Quick Info
  • Apple announced support for RCS in iOS 18.
  • With RCS messaging, users can enjoy features like Read Receipts, typing indicators, emoji tapbacks, and more with Android users.
  • Not all carriers support RCS currently, but you can easily check if your carrier supports it from Settings.

To check if your carrier supports RCS messaging without diving into message settings, follow these steps.

  1. On your iPhone running iOS 18, open the Settings app.
  2. Then, go to 'General'.
  3. Tap on 'About'.
  1. Then, go to the option for 'Carrier' and tap on it.
  2. It'll change to show 'IMS Status'. If your carrier supports RCS, then it'll say 'Voice, SMS & RCS'. Otherwise, it'll only say 'Voice & SMS'.

Things to know:

  • If your carrier does support RCS, you can enable it by going to Settings > Apps > Messages and turn on the toggle for 'RCS Messaging' under Text Messaging.
  • Your text field will also show RCS instead of SMS when messaging someone where RCS is supported.
  • Almost all major carriers in the US, like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile support RCS on iPhones running iOS 18 or later. Bell in Canada, Telefonica in Spain, and O2 in Germany also support RCS on iPhones running iOS 18 or later.
  • If you've just installed iOS 18, you might need to wait for a day or two before RCS starts working for your iPhone as it can take some time for provisioning codes to be sent to your phone.
  • If it's been well over 48 hours and RCS is still not working, try restarting your phone.