iMessage is encrypted. Blue means the “SMS” was sent over iMessage and it is secure. Green means it was sent as a normal SMS. This is super helpful for non-technical people that want privacy.

> Green means it was sent as a normal SMS

No it doesn't, and it would mean that even less when green messages start meaning end-to-end encrypted RCS.

What does it mean then? Genuine question.

Blue means iMessage, and supports iMessage features.

Green means not-iMessage and supports SMS / MMS / RCS features.

Presumably when Apple rolls this out, both blue and green messages could be end-to-end encrypted. It remains to be seen whether Apple will add an indicator for RCS (and potentially iMessage) encrypted messages. I could imagine them being jerks about it and not indicating when green messages are just as secure as iMessage, or they adjust their messages that iMessage is more secure/private because Apple trusts their own key exchange more than RCS.

Because it leaks the device type of your messaging partner.