When an iPhone user receives a message from an Android phone, it shows up as a green bubble (not the more highly prized blue bubbles that appear when the message is from another iPhone). Apple now makes the iPhone more compatible with RCS, which underlies messaging on Android phones. And now a new feature is almost here: deleting, editing and recalling messages between the Apple and Android platforms.
Apple iMessage.
By the way, when this greater compatibility began, some claimed that green bubbles were about to disappear. That’s far from the truth.
Still, the arrival of this more sophisticated set of features is very welcome. It’s coming about because of changes made last year. In June 2024, “The GSMA Association responsible for RCS finalized the latest standard with features like the ability to delete a sent message, and Google Messages is readying support,” reports 9to5Google.
What we’re waiting for is something from the GSMA called Universal Profile 2.7, which was described in July 2024 to have properties where: “Compared to their previous version(s) they bring support for more engaging messaging experiences such as reactions to messages and the user editing a message that they sent earlier,” according to the GSMA.
These include the message sender to be able to “Edit, Recall and Delete message that they sent earlier for themselves and the message recipient,” 9to5Google says. That’s different from the current situation where deleting a message removes it from the sender’s device only.
The reason this looks like it’s coming soon is that a beta version of Google Messages has strings of code that relate to that, offering options such as “Delete for me” or “Delete for everyone”.
It’s worth noting that for the feature to work, users need the latest version of Google Messages. Without the latest, “Messages may still be seen by others on older app versions.”
And, of course, the Universal Profile needs to be adopted by both Apple and Google to work.
There are other benefits in the profile, including official replies and reactions to sent and received messages, so the separate apps no longer need to convert reactions manually. And threaded replies should include the message being replied to.
There’s no date for these new features but the fact that Google Messages is working on them is a good start and may mean they’re coming soon.