getting RCS to appease China, report claims

Apple announced last year that it would be bringing RCS messaging to the iPhone in 2024 and tat's great news, but it turns out that the reason behind it might not be the reason that we had all assumed.

RCS messaging is a rich messaging format that effectively replaces SMS and allows for iMessage-like read states, rich media, and more. It's also something that Androidd devices support and it was assumed that Apple's decision to add RCS support was an attempt to appears the European Commission and impending Digital Markets Act rules that might require iMessage be opened up to competing services. However, with the EC now confirming that iMessage won't be designated as a gatekeeper for DMA purposes, it appears that there was another reason for Apple to choose to bring RCS to the iPhone.

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That reason, according to Apple watcher and well-connected blogger John Gruber, is China.

Writing in a post over the weekend Gruber said that everyone he had spoken to had suggested that it was China that was the driving force behind Apple's switch to supporting RCS on the iPhone, not the European Commission or the DMA.

The situation, it seems, is that China has a new law that requires all 5G devices have support RCS in order to receive the certification required in order for them to be sold in the country. With that in mind, it's perhaps no surprise that Apple would bring RCS to the iPhone.

Gruber notes that RCS doesn't have any encryption built-in currently and that Chinese officials have no problem with that - something that won't be a surprise given the country's position on such things.