Overview
- Apple added inline (threaded) replies for RCS conversations in iOS 27 developer beta 2 on Monday, letting iPhone users reply to a specific message when texting Android phones.
- iOS 27 beta 2 also displays emoji reactions on images and videos instead of sending text descriptions, so a tapped heart or laugh now appears visually for the recipient.
- These features will only work when both devices and their carriers support the same RCS capabilities, and Apple plans a public beta in July with a wide release scheduled for September.
- Early testers report mixed stability: some outlets found reply threading buggy in the developer beta while others called recent builds unexpectedly stable.
- The change follows Apple’s earlier RCS moves — initial RCS support in iOS 18 and end-to-end encryption in iOS 26.5 — and depends on implementation of GSMA Universal Profile updates and uneven carrier rollouts.