iOS 18 Update: Missing Features and Security Concerns
As hundreds of millions of iPhone users update their devices to iOS 18, they find that this update is more about what’s missing than what has been released. The biggest non-AI update, RCS, brings rich messaging features to stock iPhone-to-Android messaging for the first time. However, issues remain, leaving chats with Android friends having security and other compromises.
Despite excitement around the new SMS v2 texting update, the experience remains inconsistent. Typing ellipses, read receipts, and sharing non-blurry images have been added, but problems persist due to network conditions and the generation of Android phones being messaged.
Security Concerns
More serious issues are hidden from sight. Apple’s messaging app remains stuck in the flip-phone era in some important ways, undermining message security. The version of RCS Apple is using is not encrypted, unlike iMessage, causing a different experience when texting iPhone friends versus Android users.
Apple largely blames limitations in the technology that meshes iPhone and Android messaging apps. However, Apple’s own choices also make chats with Android devices worse. A secure API between their messengers could have fully secured content, better competing with Signal, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger.
Cross-Platform Security
RCS has been popularized by Google’s managed push across the Android ecosystem, adding a fully encrypted layer. RCS itself doesn’t include full security, and it’s that limited protocol that Apple has adopted for iOS 18. Apple has said it will work with the mobile industry’s standard setters to push for an improved protocol, but that’s not coming anytime soon.
Apple’s iMessage update does not give users in Europe, Asia, or Africa any reason to switch from platforms like WhatsApp, Viber, or Telegram. In the US, where WhatsApp is growing, this update underpins Meta’s privacy campaign.
Telegram’s recent issues highlight the gap between its marketing and reality, as it doesn’t fully encrypt its messages, similar to RCS. Telegram facilitates anonymity for users, but recent events have left its users pondering the platform’s security.
All told, fully encrypted platforms like Signal and WhatsApp don’t have these issues. There is no compelling reason for users to switch to iMessage or Google Messages given the compromises and risks.
