India, May 15 -- Tech majors Apple and Google have led a cross-industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to Rich Communication Services (RCS), making the cross-platform messaging format that replaces traditional SMS more secure and private.

"Starting today, end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging begins rolling out in beta for iPhone users running iOS 26.5 with supported carriers and Android users on the latest version of Google Messages," read a statement issued by Apple on May 11.

When RCS messages are end-to-end encrypted, they can't be read while they're sent between devices.

Users will know that a conversation is end-to-end encrypted when they see a new lock icon in their RCS chats.

Encryption is on by default and will be automat...