Apple intends to adopt a popular encryption standard promoted by Google, which may finally eliminate green bubbles on the iPhone.

The company announced on Thursday that it will add support for Rich Communication Services, the preferred encryption standard used by Android devices, sometime in 2024. The difference in encryption limited functionality between iPhones and Androids and colors texts green and blue, a distinction that has held social notoriety for years.

"Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile," an Apple spokesperson told 9to5Mac. "We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users."

The change may be due to growing pressure from the European Union. The EU is investigating whether Apple's iMessage encryption can be regulated under the new law. Apple argued that the law does not apply to iMessage because it is not popular enough. Google argued that the European Commission needed to crack down on iMessage.

Google has spent years lobbying against iMessage's encryption, arguing that RCS was the replacement for SMS, the previous texting standard used by most mobile phones. Google maintains that iMessage limits what users can send over text messages and breaks most text messaging features.

Washington Examiner