Encryption over RCS is not something your iPhone can do on its own. Half of the requirement sits on a phone you do not own: your contact's carrier has to support it too, and in a group, every member's.
So you can see RCS not encrypted on a thread while everything on your side is correct.
In the US and Canada that is almost always what is happening, because Apple lists 38 carriers there carrying RCS and 35 of them already do the encrypted version.
Twenty seconds on the contact details screen tells you whether your side is the problem.
How to tell whether an RCS conversation is encrypted
There are two indicators, and they are not equally reliable.
Check the contact details screen. Open the conversation, tap the contact's name or photo at the top, and scroll to the bottom of that screen. iOS prints one of two sentences there:
- "This conversation is encrypted end-to-end, so messages can't be read while they're sent between devices."
- "This conversation is not encrypted end-to-end."
The label inside the thread is the harder one to use. On an encrypted chat, the gray divider that normally reads "Text Message, RCS" carries a padlock and the word Encrypted underneath it.
Its placement is inconsistent, and on a conversation you have had running for a year it is easy to scroll straight past.
Use the details screen instead, and take the padlock as a bonus when you happen to see it.
If the details screen says the conversation is encrypted, you are finished. If it says it is not, take that at face value.
Apple's wording is that when you do not see the indicator, your RCS messages are not protected from a third party reading them in transit. The rest of this page works out which end is short.
What decides whether an RCS chat is encrypted
Apple states it plainly: "Even if your carrier supports encrypted RCS messages, the encryption of each RCS conversation depends on whether your contact's carrier also supports it."
Groups need everybody.
"RCS messages can be end-to-end encrypted when all participants have carriers that support encryption." One member whose carrier has not deployed it takes the whole thread down, not only that member's messages.
Why your RCS chat does not say Encrypted
These run roughly in order for a reader in the US or Canada. Outside North America, the third one moves to the top.
- The thread is not RCS at all. Look at the box you type into. If it reads "Text Message, SMS" rather than "Text Message, RCS", this is plain SMS and there is no encryption to look for. The green bubble tells you nothing on its own, because SMS and RCS are both green.
- They have encryption with everyone except you. Google Messages has had end-to-end encryption between Android phones for years, and that one does not reach an iPhone. Your contact sees the same padlock on those chats that an encrypted chat with you would show, so they can look, see padlocks, and tell you in good faith that their end is fine.
- Their carrier has not deployed it. Rare in the US and Canada, common everywhere else, and nothing on your iPhone changes it.
- Your carrier is listed but has not switched your line on. Apple's phrasing is that the feature "will roll out over time," so a supported carrier is not the same as a supported line. There is no indicator for this one. Check the details screen again in a week.
- Somebody in the group does not qualify. One participant is enough, and there is no per-member indicator. Open a one-to-one thread with each of them and check those instead.
- Their copy of Google Messages is out of date. Ask them to update it from the Play Store. Neither Apple nor Google has published a minimum version, so the latest build is the only target either of you can aim at.
- The switch is off at one end. It ships on, so this takes a deliberate change, and you can only ever check your own.
If the other end is the one missing it
No setting on your iPhone fixes this, and no iOS update will. The thread stays unencrypted until your contact's carrier ships encrypted RCS, and carriers do not publish dates for that.
Two things are still useful. Check Apple's carrier page for their country every couple of months, because those pages do get revised.
And for anything you would rather not send in the clear, move that one conversation to an app that brings its own encryption to both platforms, such as Signal or WhatsApp, where no carrier decides the answer.
Where the RCS encryption setting is on iPhone
Open Settings, tap Apps, tap Messages, then tap RCS Messaging. The toggle is End-to-End Encryption (Beta). Apple's page for it is Turn on RCS messaging on your iPhone.
It is on by default, so if you have never opened this screen it is already on. Turning it off does not drop you to SMS. It drops you to the older unencrypted RCS, which gains you nothing.
Which countries have encrypted RCS
Apple publishes a carrier page per region: Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and India and Africa.
Every region other than the US and Canada lists 23 carriers with encryption between them, against 35 for North America alone.
- United Kingdom. With encryption: EE, BT, Three. RCS but no encryption: O2, giffgaff, Tesco Mobile. Vodafone UK has no RCS line at all.
- Germany. With encryption: Telekom, O2, 1&1. RCS but no encryption: Vodafone Germany.
- Spain. With encryption: O2, Orange, Pepephone, Yoigo. RCS but no encryption: Movistar, Masmovil, Vodafone Spain. The strongest showing in Europe.
- France. With encryption: none of them. Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Free all carry RCS without it.
- Italy. No carrier carries RCS in any form.
