One of the biggest pain points in texting between iOS and Android may finally be over. Even after that Apple allowed the RCS protocol in messages between iOS and Android, users still experienced the dreaded translating to “this sucks” when posting an emoji response. Now we can all comment with emojis to our heart’s content, no matter what phone you use, as long as RCS works.
Apple added the ability to use any emoji as ‘Tapback’ in Messages with iOS 18, and after trying it out, it seems like all those emojis are now responding to messages, just as God intended. Gizmodo tested it on several phones and found that as long as the message uses RCS, you should be able to both receive and send emoji responses. It works with iPhones running iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2 beta. The edge was first informed of the news, but neither Apple nor Google have claimed credit yet.
However, iPhone users still have limited control over whether messages are sent as RCS or SMS. Personally, I experience issues with messages randomly switching between the two, even within the same thread. So while message compatibility has improved significantly, I wouldn’t call this latest change a panacea for all lingering problems.
© Screenshot: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo 
© Screenshot: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo 
© Screenshot: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
Apple previously clarified that it only supports the most basic version of RCS in iOS 18. However, emoji reactions only work on RCS version 2.7, not on the RCS Universal Profile. Either Apple updated the protocol without notifying anyone, or Google quietly made a change. The latter seems more likely, as The Verge pointed out that RCS 2.7 should also give users the ability to edit sent messages – a feature that is still not available in the current version.
Google has a track record in that area. It before got basic Tapback responds to work properly in 2021 between Messages and iMessages. You’d think Google would be more forthcoming about this change how long he campaigned of overt, antagonistic messages for Apple to adopt the RCS protocol.
Let’s not forget that it wasn’t competition between tech companies that resulted in RCS messages, but… pressure from the European Union. That’s why Apple barely commented on the change when it happened announced support for the messaging protocol in June.
RCS between iOS and Android is still not perfect. Personally, I find that my texts occasionally revert to SMS for no apparent reason. However, since iOS 18, my messages with family members are generally much better, even though the world remains divided between green and blue bubbles.
Maybe one day, far in the future, we’ll have truly encrypted messages between iOS and Android. However, it seems like a dream: for a while, so did RCS compatibility between the two largest phone ecosystems.
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