Enable RCS on any carrier/device with Android Messages

[jamezr]

I was able to get this to work on my Note 10+ today!

To get RCS on your Android phone right now, here are the steps that worked for me:

1. Turn off WiFi
2. Enroll in the Google Messages Beta (Play Link)
3. You might need to update Messages after enrolling in the beta
4. Restart your phone
5. Clear storage for Messages and Carrier Services (Settings>Apps> find each app and clear storage)
6. Install Activity Launcher and open it (Play Link)
7. Tap the top menu and choose “All activities”
8. Find Messages
9. Find “Set RCS Flags” and tap it
10. In ACS Url, choose “http://rcs-acs-prod-us.sandbox.google.com/”
11. In OTP Pattern, choose “Your\sMessenger\sverification\scode\sis\sG-(\d{6})”
12. Tap Apply
13. Close all apps open
14. Open Messages
15. You should now see a pop-up to “Upgrade Now” to RCS
16. Tap “Upgrade Now” and follow the welcome screens
17. Messages will now enroll your phone. It could take several minutes.
18. To confirm it worked, open Messages, tap top-right menu>Settings>Chat features. You should see status as “Connected” if it worked properly.

How to: Enable RCS on Any Android Phone in US Right Now

RCS might have arrived in the US without the greenlight from Google and before the carriers can push their own version in 2020. The Internet, because it will always be undefeated, might have figured out how you can force enable RCS on your phone right now. A reddit thread that popped up at the...

www.droid-life.com

Enable RCS on any carrier/device with Android Messages

 

[big samm]

I saw this on Reddit and it worked for lots of people. But i think RCS is a hot mess right now.
You need to be on the right carrier, with the right device, and have to chat with someone who also have RCS compatible phone and carrier...
Google needs to bypass the carrier's just like Apple with imessage. With this backdoor trick it looks like it's working cross carrier am i right?

 

[jamezr]

I saw this on Reddit and it worked for lots of people. But i think RCS is a hot mess right now.
You need to be on the right carrier, with the right device, and have to chat with someone who also have RCS compatible phone and carrier...
Google needs to bypass the carrier's just like Apple with imessage. With this backdoor trick it looks like it's working cross carrier am i right?

you gotta read it...it by passes the carriers. I was able to chat with my GF on her Pixel and me on my Note 10+. Haven't tried cross carrier yet.

 

[SteveJUAE]

You need to be on the right carrier, with the right device, and have to chat with someone who also have RCS compatible phone and carrier...

LOL I know you did not mean it but change RCS for IMessage and somehow it sounds familiar

 

[big samm]

you gotta read it...it by passes the carriers. I was able to chat with my GF on her Pixel and me on my Note 10+. Haven't tried cross carrier yet.

It would be awesome if it worked across all carrier
Also people would have to dig in the menus and settings to make this work, which we all know normal people won't even bother with that... Google needs to make this official and already setup when buying the phoen so more people could really use it.

 

[big samm]

LOL I know you did not mean it but change RCS for IMessage and somehow it sounds familiar

Haha
With imessage it's so easy... You have a iPhone your are in! That's pretty much it!! Rcs again you need the right supported phone, a carrier that supports rcs, and then find someone who hopefully have a compatible device on the same carrier as you because it doesn't look like it works across all carrier. Way too much hoops to deal with.
I really want rcs to take off but my hope are very low right now! Still cool that someone managed to find a way to make it work even if your carrier do not support it!

 

[jamezr]

It would be awesome if it worked across all carrier
Also people would have to dig in the menus and settings to make this work, which we all know normal people won't even bother with that... Google needs to make this official and already setup when buying the phoen so more people could really use it.

yep...this is more all of us geeks and nerds on this type of forum
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Haha
With imessage it's so easy... You have a iPhone your are in! That's pretty much it!! Rcs again you need the right supported phone, a carrier that supports rcs, and then find someone who hopefully have a compatible device on the same carrier as you because it doesn't look like it works across all carrier. Way too much hoops to deal with.
I really want rcs to take off but my hope are very low right now! Still cool that someone managed to find a way to make it work even if your carrier do not support it!

All carriers support RCS or will very soon...they have said as much. But as i said above...the tweak is just for us geeks....

Here is more on RCS....

What is RCS messaging, and why is it important?

RCS is the safe way for everyone to chat.

www.androidcentral.com

 

[Awesomesince86]

The carrier adopted RCS will be a disaster, mark my words. Look no further than every crappy bloat ware app that’s ever been preinstalled on a phone you’ve bought from a carrier. Imagine one of those apps being your default text app. No thanks.

The only good to come of this is if this finally pushes Google over the edge and they stop begging the carriers to play ball and just turn on the jibe serves for everyone in the US. This workaround is just furthe proof that they have the infrastructure ready and that it’s just a server side switch that needs to be flipped to get it going. Google should stick it to the carriers and turn it on.

 

[SDColorado]

It would be awesome if it worked across all carrier
Also people would have to dig in the menus and settings to make this work, which we all know normal people won't even bother with that... Google needs to make this official and already setup when buying the phoen so more people could really use it.

The author of the "how to" got it to work between ATT and Verizon, which is encouraging.