- Australia and New Zealand. No carrier on either page carries RCS in any form, so encrypted RCS is not something you can switch on there at all.
- Asia-Pacific. Three carriers list encryption: au and SoftBank in Japan, and Singtel in Singapore.
- Latin America. Two carriers, both in Brazil: TIM and Vivo.
- India. Reliance Jio carries RCS without encryption, and Airtel and Vi have no RCS line. That page was last published on 30 January 2026, before the feature existed, so it could not have listed encryption for anyone.
Two of those pages predate the launch: Middle East and India on 30 January 2026, and Africa on 1 April 2026.
A blank on either means the page has not been revised rather than that the answer is settled.
Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America were all published on 11 May, the day the feature shipped, and do carry encrypted entries. Only the US and Canada page has been updated since.
What the encryption does not cover
- Metadata. The Electronic Frontier Foundation's read is that it "will likely still be collected and stored for these conversations." Who you texted, when, and how often is not part of what gets protected.
- Typing indicators. Not encrypted at all, by the specification.
- Backups. A protected message can still sit in an unprotected backup. On iPhone that means turning on Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, and on the Android side Google Messages encrypts backed-up text but not the media.
What it does cover is the content of the messages and the files sent with them, on the leg between the two phones. Apple, Google and the carriers cannot read that.
What does not help
- Turning RCS off and back on, or resetting network settings. Those re-register you with your carrier, which is a real fix for messages that will not send. Neither has any bearing on whether the other person's carrier does encryption.
- Toggling End-to-End Encryption off and on. There is nothing to reset. The setting is a preference, not a connection.
- Waiting for iOS 26.6. Nothing Apple has published ties 26.6 to this, and the version is not out yet in any case.
- Asking your contact whether they see padlocks. Their Android to Android chats can be encrypted while yours is not, so their answer will mislead you both.
Status: encrypted RCS shipped in iOS 26.5 on 11 May 2026 and Apple still calls it beta in the released OS. Apple has not said when the beta label comes off, and nothing published ties 26.6 to it.
When it is the delivery bug instead
The encryption question makes no noise. Messages send, arrive and read normally, and only the label is absent.
The other iOS 26.5 RCS problem announces itself: Not Delivered, a progress bar that stalls near the end, a long timeout, then a fallback to plain SMS.
It also tends to strike your iPad, Mac or Apple Watch while the iPhone itself is fine.
If that is what you have, the encryption label is not your problem.
Go to texts to Android not sending, which covers that bug and its workaround, and is one of the wider iOS 26.5 problems.
How do I know if my iPhone texts to Android are encrypted?
Tap the contact's name at the top of the conversation and scroll to the bottom of that screen. It states plainly whether the conversation is encrypted end-to-end.
The padlock on the divider inside the thread says the same thing, but its placement is inconsistent and easy to scroll past on an older conversation.
Why does my chat not say Encrypted when my carrier supports it?
Because yours is only half of it. Apple's requirement is that your contact's carrier supports encrypted RCS too, and in a group that every participant's does. The missing piece is usually at the other end.
Does turning on End-to-End Encryption (Beta) do anything if my friend's carrier does not support it?
No. The setting decides what your iPhone is willing to do, not what the connection can do. With the other side unsupported, the conversation stays unencrypted whatever your switch says.
Should I turn End-to-End Encryption (Beta) off?
There is no reason to. Switching it off moves your cross-platform chats back to unencrypted RCS rather than to SMS, so no feature returns and nothing speeds up. It is on by default for that reason.
The Short Version
- Tap the contact's name and scroll to the bottom. That sentence is the answer. The padlock inside the thread is easy to scroll past.
- If it says not encrypted, it is not encrypted. Apple's position is that a missing indicator means the messages are not protected in transit.
- Encryption needs both carriers, and in a group all of them. Your switch alone cannot produce it.
- In the US and Canada it is rarely your carrier. Apple lists 35 of 38 RCS carriers as already supporting encryption.
- Outside North America it often is your carrier. Australia, New Zealand and Italy have no RCS at all, and France and India have none with encryption.
- Your contact seeing padlocks on their other chats proves nothing, because Google's own encryption is Android to Android only.
- If the other end will not have it any time soon, move that one conversation to Signal or WhatsApp.
- Messages failing to send is a different problem with a different fix.
Where to Next
- Messages to Android failing outright: texts to Android not sending
- Everything else this update broke: iOS 26.5 problems
- Photos that will not go through: Messages won't send photos
Isaac Smith is the founder and editor of PC Glance, a website that covers computers, laptops, and technology. He is a tech enthusiast and a computer geek who loves to share his insights and help his readers make smart choices when buying tech gadgets or laptops. He is always curious and updated about the latest tech trends.