Blue and green bubbles aside, texting your Android friends has never been safer. Discover the "lock" icon that just changed the way we message forever.

Encryption means your messages are private, but they may still not be entirely safe.

Apple and Google start rolling out end-to-end encrypted RCS chats in beta for iPhone owners and Android phone users. Patrick Holland Managing Editor As Managing Editor, I lead CNET's mobile team, ...

Apple says it will add support for a new Rich Communication Services (RCS) specification that includes end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for messages sent over the protocol in future software updates. "End ...

The latest Google Messages beta supports MLS encryption, RCS’s next step toward E2EE interoperability across apps and platforms. We managed to enable MLS for one-on-one RCS conversations in Google ...

Apple joined the RCS bandwagon last year, giving its users the ability to exchange rich text messages with their Android counterparts. The only problem? Those messages are not encrypted, exposing them ...

Apple has released the latest iOS 26.5 beta, and it brings a familiar feature to the Messages app as the RCS technology sees the return of end-to-end encryption. Apple Messages' RCS Sees End-to-End ...

Apple may be close to implementing encryption for RCS messages. The signs of this were reportedly discovered in iOS 26.3 Beta 2. This will finally enable encrypted messaging between Android and Apple ...

Back in March, cross-platform end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS was announced, and Google Messages is beginning to test the new Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol. Universal Profile 3.0 adds ...

WhatsApp on App Store displayed on a phone screen and WhatsApp logo displayed on a screen in the background are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on Auguust 13, 2023. (Photo by ...

There has now been a change spotted on Google Messages, which saw the "No Encryption" logo gone from under each chat sent to Apple's iPhone RCS, indicating that end-to-end encryption may arrive soon.

Instagram has officially pulled end-to-end encryption (e2ee) for direct messages. The privacy feature, which prevents messages from being intercepted and read in transit between users, was previously ...