RCS or Rich Communication Services is among the most secure forms of text messaging available today, with modern encryption built in by default. While RCS is the norm for most Android phones, Apple has historically resisted this more secure form of messaging. Google has tried to force the iPhone maker into adopting RCS through quirky campaigns, explaining why the company needs to finally make the switch. In its latest attempt toward convincing Apple to make the push, Google has published a detailed infographic filled with relevant stats, elaborating on the security risks involved with the older text messaging standard (SMS), among other key issues.

In a post on the Google Security Blog, the company says that “over 500 Android device manufacturers” are on board with the RCS standard while also pointing out that RCS is enabled by default on Google Messages. A whitepaper by an independent testing and safety certification body, Dekra goes into further detail about the shortfalls of SMS, such as being vulnerable to SMS spoofing and interception from malicious actors.

The infographic developed by YouGov follows up on Google’s recent advertisement satirizing Apple’s product launches with a fictional product called iPager. But it takes a slightly different approach from some of Google’s pro-RCS campaigns in the past.

To drive home the point about the weaknesses of the older messaging standard even further, the Google Security Blog cites research (paywalled) by The Association for Computing Machinery on the downsides of SMS from a security standpoint, with the lack of encryption being a key issue. It’s worth pointing out that Google’s blog post doesn’t mention Apple by name even once, though it’s pretty obvious to most people at this point that Apple is the only brand that’s resisting the adoption of RCS messaging.

As a quick refresher, while iPhone-to-iPhone chats (iMessage) are end-to-end encrypted already, things get tricky when the iPhone user texts an Android device owner or vice versa. More commonly referred to as the green bubble phenomenon, this reverts the text chain into conventional SMS, making it more susceptible to security issues such as the ones discussed by Google.

Google’s push to convince Apple to get on board the RCS wagon was not always flashy. In January last year, the company’s Senior Vice President of Platforms and Ecosystems, Hiroshi Lockheimer, tweeted (X’d?) that there were ways for Apple to change this system, with the official Android account also highlighting the need to “fix this as one industry.”

But here we are in late September, still waiting for Apple to adopt RCS. We were hoping this wouldn’t go the USB-C way, with Apple finally adopting the connectivity port owing to regulatory pressure in Europe, among other factors. It seems like European regulators have given Apple some breathing room in this regard, giving the company time until mid-2024 to adopt the secure messaging standard. We expect a few more Get The Message ads to follow in the meantime.