iOS 18.1 to enable RCS for iPhone users in China

With iOS 18, Apple has finally introduced support for Rich Communications Services, or RCS, to the iPhone. As we’ve been covering since the first betas, the rollout depends on the carriers working with Apple to enable RCS for their customers. Soon, RCS will be available to iPhone users in China as well.

Apple and carriers gearing up to enable RCS on iPhone in China

As seen by 9to5Mac, iOS 18.1 beta 4 comes with new carrier bundles that enable RCS for the main Chinese mobile carriers. This includes China Unicom, China Telecom, and China Mobile. Chinese iPhone users running the latest beta should see the toggle to enable RCS after installing the latest beta. Of course, this requires using a SIM card from one of the compatible carriers.

The main US carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, already provide RCS support for iPhone users. The same applies to some carriers in Canada and Europe. However, the list of supported carriers is still short.

In theory, carriers no longer need to wait for new versions of iOS to ship updated carrier bundles with RCS support for iPhone. However, it’s understandable that carriers want to test the feature in beta versions before making it available to everyone.

With RCS, iPhone users can send rich messages with audio and larger media files to Android users. RCS also has read receipts, something that was previously exclusive to iMessage and other instant messaging apps. Although RCS messages still have green bubbles, the Messages app will show the label “Text Message – RCS” in the conversation.

If you’ve already updated your iPhone to iOS 18, you can enable RCS by going to Settings > Apps > Messages. However, if you don’t see this option, it’s likely that your carrier doesn’t support RCS on iPhones yet. Apple has published a list of carriers that already support RCS on iPhone.

iOS 18 is now available to download and requires an iPhone XR or later. You can update your iPhone by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

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