iPhones and Android smartphones started to play more nicely together after Apple finally opted to support the Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard. Prior to this, messages between the two platforms had to use the ancient and insecure text messaging service.
Not all RCS features are supported as yet, with the all-important strong encryption waiting for RCS 3.0 support in iOS 26. Another RCS 3.0 feature is the ability to edit outgoing messages after sending them, and that one has started a limited one-way rollout …
Android Authority noticed that some Android beta users are now able to use this feature when messaging iPhones.
Over the past week, several users, including myself, have gained the ability to edit RCS messages sent to iPhone users. After sending a message, I can long-press it to reveal a pencil icon. Tapping this icon fills the reply box with the original text, allowing me to edit and resend it.
Interestingly, this feature isn’t restricted to iPhone users on the iOS 26 developer beta – the site reports that it also works for those on iOS 18.5.
The current implementation is, however, very clunky. While it shows as edited at the Android end, what iPhone users currently see is the addition of an asterisk to the original message and then the edited version as a separate addition.
Additionally, it’s one-way only: there’s no option for iPhone users to edit messages sent to Android phones. (iPhone users have long been able to edit messages sent to other iPhone users.)
Provided Apple fully implements RCS 3.0, then proper editing will eventually work in both directions, but we’ll have to wait and see whether this happens.
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