Snopes - Yes, FBI Announced Texting Between iPhone and Android Is Not Secure

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

In December 2024, the FBI issued guidelines warning iPhone and Android users to stop sending texts.

Context

The FBI's guidelines recommended that users not send texts from iPhone to Android or vice versa because they were not securely encrypted. However, messages sent from iPhone to iPhone or Android to Android use slightly different technologies that are safely encrypted.

In October 2024, the Wall Street Journal reported of a large cyberattack against U.S. telecommunications companies AT&T, Verizon and Lumen Technologies. The NSA's director, Gen. Timothy Haugh, told NBC News that the hackers were supported by China, something the Chinese government denied.

On Dec. 3, 2024, the FBI, the NSA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released new guidelines for protecting communications infrastructure in the United States in the wake of the breach. In a news conference about the effects of the hack, CISA Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity Jeff Greene mentioned that anyone with an iPhone or Android should stop sending text messages because they were not secure. This claim was widely reported on, and several Snopes readers wrote in to ask about the recommendation.

-more-

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fbi-iphone-android-texting-insecure/

[wcmagumba]

1. Wondering why the tech nerd geniuses haven't fixed this...?

This has likely been known in iOS and Android elite bruv circles for some time...fix please...I'll still be texting my dinner menus and nightly tv views anyway, Russkies, Xibots or whoever, have at it...

[usonian]

2. Each is secure ( encrypted) with its own customers but

Going from one to the other is plain text.

The new RCS interoperability standard kind of forgot about encryption.

Why the lag? It's deliberate. Google and Apple prefer to build walled gardens to lock in users rather than interoperate nicely.

Capitalism, comrade!


PS. It's aimed at critical stuff. Your recipes are of no interest to (most) Chinese, who have thoroughly infiltrated US telcos

USING THE WIRETAP BACKDOOR THAT THE US DEMANDED FROM TELCOS.

see https://eff.org for the lowdown.

LE hoisted on its own petards.

[LearnedHand]

3. Signal is an excellent choice for cross-platform texting

Plus it allows FaceTime-like video calls as well (iPhone -to-Android video calls). It's a very full featured phone app and it has a full-featured desktop app as well you can text or call from a computer.

This app is one of the FBI's recommended encrypted solutions.

[ItsjustMe]

4. They knew of this issue over three years ago.

Apple's system is by far the worst for security.