iOS 27.3 May Expand RCS Support to Australia's Telstra in December

In a support document that it has since deleted, Australian carrier Telstra said RCS support would be available starting with an iOS update coming in December. If this timeframe remains accurate, then iPhone users with Telstra will likely be able to use RCS in the Messages app starting with iOS 27.3.

RCS has many benefits over the traditional SMS standard for text messaging with Android users, including end-to-end encryption, read receipts, typing indicators, in-line replies, and more. Apple maintains a list of supported carriers.