Apple has released the iOS 26.5 release candidate build for developers, and this means two things: the public release is coming very soon (either tomorrow or within a few days, next week tops), and there’s an official changelog from Apple now.
This reveals what has been rumored so far: with iOS 26.5, Apple is adding support for end-to-end encryption in RCS messaging. There are caveats for this, however.
First, the feature will be in beta. Then, it’s important to note that end-to-end RCS encryption will only be “available with supported carriers”, and will “roll out over time”. So it won’t be an instant flip of the switch sort of thing once iOS 26.5 arrives. Still, it’s on the way.
And when it does roll out, Android devices will be able to communicate with iPhones via RCS in an end-to-end encrypted fashion.