RCS update will add native video call support, text formatting – eventually

Ben Schoon | Mar 26 2026 - 9:20 am PT

Now that RCS works between Android and iPhone, it’s become a more important tool for everyone, and the next major update to the RCS Universal Profile has just been announced with major additions, including video call support.

The GSMA, the organization in charge of the RCS standard, has just announced RCS Universal Profile 4.0. This new update will make up the backbone of future RCS updates, and includes three major changes.

First and foremost, RCS Universal Profile 4.0 supports video calls. This would appear within the messaging app and allow you to call someone or a group with two-way video communication. “Message-Initiated Video Calls,” as the GSMA calls it, would appear in the chat timeline for group calls, allowing participants to join at any time.

MIVC [(Messaging‑Initiated Video Calls]) allows users to escalate any RCS 1‑to‑1 or group messaging session directly into a video call. This enhancement would provide users with a smooth, intuitive upgrade path from text to real‑time interaction that is fully integrated within the messaging conversation thread. MIVC will ensure the continuity of the conversation by allowing group members to join an ongoing video call that they could not accept when it started, as well as synchronise MIVC logs within the chat timeline. When implemented, MIVC paves the way for the first natively supported video call experience that’s interoperable across a wide range of devices and networks.

Beyond that, Universal Profile 4.0 also brings improved text formatting into the RCS standard, allowing for styles such as bold, italics, and strikethrough, likely among others. This update would further improve “higher quality audio, video, and images” as devices can now “identify the media formats supported by their conversation partners.”

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Meanwhile, on the business chat side of things, Universal Profile 4.0 adds support for embedding streaming video and control over how links open – either opening links within the messaging app or moving to a “dedicated app” or browser.

Universal Profile 4.0’s new additions likely won’t be felt for some time. For example, RCS Universal Profile 3.0 was announced in March 2025 with support for native end-to-end encryption, but Apple and Google are only now still testing that support today.