According to a report, these updated settings would allow mobile carriers to turn E2EE on or off for RCS messages. This development follows Apple’s earlier decision to support RCS, a feature that depends heavily on carrier implementation. Apple is expected to roll out the stable version of iOS 26.3 to all users by the end of January.
The GSMA requires end-to-end encryption to be enabled by default wherever local laws allow, and users must be able to view their encryption status. The presence of these settings in iOS 26.3 Beta 2 suggests Apple is laying the technical foundation for encrypted RCS messaging.
Once implemented, E2EE would ensure that RCS messages, along with shared media and documents, remain private and inaccessible to third parties, including service providers. This would bring RCS much closer to iMessage in terms of privacy.
RCS already supports features such as read receipts, typing indicators, emoji reactions, and higher-quality media sharing, helping bridge the gap between SMS and iMessage when messaging Android users. Apple previously announced plans to support encrypted RCS messages in collaboration with the GSMA in March 2025, based on the Universal Profile 3.0 standard, but the feature has not yet been enabled in iOS 26.