Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a modern messaging protocol that Apple introduced in iOS 18. Disabling RCS on your iPhone will change the way you communicate with non-iPhone users. Here’s a quick summary of what you stand to lose when RCS is disabled on your iPhone.

The most important change is that your iPhone will revert to using SMS and MMS for conversations with Android users. This means you will lose access to the enhanced features that RCS offers.

Disabling RCS will remove access to read receipts when messaging Android users. This means you won’t be able to see when your messages have been read. Typing indicators will also no longer be visible, so you won’t know when the other person is writing a message.

One of the benefits of RCS is the ability to send high-quality photos and videos. If you turn it off, you are limited to the lower-quality media-sharing capabilities of MMS. This can result in compressed or pixelated images and videos.