The Battle for Rich Communication: Google’s Quest for RCS Integration in iPhones

Introduction

At the Google I/O 2023, a Google executive made a poignant comment concerning messaging issues between Android and iPhone users. In his statement, he affirmed Google’s commitment to working with Apple to improve the texting experience on both platforms. Their chosen tool? The Rich Communication Services (RCS), a protocol designed to send rich messages, including images, videos, emojis, or voice messages. RCS is meant to replace the limited and outdated SMS and is already available on Android devices. However, iPhones remain bereft of this advanced messaging feature.

The RCS Program

The Rich Communication Services (RCS) program is an initiative by the GSMA association, a response from global telecom operators to declining revenues and competition from “OverTheTop” (OTT) service providers like Viber, Whatsapp, and more. Unlike these OTT services with gated communities, RCS is a universal standard, making it interoperable across multiple service providers.

Google has made numerous attempts to convince Apple to integrate RCS into its messaging service, with little success. In August 2022, Google created a dedicated website calling on Apple to adopt RCS, but the Cupertino-based company remained committed to providing users with iMessage and standard SMS as default services. However, Google continues to challenge this stance, arguing that its goal is to improve the Android user experience by providing more communication tools.

At Google I/O, Google executive Sameer Samat asserted, “When you’re texting in a group chat, you shouldn’t have to worry about whether everyone’s using the same type of phone.” This comment elicited some laughter and applause from the audience. Samat added, “Sending high-quality images and videos, keystroke notifications, and end-to-end encryption should all work.”

“We hope all mobile operating systems get the message and adopt RCS,” he added, prompting the crowd to cheer. “So we can all find each other in the group chat, regardless of the device we use.”

The Architectural Framework of RCS and IMS

RCS services use the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) as the underlying architecture with an RCS stack implemented in an Android core service that provides a high-level user interface. The IP Multimedia Subsystem, a network framework for carrying multimedia traffic, was designed primarily under the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

The IMS is based on the 3GPP SIP and IETF IP protocols, enabling monitoring and billing of the services provided by the network operator/service provider. It is a migration framework of the SCs, circuits from the closed domain network to the IP packets of the closed domain network, and is therefore considered an all-IP network.

The IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem is a collection of different functions, linked by standardized interfaces, grouped together to form an IMS administrative network. It includes the Home Subscription Server (HSS), a database for storing customer subscription profiles, and Application Servers (AS) — application functionality associated with RCS-specific applications.

The Stack Concept

RCS aims to provide interoperable multimedia services to customers, regardless of the service provider’s underlying network, which are fully integrated into RCS-enabled devices. Several services under the RCS framework include one-to-one chat, group chat, content sharing services, social presence, geolocation service, and enriched phone book.

RCS is a stack based on the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), which offers services to registered subscribers and uses SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to initiate, terminate, and control multimedia sessions. RCS clients are typically configured to use SI instances, sending SIP requests to the server during the registration process.

Currently, RCS developers are working on prototypes with a full RCS-enabled Android client. The RCS stack is an open-source implementation of the Rich Communication Suite standards for the Google Android 2.x platform. This implementation conforms to the GSMA RCS 1.1 standards. The RCS stack provides RCS services in the background on an Android client. At the top of the stack, an RCS API is used by applications (native address book, mail, dialer applications or any other third-party application). The RCS API makes it possible to implement an RCS application by hiding the complexity of the underlying RCS protocols.

Google’s Campaign for RCS

Google’s quest to convince Apple to adopt the RCS messaging standard has been persistent and public. Analysts opine that if Apple were to adopt RCS, it would address the long-standing complaints from Android and iPhone users regarding texting, particularly blurry or compressed videos and photos. This would also eliminate messages that specify an iPhone user’s emoji reaction to a message.

In August, Google launched its #GetTheMessage campaign, urging Apple to adopt the RCS messaging standard to enhance text exchanges between Android and iPhones. Samat noted that over 800 million people were currently using the RCS standard, a figure expected to reach one billion by year-end.

“From Google’s perspective, we believe that all Android users should have access to messaging over Wi-Fi,” stated Sanaz Ahari, head of Android and corporate communications at Google. Ahari added that Apple and Android had been involved in “a lot of conversations.”

Since launching Google’s campaign to get Apple to adopt RCS, the company has been openly critical of Apple. They accused iPhones of being “stuck in the 1990s” on the 30th anniversary of SMS and erected a New Year’s billboard calling on Apple to fix “pixelated” photos and videos in text messages.

Apple’s Stance on RCS

Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously said that he doesn’t get much feedback from iPhone users about fixing text messages between their phones and Androids. When asked about the difficulties of video sending and receiving between an iPhone and an Android phone, Cook replied humorously: “Buy your mom an iPhone.” Apple’s messaging platform and ‘blue bubbles’ in group chats, compared to Android’s green bubbles, are seen as a unique selling point that convinces some to switch to iPhone and keeps users locked into the ecosystem.

Legal documents from a 2021 lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games further suggested Apple’s reluctance towards adopting RCS. “The first most difficult reason to leave the Apple universe is iMessage… iMessage amounts to serious confinement,” a former Apple employee said in 2016, according to a court document. “iMessage to Android transfer will do us more harm than good,” an Apple executive replied.

Conclusion

The battle for rich communication between the two tech giants continues, with Google pushing for the adoption of RCS and Apple maintaining its allegiance to iMessage. While Google argues for seamless communication, regardless of device, Apple appears to prioritize the unique features of its messaging platform as a key differentiator.

The future of messaging may very well depend on the outcome of this debate. If Apple were to integrate RCS, it would indeed revolutionize the messaging experience across platforms, leading to more streamlined and richer communication. However, if Apple remains steadfast in its resistance, the divide between Android and iPhone users may continue, with third-party apps providing the only common ground for cross-platform communication.

As technology evolves and user needs change, it remains to be seen how this saga will play out. For now, the world watches as two tech giants joust in the arena of messaging services, each with their own vision of what the future of communication should look like.