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.

Brands’ interest in RCS and RCS business messaging is now rising. Over 70% expect RCS to be one of their primary customer communication channels within the next five years, while 73% predict it will become the default messaging channel within a decade, according to Sinch’s discussions with senior marketing and digital communications specialists.

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,

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.

Emoji reactions now display correctly between Android and iPhone users. Emoji reactions sent from Android users no longer show up as a separate text. Apple improved cross-platform texting with RCS support in iOS 18.