Apple Shows Love to Android Users: Message Reactions Finally Display Correctly!

Apple Shows Love to Android Users: Message Reactions Finally Display Correctly!Now, when Android users react to RCS messages from iOS users, the chosen emoji will display alongside the message bubble on iOS, instead of the old-fashioned separate row display. This means that iPhone users running iOS 18

Apple Shows Love to Android Users: Message Reactions Finally Display Correctly!

Now, when Android users react to RCS messages from iOS users, the chosen emoji will display alongside the message bubble on iOS, instead of the old-fashioned separate row display. This means that iPhone users running iOS 18.1 and various Android phones can now display reactions as expected.

This change came suddenly and surprisingly. When RCS was first widely launched on iOS in September, Android users' message reactions still didn't display correctly on iPhones, even though they worked in reverse. It's unclear when this change happened or whether Google or Apple made the adjustment to make it happen.

We reached out to both companies for comment but received no response before publication. However, Apple's quiet improvement to RCS messaging is surprising. For years, Apple ignored Google's calls for the company to adopt the standard, ultimately complying only under pressure from both China and the European Union.

iOS 18 included baseline support for RCS. In the Messages app, Apple formally supports the basic RCS standard, the RCS Universal Profile. Emoji reaction support is part of RCS version 2.7, which should also include the ability to edit sent messages, but we cant see that feature implemented on iOS.

Of course, Apple will keep as many exclusive features as possible for its blue bubble iMessage service at least until its forced to change.

This improvement to RCS messages by Apple is being seen by many as a sign of Apple showing love to Android users. It indicates that Apple is working to improve its cross-platform messaging experience and offer users a more consistent communication experience. However, we still need to see if Apple will further enhance its support for RCS, such as providing the ability to edit sent messages.