After the first beta was iPhone-only, the second iOS 26.4 developer beta allows iPhones and Androids to trade fully encrypted RCS messages for the first time.
You may recall that in the first developer beta of iOS 26.4, Apple introduced end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messaging. You may also remember that it was extremely limited and only worked between iPhones with iMessage turned off.
That no longer applies. The second developer beta for iOS 26.4 now allows iPhone users to send E2EE RCS messages to Android users. Of course, there is a small caveat – Google users will need to have the latest version of Google Messages installed.
If the criteria are met, you can tell if your messages are encrypted by adding a small lock icon to the chat. And as a reminder, iMessage-based threads will also see a lock, although iMessage has had E2EE since its launch – back in 2011.
Again, Apple reiterated that it is only testing these features in beta versions of iOS 26.4. In addition, Apple says that E2EE is not available for all devices or carriers, although it does not mention specifics.
Don’t expect to see E2EE for RCS in March when Apple properly rolls out the update. Apple says it will be available “in a future iOS 26 software update.”