Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
TL; Dr
- Millions of Japanese iPhone users have been texting over RCS for years.
- This is thanks to the +Message downloader app created by three major Japanese carriers.
- Apple is set to add RCS support to its Messages app later this year, bringing RCS to millions of iOS users outside of Japan.
Among certain demographics, there’s a shocking stigma attached to anyone who texts from an Android phone. This is because text messages between Android phones and iPhones are sent via SMS messages, which is not only insecure, but also lacks many features that many iPhone users are used to. To combat the stigma of the green bubble, Google insists that Apple “get the message,” ie. to add support for RCS messages, which it will finally do later this year. While the majority of iPhone users will experience RCS messaging for the first time with the upcoming iOS 18 update, millions are already (unknowingly) enjoying its capabilities.
RCS stands for Rich Communication Services and is considered by many in the telecommunications industry to be the successor to SMS/MMS. It is an advanced messaging protocol that extends character limits, supports higher-quality media sharing, enables group messaging, and enables the display of read receipts, among other features. These are considered essential features for any modern messaging service, which explains why some iPhone users hate texting Android users via SMS.
Because RCS is a protocol and not an application, however, there is no single client or server that handles every single message sent between devices. Individual carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon had to build their own RCS-compatible servers and their own RCS messaging apps, but those apps were never made available to iOS users. Although all three of these carriers have agreed to switch to Google’s Jibe server for RCS messaging, they have yet to make their apps available for iOS, meaning that only Android users can text other Android users via RCS. However, this is not the case in Japan.
Back in May 2018, three of Japan’s largest carriers, KDDI, NTT DOCOMO and SoftBank, launched the +Message app. +Message is a messaging app that comes pre-installed on many Android smartphones sold in Japan, but is also available for iPhone through the Apple App Store. According to the GSMA, the industry body that defines the RCS standard, the +Message app is built on the GSMA’s RCS standards, “enabling a feature-rich, secure alternative to SMS for human-to-human communication.”
The app supports many of the standard features enabled by RCS, such as read receipts, higher quality media sharing, file sharing, group messaging, and much higher character limits. It also, according to the GSMA, supports RCS Business Messaging (RBM), allowing Japanese users to “communicate directly with a range of brands and services, for example enabling them to engage with virtual assistants to book flights, buy goods and make restaurant reservations.”
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
Although Line is the most popular messaging app in Japan, +Message seems to be quite popular as well. The GSMA, citing market research firm Mobilesquared, predicted that the number of +Message active users will grow to 17.5 million by the end of 2020. In its Q2 2022 earnings call, Synchronoss Technologies, the company , which runs +Message’s backend, said the app is available on “over 25 million” devices in Japan. It’s not clear exactly how many of those 25 million devices run iOS, but given that Apple has ~52% market share in the country, according to IDC, it’s likely that several million iPhone users in Japan have sent or received an RCS message at least once.
Apple will introduce RCS to its Messages app later this year, enabling iPhone users outside of Japan to send text messages to Android users via RCS. iPhone users outside of Japan can technically now chat with their Android friends via RCS thanks to Beeper, but the app requires them to already own an Android phone, so it’s not the same as using a native client.
Meanwhile, Android users in Japan may soon be ditching the +Messages app for Google Messages, as Google announced late last month that it’s “working with KDDI and other partners to deliver an updated messaging experience in Japan with RCS in Google Messages. ” Google is likely to have struck a deal with the three Japanese carriers behind +Message to migrate Android users to Google Messages, which will soon support sending text messages to iPhone users via RCS after Apple introduces support for it in iOS 18.
Thanks to Discord user LaNonymous for the tip!
