You can say goodbye to the dreaded “🥲 to ‘why the hell aren’t emoji reacts working?’” from iOS to Android with RCS.

According to The Verge, which discovered this quiet update, when an Android user sends a reaction to an iPhone via RCS message, the emoji displays inline instead of as a separate message. The same goes for when an iPhone user reacts to a message sent from an Android.

It was discovered by the folks at The Verge that reactions are displayed as intended when they were sent between iPhones running iOS 18 .1 and different Android phones. At this point, it's not exactly clear which company made this change happen: either Google or Apple.

The Verge sent test messages and emoji reactions between iPhones running iOS 18.1 and different Android phones, confirming both devices now display reactions as intended. It’s unclear when this change happened or whose side — Google or Apple — had to make adjustments to get it working.

Apple has quietly improved its handling of message reactions from Android users in its latest iOS update. Previously, reactions from Android devices would appear as a separate line of text in the Messages app,

With the launch of iOS 18, Apple added support for RCS, or Rich Communication Services. RCS replaces SMS/MMS as the default messaging standard

Android reactions now show up properly on iPhones, fixing a major messaging headache. Previously, Android reactions would appear as separate messages, cluttering up chats—especially in group texts. The update is part of RCS v2.