Google Urges Apple Not to 'Drop the Ball' on Fixing Messaging in New Billboard Pushing RCS - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Google Urges Apple Not to 'Drop the Ball' on Fixing Messaging in New Billboard Pushing RCS

Google is continuing on with its #GetTheMessage campaign attempting to convince Apple to adopt the RCS messaging protocol, this time taking out a large New Year's-themed ad at Harmon Corner in Las Vegas.

apple android rcs ad
The digital billboard urges Apple not to "drop the ball" on fixing its "pixelated photos and videos."

Hey Apple, it's Android

the ball may have dropped on 2022, but you don't have to drop the ball on fixing your pixelated photos and videos. Here's some code to get the ball rolling...

After the short message, the billboard scrolls through ‌RCS‌ code, ending with a plea to customers to "Help Apple #GetTheMessage," the hashtag that Google has been using for the campaign.

Google launched the "Get the Message" push back in August with a full website highlighting the benefits of ‌RCS‌, which include support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, and bigger file sizes, along with improved encryption, cross-platform emoji reactions, and more reliable group chats across different devices.


Google has been pestering Apple to adopt ‌RCS‌ for well over a year through the website, pleas on Twitter, billboards, and more, but Apple has made no acknowledgement of Google's efforts. In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said that ‌RCS‌ is not a priority. "I don't hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy in on that at this point," said Cook.

All major mobile carriers and manufacturers have implemented ‌RCS‌ support, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Motorola, Nokia, OnePlus, Samsung, Sony, and others, with Apple remaining the lone holdout.

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
ios 26 4 yellow

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for iOS 26.4

Wednesday March 18, 2026 11:56 am PDT by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, which means we're going to see a public launch as soon as next week. The RC versions of the software include Apple's official release notes, giving us final details on what's included in the update. Apple Music - Playlist Playground (beta) generates a playlist from your...
Apple Logo Sketch Feature

Apple Has Now Unveiled Eight New Products This Month

Tuesday March 17, 2026 9:25 am PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping eight new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, and now the AirPods Max 2 this week. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as the iPhone...

Top Rated Comments

alexandr Avatar
42 months ago
Hey Google, focus on your own balls...
Score: 103 Votes (Like | Disagree)
42 months ago
It is bad for the consumer when large corporations like Apple refuse such a simple fix in the name of profits. Do I blame them? I can't say that I do, it makes sense that Apple doesn't have any interest in fixing texting. But at the same time, I can't get behind something that ultimately only hurts the consumer, and this does.

Texting iOS to Android is horrible but it doesn't have to be that way, and it shouldn't.
Score: 68 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
42 months ago
I can't help but wonder had Apple designed iMessage to play nicer with other platforms in the beginning that iMessage usage would be greater in other countries instead of WeChat, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messanger
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
42 months ago
RCS is security issue waiting to happen.

https://www.autobahn-security.com/blog/rcs-hacking-2

And this is why Apple never implemented, and never will. iMessage is still super encrypted and is the gold standard for encrypted messaging.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
42 months ago

Encryption isn’t part of the RCS standard. It’s a proprietary Google extension.
Doesn't matter who invented it. End-to-end encryption can occur via RCS, and neither Apple nor Google nor Carriers would have access to your messages.

Apple insisting on sending messages via SMS isn't what a Privacy-concerned company would do.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rorschach Avatar
42 months ago

Apple talks a lot about Privacy as a differentiator for their devices. They should live up to it and start messaging through RCS when the other person is using it on their end.
Encryption isn’t part of the RCS standard. It’s a proprietary Google extension.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)