Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has reportedly started enabling Rich Communication Services or RCS on its latest iOS 18 beta, according to user reports on social media.

What Happened: On Tuesday, Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman took to X, formerly Twitter, "RCS is now working in iOS 18. Seeing a read receipt for a green bubble is jarring."

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At the WWDC 2024, Apple announced that with iOS 18 the company now officially supports RCS, but the feature was not available to beta users until now. With RCS, iPhone users can send rich messages, including audio and larger media files, to Android users. The Messages app will label these as "Text Message – RCS".

The first beta of iOS 18, released earlier this month, showed no signs of RCS. However, the second beta, released on Monday, added a new RCS toggle in the Settings app for some users, causing confusion among beta testers, reported 9to5Mac.

Other users on social also reported that RCS is starting to work for them on iOS 18 Beta 2, complete with typing indicators, read receipts, and reactions.

Why It Matters: RCS support on the iPhone depends on Apple collaborating with carrier partners to update their bundles shipped with iOS.

Currently, only a few carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S. have updated their carrier bundles to support RCS on the iPhone, the report noted.

While more carriers may enable RCS support on the iPhone by September, when iOS 18 will be publicly available, most beta users likely won't be able to test the new feature. A public beta of iOS 18 will be available next month.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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