Google Messages is reportedly testing support for editing RCS chats sent from an Android smartphone to an iPhone. While iPhone users could previously edit iMessage chats, and Google Messages allowed Android-to-Android chats to be modified, it appears that the ability to edit cross-platform chats is coming soon. However, iPhone users cannot edit RCS messages sent to Android users, and this might require action from Apple’s end in order to enable the functionality. Cross-platform message encryption is another feature that is expected to arrive in the future.
Google Messages Currently Offers Better User Experience for Edited Chats
A year after Google Messages added support for message editing in Android-to-Android chats, the company is now letting some users edit RCS messages sent to iPhone users, according to an Android Authority report. However, there are a couple of notable limitations when editing cross-platform RCS texts via Google Messages.
Introduced in March, the Universal Profile 3.0 specification finally added support for two features supported on third party messaging apps for several years: end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and message editing. The latter is now available to some Google Messages users, and seems to be working on messages sent from an Android phone to different iPhone models running on iOS 18.5 and iOS 26 developer beta, according to the publication.
While Google appears to have added support for the latest RCS specification, edited messages are not displayed properly on an iPhone. Instead of seeing the edited message on the iOS Messages app, users will see the new message after the original message, along with an asterisk.
The new ability to edit messages sent from an Android phone to an iPhone appears to be rolling out to users slowly. This might be because it is being enabled via a server side switch, which means that users might have to wait until the functionality is available.
When it is enabled on both platforms, users can expect the same 15-minute message editing window that is available on iMessage and Google Messages with RCS. However, there’s no word from Apple on when support for message editing and E2EE, both part of the Universal Profile 3.0 specification, will be added to the Messages app for improved cross-platform RCS chats.
