No, Your iPhone And Android Texts Are Not Secure By Default

InnovationCybersecurityNo, Your iPhone And Android Texts Are Not Secure By DefaultByZak Doffman,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Zak Doffman writes about cybersecurity, surveillance and privacy.Follow AuthorMay 13, 2026, 06:17am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Texts are not secure by default.NurPhoto via Getty ImagesApple and Google have finally end-to-end encrypted RCS messages between their platforms — 18 months after the FBI warned those texts are not secure. But there’s a worrying angle to the coverage that followed the upgrade. Despite what you might have read, your texts are not secure “by default.”When WhatsApp says all messages are “end-to-end encrypted by default,” that’s true. Everything on the platform is fully secured — at least content-wise, metadata is different. It’s the same for Apple’s iMessage. “When you use iMessage, your conversations are encrypted end-to-end, so they can’t be read while they’re sent between devices.” That’s the point of those blue bubbles.ForbesMicrosoft Shuts Down Outlook Lite For Android On May 25By Zak DoffmanApple has uplifted the RCS protocol on iPhone with iOS 26.5, and says “encryption is on by default.” But there’s a critical caveat. Apple also says this “will be automatically enabled over time for new and existing RCS conversations.” Right now, that’s very limited and will never be the actual default.It’s the same with Google Messages, which uses encrypted RCS when it can but defaults to unencrypted RCS or SMS text messaging when it cannot. This fallback is much clearer in iMessage — blue versus green bubbles, but that’s complicated by RCS, which is green whether it’s fully encrypted or not. Confused? You should be. This is much more painful than it needs to be. MORE FOR YOUApple still says “iMessage was built with privacy in mind and has always been end-to-end encrypted. It remains...