Texting has been a longstanding snafu between iPhones and Androids, but it could soon change.
(NEXSTAR) — You've likely experienced it before: with your iPhone, you try to text someone with an Android and find yourself face-to-face with those less-than-pleasing green text bubbles appearing on your phone. Emojis look different, group texts aren't as smooth, and seamless reactions to messages become "John Smith liked this image."
That could soon change — sort of.
An upcoming software update will bring Rich Communication Services (RCS) to iPhones, Apple has confirmed to USA Today and 9to5Mac.
If you're an iPhone user, you're likely already familiar with how your phone sends texts. When you text another iPhone and you're on Wi-Fi or cellular data, your iMessage is encrypted and appears as a blue bubble. Sometimes, like when texting an Android, your message will be sent as a green bubble, meaning it was sent via SMS (Short Message Service or basic texts) or MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service, used for photos and videos).
Google uses RCS for its Android devices. Last summer, Google called SMS messaging "out-of-date" and blamed it for the challenges iPhone users experience while texting Androids, like low-quality photos and videos. The company went on to blame Apple as a whole, saying, "It's time for Apple to fix texting" and end the "broken experience."
Android has an entire webpage dedicated to helping Apple "get the message" about the texting struggles.
Apple has long held out on changing its texting tech. Internal documents and leaked emails have revealed Apple executives warning that "moving iMessage to Android" would hurt the company.
But now it seems the tides are shifting.
In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple said support for RCS will come "later next year" and "will work alongside iMessage" to "offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS."
RCS would bring many of the features available in iMessage to green-and-blue bubble conversations. According to Google, RCS would improve the quality of videos and images sent in texts, provide read receipts and a note that someone is typing, give you the ability to leave a group chat and allow texts to be sent via cellular data and Wi-Fi.
This doesn't mean iMessage will go away — it will still serve as the main messaging mode between iPhones, Apple told 9to5Mac. RCS would instead replace SMS/MMS.
It's unclear whether this means the end of the less-than-pleasant green bubble texts.
Apple did not immediately respond to Nexstar's request for comment.
Jeremy Tanner contributed to this report.
