Eliana Willis

Adam Breeden/ZDNETLooking for a way to send rich text messages from your iPhone to your Android counterparts? With the launch of iOS 18, the long-awaited RCS messaging option is now a reality. Thanks to the new RCS support, your iPhone texts to Android users can include larger file attachments, higher-quality photos and videos, audio messages, read receipts, more types of emojis, and smoother group chats.Also: 6 reasons why iOS 18 makes the iPhone 16 a must-upgradePromised by Apple last year and top among the desired new features in iOS 18, RCS (Rich Communications Service) is a messaging standard released by Google a few years ago. Designed to replace SMS messaging, RCS is a more modern standard that can handle richer content.Apple had long resisted the calls to enable RCS but finally gave in amid demand for greater interoperability between iPhone and Android. Until the release of iOS 18, Apple users could only send rich text messages to each other through iMessage. Any texts exchanged with Android users would be limited to SMS, thereby stripping out the rich content, or relying on MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), allowing certain types of media in a message.Also: iOS 18.1 beta adds photo ‘Clean Up’ AI tool and notification summaries – how they workTo send an RCS message, your iPhone needs to be running iOS 18, currently in public beta. You must also be on the right carrier. Though Apple has enabled RCS at its end, the carriers must also activate it on their networks. At this stage, all three major US carriers — Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile — have turned on the RCS switch. Other carriers in the US and around the world have done likewise. But fear not, there is an easy way to check.Here’s how it works.How to send RCS messages from iPhone to Android1. Upgrade to iOS 18First, you’ll need to install the iOS 18 public beta on your iPhone. Go to General and select Software Update. Tap the option for Beta Updates and choose the one for iOS 18 Public Beta. Return to the previous screen, and the beta is downloaded and installed on your phone. More

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EcoFlow EcoFlow, a leading name in power stations and off-grid solutions, has unveiled a range of new products, from a wireless power bank to a kit for transforming an RV into an off-grid vehicle and a whole-home power backup solution. Also: The best portable power stations you can buy Rapid Series Power Banks <!–> –> […] More

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Nina Raemont/ZDNETAs earbuds become more capable and packed with sophisticated features, it can be a laborious task to find which earbuds will work best for you. Choosing from different shapes, sizes, and capabilities leaves you with a sea of options.Review: Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphonesBut the latest from Bose More

Ron Watts/Getty Images Arc has been my jam for some time now. I find the browser to be a breath of fresh air in a world of too much of the same thing. While most browsers still struggle with tab management, Arc has made the task effortless and elegant.  At the same time, Arc offers a […] More

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June Wan/ZDNETGoogle is rolling out five new Android features as part of its September 2024 update sporting a connecting theme of “exploration.” While they’re not major upgrades, they all aim to help people access what they’re looking for more seamlessly.Starting from the top, Android’s TalkBack tool is receiving an AI upgrade. The feature helps blind people and those with low vision navigate the internet by providing an audio description of onscreen images. Moving forward, those descriptions will now be powered by Gemini. The presumed goal here is to have the AI provide improved text outputs to better explain the photos in a camera roll or pictures on social media.Also: Google reveals Android 15 rollout timing and it’s not good newsNext, Circle to Search has officially gained the ability to look up songs playing on a web page or a nearby speaker. To activate it, Google revealed that you must press the Home button or navigation bar first as usual. Then, tap the music button (as indicated by the note icon) to identify the track name, and artist, and even open a YouTube video of the song. We have seen this feature crop up in previous patches although it wasn’t widely available. It’s good to see that the feature finally has an official release.The Chrome app is seeing its own patch too. Users now have the option to “listen to [a] page” within the mobile browser — offering the option to choose different voices, languages, and listening speeds.  More