- Apple has fixed an issue with message reactions when texting on RCS.
- Until now, message reactions from Android users used to appear as separate messages, which has now been resolved.
- This fix comes with RCS Universal Profile 2.7 which also brings support for message editing.
After coming under pressure from China and the EU, Apple finally caved and announced that iOS 18 will come with basic support for RCS back in WWDC 2024. This was a big moment, as it solved a lot of issues Android users faced when messaging their iOS buddies. However, even after its release, one problem remained. That was, message reactions didn’t work properly on the Apple side of RCS.
This is how it used to work until now. When someone reacts to your message on Android, it shows up as a separate emoji to your text. So if you react to “I just got a promotion” with a ❤️ on Android. The ❤️ shows as another message.
But it looks like it’s been quietly fixed with the new RCS Universal Profile 2.7 which comes with Emoji reactions and message editing features. Folks at The Verge tried this out for themselves. As you can see in the attached screenshot, reactions from Android devices now show up attached to the message itself, similar to reactions on iMessage.
This does not fix the green bubble and blue bubble problem between the ecosystems. But it does bring a more cohesive experience between the two. Which was the intention of adopting RCS in the first place. The editing feature we mentioned above should also arrive soon on iPhones and other Apple devices. That should further enhance the messaging experience between Apple and Android devices without compromising on essential features.
If you want to try out RCS messaging, you need to first Enable RCS on iPhone. In case RCS isn’t working on your device, you may need to tweak some settings. You can check out our RCS on iOS 18 Not Working Fixes guide to get it to work on your iPhone.
