In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to send an RCS message from your iPhone to another iPhone or Android device, provided you have RCS messaging enabled and it’s supported by your carrier

RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging is built into the stock Apple Messages app on iPhones and Google Messages on Android phones. It improves interoperability between these platforms and offers more features than traditional SMS. For example, RCS messaging lets you send high-resolution photos and videos, get read receipts, react with emojis, and display the typing indicator.

Unlike SMS/MMS texts that don’t require the Internet, RCS, like iMessage and WhatsApp, needs cellular data or Wi-Fi to work. However, the iOS Messages app still displays non-iMessages texts, including RCS, in green bubbles instead of blue.

One drawback of RCS messaging is that it’s not universally available and only works if a carrier supports it. Unlike third-party apps like WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram, which you and your friend can easily set up on any smartphone, RCS requires a compatible phone and carrier support.

Despite this, RCS is becoming more popular and offers an improved messaging experience, especially between iPhone and Android users. It also works between two Android phones and two iPhones (if iMessage isn’t set up).

Check if your carrier supports RCS

Most major carriers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and China support RCS (list below). But you can be sure of it by checking the IMS Status in your iPhone settings.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone, running the latest version of iOS 18.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap About from the top.
4. Scroll down to your SIM provider’s section and tap the Carrier option, which will change to IMS Status. If IMS Status says, “Voice, SMS & RCS,” your carrier supports RCS messaging. Otherwise, it will just say “Voice & SMS.”

As of writing this, the following carriers support RCS messaging on iOS 18 iPhones and compatible Android devices.

United States

• Verizon
• AT&T
• T-Mobile
• Metro by T-Mobile
• US Cellular
• Visible
• PureTalk
• Xfinity Mobile
• Cricket
• C Spire
• Consumer Cellular
• H20 Wireless
• Spectrum
• Red Pocket
• FirstNet
• TracFone/Straight Talk

Canada

• Bell
• Rogers
• Telus
• Chatr
• Fido
• Freedom Mobile
• Virgin Mobile
• Videotron
• Lucky Mobile
• Koodo

France

• SFR

United Kingdom

• BT
• EE

Germany

• O2
• Telekom
• Vodafone

Spain

• Masmovil
• Movistar
• O2
• Orange
• Pepephone
• Vodafone
• Yoigo

Belgium

• BASE
• Proximus
• Telenet

China

• China Mobile
• China Telecom
• China Unicom

According to Apple’s wireless carrier features page, RCS messaging is currently unavailable in Latin America, the Caribbean, India, the Middle East countries, most of Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa. One reason for this is the omnipresence of third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp; thus, carriers in these regions haven’t bothered to invest in RCS infrastructure.

Check if RCS messaging is switched on

Once you have ensured your carrier supports RCS messaging, check if it’s enabled in your iPhone message settings.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone, running the most recent version of iOS 18.
2. Select Apps from the bottom of the screen.
3. Select Messages from the list of apps.
4. Tap RCS Messaging under the Text Messaging heading and ensure it’s enabled. If you use multiple SIMs, you can activate RCS Messaging for one or all lines as desired.

Text other users who have RCS messaging enabled

Once you’ve confirmed that your carrier supports RCS and it’s enabled in settings, all you need to do is fire up the Messages app on your iPhone, tap the compose button, and select a person from your contacts. If that person has RCS messaging set up on their iPhone or Android device, the typing field on your iPhone will say “Text Message • RCS.” Type your message and hit send.

If you try to text another iPhone user, chances are they already have iMessage set up. If that’s the case, the typing field will say “iMessage.” And if the person has neither RCS nor iMessage, the typing field on your iPhone will show “Text Message • SMS.”

Also, check out:

• How to send an SMS instead of an iMessage from your iPhone
• 65+ tips and tricks for the Messages app on iPhone and iPad

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/03/31/rcs-messaging-on-iphone/

macOS Sequoia is annoying folks with a “Turn On Reactions” alert that pops up almost every time you start a video call, but, confusingly, not for all apps.

