Recently, Apple took a jab at Google with a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,“ criticizing Chrome’s privacy issues while promoting Safari. Now, Google has fired back, mocking Apple’s iOS 18 update in a video.
The iOS 18 update introduced Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging, which allows iPhone users to communicate more seamlessly with Android users. However, it comes with some significant drawbacks, especially regarding security. Messages between iPhones using iMessage are encrypted end-to-end, but that’s not true with RCS. Encryption is absent when iPhone users send messages to Android users through RCS, leaving conversations less secure. If even one Android user is in a group chat, encryption is turned off for the entire chat.
Google and GSMA, the mobile industry’s standards body, have promised that full encryption for RCS is on the way, but it could take a while. For now, the Washington Post warns that RCS on iPhones leaves “chats with Android friends still [with] security and other compromises that Apple could have avoided.”
While the update improves cross-platform texting with features like high-quality images and typing indicators, it still lags behind messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal, which offer fully encrypted chats.
Google has long pressured Apple to adopt RCS, so it’s no surprise that they’ve taken the opportunity to ridicule Apple’s approach. Their latest Pixel ad pokes fun at Apple’s delays and incomplete features, hinting at the significant work left to be done.
For now, Apple users concerned about privacy might want to rely on more secure apps like WhatsApp or Signal. Apple and Google are working on a solution, but it will take time, as the RCS standard needs to be upgraded to address these issues.
