on iOS 26 and sending screenshots to Android RCS user

I don’t know if this will work for you, but I’ll tell you what worked for me. I had to change my Screen Capture settings (Settings—General—Screen Capture).

If the format is set to HDR instead of SDR, that might be your problem. I’ve had the same issue the last couple of weeks (I had changed it to HDR to capture a video and then suddenly my android friends couldn’t see the screenshots I sent anymore). I changed the setting back to SDR and took a new screenshot and now they can see them again.

Hope it works for you! :-)

I think the part being overlooked here is the format/file type of the image being sent. I noticed this when I had taken a screenshot, saved to photos, then sent it to my friend via RCS to their OnePlus Android phone. The screenshot showed up blurry, as people have said here.

Next, I opened up the photo app, selected this screenshot, cropped it, saved it, and then sent this version to the same Android user. This came through perfectly fine and could be viewed at the expected fidelity. The file type is still HEIF, but something changed when being re-saved post-cropping.

I would guess here that Apple is using some image format or features in the HEIF container that aren’t universally supported yet (like allowing for loading a low quality version one of the images in the HEIF container and defer loading of the higher quality version), which results in this undesirable behavior.

I’m going to see if I can use a tool to determine what differs between the original HEIF screenshot and the cropped one.

Adding to this. I have the same issue receiving images on my Pixel 10 Pro. When iPhone users send me screenshots, they are blurred and unreadable. If I tap to view the image, or download it, I get a black image.

One thing I noticed is that uncropped/unedited screenshots come through fine. Ones that were cropped or edited are the ones that come in blurry.

So heres the issue, if you take a screenshot and you copy and paste it to messages instead of saving to photos, it sends the screenshot at full size. If you save to photos it converts the image to a proper size for texting.

I had to make a script to convert the screenshot to jpeg and then automatically save to the clipboard and use double back tap to initiate it.

Basically, you either have to save screenshots to photos first and then add to the message from there or you need to create a script to do it if you just wanna copy and paste the screenshot

Porterhouse0 wrote:

Verizon has done absolutely nothing for me for this issue.

also why would sending a screenshot matter in RCS/MMS terms? Because I can send photos/videos without issue. Only screenshots are an issue. And I’m not taking screenshots of banking apps or work emails. I sent screenshots of music I was listening to and of my Home Screen. The android recipient received them but they are blank images.

Because a screenshot is considered an image no? And when you send it to a non iphone user ie Android it falls under RCS/MMS, if you sent to another iphone user then it is imessage which is Apple's platform and would an Apple issue.

I'm have AT&T and send plenty of screenshots to non Apple users, and if I had issue I would troubleshoot with AT&T.

Since you say Verizon is useless maybe this link can help If you can't send or receive messages on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

I am having the same issue, although the screenshots are blurry and illegible instead of completely black. I am on Visible (which is Verizon’s budget service), so it likely is a carrier issue. It was never an issue before updating to iOS26.

dcdttu78 wrote:

Would be strange to be a carrier issue as the exact same iPhones on iOS 16 send screenshots fine. Once they were on iOS 26, the issue appeared.

I'll REPEAT this again RCS/MMS/SMS is your phone carrier feature not Apples.

I had no issue with any ios sending screenshots to non iphone users and if I did I would report the issue my phone carrier.

Porterhouse0 wrote:

• The issue:

When I take a screenshot...and try to send it to someone with an Android...the person with the Android receives just a blank black image. Even if they "click to download" it will download as a blank black image. HOWEVER, if I turn RCS off...they receive and appear to them perfectly fine.

I have also tried Apple customer service itself. So far no resolution besides keeping RCS off which I, obviously, am not going to do because there has to be a real solution out there.

What I have tried:

Rebooting

• hard rebooting

• reset network settings

• signing out and in of iCloud

• Turning iMessage off and on

• A FULL WIPE AND FRESH INSTALL!

I can't believe a full wipe and fresh install didn't fix it.

Here is the kicker...I had my buddy who has the same exact iPhone 17 Pro on the same iOS version take a screenshot and send it to my brother (Pixel 9 Pro)....IT WORKED AS DESIGNED! But when I send a screenshot to my brother it is blank image. My head is spinning.

Please any info would be appreciated.

MMS is your phone carrier feature report the issue to them.

they said “RCS” not “MMS,” so it’s not a carrier issue but an implementation issue. I have this same issue, and it started for me once on iOS 26 (even on my older iPhone 14 Pro Max as well as my new iPhone 17 Pro Max)

GLaiV3 wrote:

they said “RCS” not “MMS,” so it’s not a carrier issue but an implementation issue. I have this same issue, and it started for me once on iOS 26 (even on my older iPhone 14 Pro Max as well as my new iPhone 17 Pro Max)

And it is still a phone carrier feature RCS which replaced SMS/MMS..

Apple implemented RCS on iPhone, not carriers. Carriers are involved, but Apple's implementation of RCS 2.4 is outdated, and blatantly violates GSMA rules for RCS. An example is the iPhone falling back to SMS if there is no data for RCS group chats. GSMA says group chats are unavailable until data is restored, but Apple went ahead and implimented a broken SMS fallback feature that duplicates group chats for everyone.

I am not sure where you get your RCS information from, but Apple is very much involved in the process.

I wonder why the image sending at full size (the resolution of the screen) is a problem, though? Images taken with the main camera on an iPhone are significantly larger in resolution than a screen shot would be, and they send fine.

I think you're right as far as what breaks the image and what doesn't, but I don' think it's because of the resolution or size of the image.

On a caring scale from 1 to 10, Apple caring about images send from iPhone not showing up on Android phones is at about a -25.

I wouldn't be surprised if this issue persisted until iOS 27, just like all the issues with Apple's RCS implementation in general.

dcdttu78 wrote:

On a caring scale from 1 to 10, Apple caring about images send from iPhone not showing up on Android phones is at about a -25.

I wouldn't be surprised if this issue persisted until iOS 27, just like all the issues with Apple's RCS implementation in general.

Pretty dense statement to make.

You do realize that you/your spouse or your parents pay your cellular data provider each month to use their feature which includes SMS/RCS and MMS.

You're correct Apple doesn't care cause there is NO APPLE here to hear your rant.