Apple really wants you to use the augmented reality (AR) reactions available on video calls for compatible apps like FaceTime and WhatsApp. As user interface designer Matt Birchler wrote on his personal blog, macOS Sequoia consistently prompts you to enable AR reactions during the call.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to turn off this alert in the notification settings, making it even more annoying. These reactions can be fun, but I don’t need to be reminded to use them whenever I hop on a video call. Is it so hard to put a toggle in System Settings to stop showing this alert in the future?

macOS Sequoia’s “turn on reactions” alerts for video calls

Matt writes:

I really thought that the screen recording notifications in macOS Sequoia would be the bane of my existence, but thankfully those have been changed quite a bit from the early betas last summer and they’re totally a non-issue in my book today. However, these god damned “turn on reactions” alerts have got to die in a fire, and they need to have done it yesterday.

As he points out, the prompt appears for some apps, but not others. It shows up regardless of whether you previously turned off AR reactions for a specific app. And because Matt designs user interfaces for a living, he took it upon himself to diss Apple’s dark UI patterns, writing “Why is the way to close this not to click the x button (which does nothing) but to click the green camera icon above the alert?”

You can turn off automatic AR reactions via the “Reactions” option, available through the green Video menu in the macOS menu bar. But why give us a dedicated toggle if macOS won’t respect my choice and continues pestering me to turn on AR reactions even though I previously turned them off? A proper implementation that respects the user would be to make AR reactions off by default, then show an alert once per app.

The problem with AR video reactions

AR reactions render various 3D effects based on your finger gestures. For example, making a heart sign with two hands will animate 3D hearts in the camera view. Or, you can show balloons by making a peace sign. AR reactions previously proved problematic when people accidentally triggered them for things like team chats, online sessions with fitness trainers or therapists, job interviews and the like.

Many people don’t even know this feature exists, let alone that it’s turned on by default. The only way to turn them off is through the Video menu in the macOS menu bar while on the call. You cannot toggle them before the call starts, which is stupid. Making matters worse, the Video menu only appears when a video app is used.

Apple has since released an API for developers to let them control the default behavior of reactions and give people options to turn them off for their apps. “This is controlled per application and user choice will override application-declared defaults,” reads Apple’s developer documentation.

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/03/31/apple-macos-sequoia-ar-reactions-frequent-alert-issue/

TikTok has a bug causing video thumbnails on your profile page to turn grey sometime after posting. Thankfully, there’s a quick and easy fix for that.

Is the video thumbnail on your TikTok profile page a bit grey or washed out instead of showing what the actual frame looks like? If so, then you’re definitelly not alone; folks who actively post on the platform know how frustrating this can be—anyone visiting your profile will be met with dimmed thumbnails, giving a very unprofessional look.

The grey thumbnails will not return on their own, but there’s a fix for that, so grab your iPhone, fire up TikTok and follow along with us.

Why does TikTok make my video thumbnails a little grey?

It is unclear whether this is a bug in the TikTok app or its servers. The thumbnail usually gets tinted grey a few hours after the video has been published, or faster if you’re lucky enough and your upload is approved immediately.

This usually happens when you pick a custom thumbnail from a different video frame instead of the default one that TikTok chooses. Many creators painstakingly pick the perfect frame for their thumbnail, so you can imagine this can be pretty annoying.

The bug manifests regardless of whether you record video in the TikTok camera or import it from your library using a third-party app like CapCut. It doesn’t appear to have anything to do with your recording settings in TikTok or Settings.

How to fix TikTok video thumbnails turning grey

If your TikTok video thumbnails are tinted grey after posting, the fix is to edit the video once published and choose another frame for your thumbnail. Select the “Profile” tab in the bottom-right corner, touch a video to open it, click the three-dotted menu on the side, then scroll to the right and select “Edit Post.”

Touch the thumbnail in the top-right corner of the video page to edit the cover image. Drag your finger across the filmstrip below the video to choose another frame from the video, then hit “Save” in the top-right corner to remember the changes.

The changes will be under review. Once approved, your video cover thumbnail will be normal color again, which you can verify on your TikTok profile.

Keep in mind that this solution only works for videos published in the last 7 days because TikTok doesn’t let you edit older videos. To fix grey thumbnails on older videos, you’ll need to delete and re-upload them, but this will clear your view stats.

Why does the TikTok interface turn grey on some videos?

You may notice that the TikTok interface appears a bit grey on certain videos. This happens when the poster uploads a video in HDR (High Dynamic Range) color instead of Standard Dynamic Range (SDR). HDR video displays a much wider range of luminance and color values than SDR.

