Whitepaper
RCS between iPhone and Android in the Netherlands: why you still get green text messages
Since iOS 18 the iPhone can send RCS messages, the modern successor to SMS. That should finally make chats between iPhone and Android work properly: typing indicators, read receipts, sharp photos. In Belgium, Germany and the US it does. In the Netherlands it doesn’t. Here, iPhone and Android still send each other old-fashioned SMS and MMS in the Messages app. In this whitepaper I explain why, how to check for yourself whether anything has changed, and what to do in the meantime.
What is RCS, exactly?
RCS stands for Rich Communication Services. It’s a standard from the GSMA, the industry body for mobile carriers, meant to replace SMS and MMS. SMS dates back to the nineties. RCS runs over mobile data or Wi-Fi and does roughly what you’d expect from a chat app:
- you can see when the other person is typing
- read receipts and delivery receipts
- photos and videos in high quality, instead of the grainy MMS version
- proper group chats, where you can add people and give the group a name
- sending over Wi-Fi, even when your signal is poor
On the iPhone you can tell the difference at the bottom of the conversation. With iMessage the text field says “iMessage”, with RCS it says “Text Message • RCS” and with SMS “Text Message • SMS”. RCS and SMS both get a green bubble. So green just means “not iMessage”, not automatically “bad”.
iMessage, RCS, SMS and WhatsApp side by side
| iMessage | RCS | SMS/MMS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Works with | Apple only | iPhone and Android, if the carrier supports it | Any phone | Anyone with the app |
| Bubble colour on iPhone | Blue | Green | Green | Separate app |
| Typing and read receipts | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Photos and video | High quality | High quality | Heavily compressed | Good, with an HD option |
| Over Wi-Fi | Yes | Yes | No, uses the mobile network | Yes |
| End-to-end encrypted | Always | In beta between iPhone and Android, only on supported carriers | No | Yes |
| Cost | Data | Data | Depends on your plan, MMS often extra | Data |
What Apple has done
Apple added RCS in iOS 18, in September 2024. The next step was encryption, because plain RCS messages aren’t end-to-end encrypted in transit. Apple, Google and the GSMA worked on RCS Universal Profile 3.0, which adds encryption based on the MLS protocol (Messaging Layer Security). On 11 May 2026 Apple started rolling it out in beta, for iPhones on iOS 26.5 with supported carriers and Android users on the latest Google Messages. An encrypted conversation shows a lock icon.
The option was missing from the first iOS 27 beta, which 9to5Mac put down to how Apple branches off a new major version. I haven’t been able to confirm that the toggle is back in the final iOS 27. Apple’s own carrier list from 15 September 2026 still calls the feature “beta”. For the Netherlands that hardly matters for now, as you’ll see below.
The problem: Dutch carriers aren’t on board
RCS on the iPhone goes through your carrier. Apple doesn’t run its own RCS servers the way Google does on Android. So if your carrier hasn’t switched RCS on, you don’t get it, no matter how new your iPhone is.
Apple keeps a per-country list of which carriers support what. On that list (updated 15 September 2026) the Netherlands has KPN, Odido and Vodafone, and none of the three has RCS. Belgium, by comparison, lists Orange, Proximus and Telenet with encrypted RCS, and BASE with regular RCS.
| Carrier | RCS on iPhone (October 2026) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| KPN | No | Has said for a while that it’s coming, but with no date. Does take part in RCS for business messaging since 2026, which is a different thing. |
| Odido | No | “Looking into it”, no timeline. |
| Vodafone (VodafoneZiggo) | No | Used to run its own RCS for Android, stopped in 2023. No date for iPhone. |
| Simyo, Ben, Lebara, Youfone, hollandsnieuwe and other smaller brands | No, as far as I know | They run on the KPN, Odido or Vodafone network and aren’t on Apple’s list. I couldn’t check every single one. |
Be careful with forum posts saying “I use RCS just fine with Simyo”. That’s almost always about an Android phone with Google Messages, not an iPhone.
What about Android?
On Android, RCS does work in the Netherlands, just not through the carrier. Google Messages handles it itself through Google’s RCS servers. That’s why an Android user on any Dutch carrier simply sees “RCS chat”. Samsung also uses Google Messages as the default these days.
The catch: as soon as that Android user messages your iPhone, everything falls back to SMS or MMS, because your iPhone has no RCS. So no typing indicator, no read receipts, and photos that look like they went through a fax machine. There’s nothing the Android user can do about that on their end.
Check for yourself whether you have RCS
This can change the moment a carrier switches it on, usually through a carrier settings update. Here’s how to check:
- Make sure your iPhone is up to date: Settings > General > Software Update.
- Go to Settings > Apps > Messages. Is there an RCS Messaging toggle under Text Messaging? Then your carrier supports it and you can turn it on. If it isn’t there, RCS isn’t available on your carrier (yet). On a Dutch-language iPhone it’s called RCS-berichten.
- Go to Settings > General > About and tap your carrier. If it only says “Calls and SMS”, you don’t have RCS.
- Look at Apple’s carrier list for Europe. It shows per carrier whether RCS (or encrypted RCS) is supported.
Checklist
Until the carriers come round, this is what I’d recommend:
- Put mixed groups in WhatsApp or Signal. A group chat with iPhone and Android in Messages becomes an MMS group. That’s slow, sometimes costs money and gets confused easily. Move that group to WhatsApp, or to Signal if privacy matters to you.
- Don’t send photos by MMS. Use WhatsApp (with the HD option), a shared album or an iCloud link from the Photos app. If the person is sitting next to you, you can go wireless: since November 2025 Quick Share on a number of Android phones works with AirDrop. Which phones, you’ll find in An Android phone next to your Mac.
- Check your plan. Many Dutch contracts include unlimited SMS, but on prepaid and some small bundles you pay per message, and MMS is often charged separately.
- Don’t send anything sensitive by SMS. SMS isn’t encrypted. Passwords, your BSN, a photo of your passport: not in a green bubble.
- Check your settings twice a year. For example after a major iOS update. Once your carrier enables RCS, you’ll see it in Settings.
- Ask for it. Carriers say there’s little demand. On the KPN and VodafoneZiggo community forums people ask about it regularly. A message to customer service may not change anything overnight, but it doesn’t hurt either.
And with Apple?
Between Apple devices none of this matters. iMessage works on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, over Wi-Fi and mobile data, and is always end-to-end encrypted. Blue bubbles, with everything that comes with them. The problem is only in conversations with Android. Apple itself says iMessage remains the best way to message between Apple devices. And honestly, that’s part of why RCS is taking so long here: almost everyone in the Netherlands already chats on WhatsApp, so the carriers don’t feel much pressure.
This whitepaper describes the situation in October 2026, with Apple’s carrier list of 15 September 2026 as the main source. Carriers can switch RCS on at any time, so check your own settings or Apple’s carrier list before you assume anything.
This article is part of the Mac and the rest of the world series, where you’ll find every part in one place.