Because HDR videos are much brighter, TikTok dims the buttons, labels, comments and other UI elements (except pictures and videos) to counteract the increased brightness during HDR playback. You may have noticed the same effect when watching HDR videos and reels on Instagram.

There’s currently no solution for this. TikTok used to provide a dedicated “Disable HDR Video Playback” switch in the Settings and Privacy > Accessibility section, but it got removed from the app.

Are your TikTok videos washed out?

If your video uploads appear overexposed, undersaturated, washed out, hazy or grayish, that’s because you filmed the clip outside the TikTok app. TikTok automatically records video in HDR with the appropriate camera settings.

To ensure the camera settings are correct when importing videos into TikTok recorded using the built-in Camera app, be sure to switch off “HDR Video” in Settings > Camera > Record Video. Also, choose one of the 1080p resolutions at 30fps instead of 4K resolution because TikTok doesn’t support 4K, and any 4K upload is going to look completely washed out.

Alternatively, turn off Low Power Mode, which disables HDR video to save battery power. If you’d like to maintain the 120Hz screen refresh rate (which Low Power Mode also disables), turn on “Reduce White Point” in Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. This setting reduces the intensity of bright colors, making HDR video appear dimmer.

Another tip is to turn off TikTok’s data saver. This feature decreases the quality of your uploads to save mobile data, making them appear weirdly colored. If you use CapCut, be sure to turn the “Smart HDR” setting off when exporting your video.

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/03/30/how-to-fix-grey-video-thumbnails-on-tiktok/

The long-anticipated redesign of Apple’s MacBook Pro laptop won’t arrive before 2026, as this year’s models will only get faster M5 chips and nothing else.

Mark Gurman wrote in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg that new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are being prepared for a launch later this year. The laptops will run the unreleased Apple M5 Pro and Apple M5 Max chips that will likely be announced alongside the new MacBook Pros.

Nothing else will be changed. In Apple talk, this is called a “chip-and-ship” update. The term refers to a type of device refresh where you mostly put in a faster chip and maybe update the color finish, with no other hardware changes.

2025 M5 MacBook Pro said to be a “chip-and-ship” update

“In other M5-related news, the MacBook Pro is a lock to get the chip later this year,” Gurman wrote. “It will probably happen around the same time of year that it received the M4 processor in 2024 and the M3 in 2023.” The laptop is expected to look the same overall as the M3 and M4-based MacBook Pro.

Gurman didn’t say whether the laptop would include an onboard cellular modem or whether there would be versions with and without a built-in modem for 5G cellular connectivity. Having a built-in modem would enable the laptop to maintain internet connectivity even if there are no Wi-Fi networks to hop on to.

Plus, the laptop could function as a wireless hotspot for other devices, similar to the iPhone’s Personal Hotspot feature. If Apple uses the C1 or its successor in the 2026 MacBook Pro, the laptop will also feature satellite connectivity and GPS.

Gurman also mentioned that we should see another “chip-and-ship” upgrade in the form of an M5-powered MacBook Air later this year, probably in October. There should also be an M5-focused upgrade to the iPad Pro this year, and the company is allegedly already developing an M6 iPad Pro for a launch in 2026. A twelfth-generation iPad with a faster chip is allegedly also in the works.

A major MacBook Pro redesign is due in 2026

Apple usually times significant product redesigns around major technological changes. Case in point: The iPhone X was the first Apple smartphone featuring a fullscreen design, dedicated facial unlocking hardware and an OLED display panel. Apple has been rumored to bring OLED to the MacBook Pro for some time, but Gurman’s report indicates this won’t happen this year.

And that’s not a surprise. The iPhone X redesign happened in 2017, on the iPhone’s tenth anniversary. Apple launched the first MacBook Air in 2006, so the laptop will celebrate its twentieth anniversary in 2026.

Earlier rumors calling for a significant MacBook Pro redesign this year were wrong. According to the latest rumor calling for a MacBook Pro redesign in 2026, the improvements should include bright OLED-based displays replacing mini-LED backlight in the current MacBook Pro, a custom cellular modem and a revamped appearance as the machine is expected to be visibly thinner thanks to OLED instead of mini-LED. It’s unclear whether the laptop will have a touch-sensitive display that Gurman previously called for.

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/03/30/apple-macbook-pro-redesign-2026-rumor/