I enabled it yesterday, but have not had the chance to experiment with it at all. It does require the user to download and install Activity Launcher in order to enable a couple of settings. As you say, this may be more than "normal people" are willing to bother with, but it wasn't difficult to set up.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Haha
With imessage it's so easy... You have a iPhone your are in! That's pretty much it!! Rcs again you need the right supported phone, a carrier that supports rcs, and then find someone who hopefully have a compatible device on the same carrier as you because it doesn't look like it works across all carrier. Way too much hoops to deal with.
I really want rcs to take off but my hope are very low right now! Still cool that someone managed to find a way to make it work even if your carrier do not support it!

You got to remember this is just a beta opt in and very much in it's infancy

This, if it works is a much bigger deal than Imessage will ever be as the E part of Imessage is almost irrelevant outside the US Iphone owners group and even then its only 2nd or 3rd place as most popular message service in US

Lets see where it goes

 

[Awesomesince86]

You got to remember this is just a beta opt in and very much in it's infancy

This, if it works is a much bigger deal than Imessage will ever be as the E part of Imessage is almost irrelevant outside the US Iphone owners group and even then its only 2nd or 3rd place as most popular message service in US

Lets see where it goes

This current way to enable RCS through Jibe isnt even a beta opt-in, its a loophole that some people found when digging around in code. There's a huge chance its patched and blocked within a week. If it isnt patched, its a sign that either its not widespread enough for the carriers to care or that Google leaked the backdoor on purpose in response to the carrier RCS pact announced last week.

 

[pika2000]

Such sad state where a standard being set back by the carriers themselves.
By the time this is supported universally worldwide by all carriers, it won't matter as everybody will already know how to use whatsapp/line/wechat/messenger.

 

[jamezr]

This current way to enable RCS through Jibe isnt even a beta opt-in, its a loophole that some people found when digging around in code. There's a huge chance its patched and blocked within a week. If it isnt patched, its a sign that either its not widespread enough for the carriers to care or that Google leaked the backdoor on purpose in response to the carrier RCS pact announced last week.

I think Google leaked it tbh.....

 

[Awesomesince86]

I think Google leaked it tbh.....

The timing is definitely suspicious. But it also seems really petty of Google and a pretty weak move IMO. If they really wanted to flex their power over the carriers, they would just flip the switch on Jibe for all US phones. It would essentially render what the carriers are doing with RCS useless.

 

[jamezr]

The timing is definitely suspicious. But it also seems really petty of Google and a pretty weak move IMO. If they really wanted to flex their power over the carriers, they would just flip the switch on Jibe for all US phones. It would essentially render what the carriers are doing with RCS useless.

Agreed on all accounts....Would really love to see Google set and demand more consistent standards for Android as a whole too.

 

[co.ag.2005]

you gotta read it...it by passes the carriers. I was able to chat with my GF on her Pixel and me on my Note 10+. Haven't tried cross carrier yet.

It worked cross carrier for me! My wife has had RCS enabled on Verizon on her Pixel 3 XL natively for a while now but I was able to get it working on my Pixel 4 on T-Mobile. So far she's the only one I know that has RCS enabled

 

[ramram55]

It worked cross carrier for me! My wife has had RCS enabled on Verizon on her Pixel 3 XL natively for a while now but I was able to get it working on my Pixel 4 on T-Mobile. So far she's the only one I know that has RCS enabled

Congrats on your RCS work, it does not work on Sprint, unfortunately.

 

[Awesomesince86]

Congrats on your RCS work, it does not work on Sprint, unfortunately.

Sprint has RCS enabled out of the box I believe. So you wouldnt need this.

 

[magicman32]

I actually enabled this last week and it’s up and running on my Mate 20 Pro. Kinda disappointed though. I thought this would solve the compression of pics and videos sent via the Messages app but they still look like hot garbage. Honestly that’s the main thing I miss from iOS, iMessages. Looks like I’m resuming sharing links via Google Photos for high-res media.

 

[Awesomesince86]

I actually enabled this last week and it’s up and running on my Mate 20 Pro. Kinda disappointed though. I thought this would solve the compression of pics and videos sent via the Messages app but they still look like hot garbage. Honestly that’s the main thing I miss from iOS, iMessages. Looks like I’m resuming sharing links via Google Photos for high-res media.

It doesn’t change anything if the other person doesn’t have it enabled as well.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I actually enabled this last week and it’s up and running on my Mate 20 Pro. Kinda disappointed though. I thought this would solve the compression of pics and videos sent via the Messages app but they still look like hot garbage. Honestly that’s the main thing I miss from iOS, iMessages. Looks like I’m resuming sharing links via Google Photos for high-res media.

In many apps (eg Whatsapp) you can just send it as a file instead of media to get around sending links

 

[magicman32]

It doesn’t change anything if the other person doesn’t have it enabled as well.

Yeah but it’s more than that. It’s something with this phone specifically. My Essential phone doesn’t do that even without Chat features installed. Pics looked fine. As much as I love the Mate 20P since I got it cheap a few months ago, the compression is over the top after just going to look at me Essential just to make sure. Pics look pristine on that one. I was just hoping this might rectify that. Oh well.
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In many apps (eg Whatsapp) you can just send it as a file instead of media to get around sending links

Yeah i hear that. I just like to use the default experience (Messages app) And it was fine before getting this phone a little while back.

 

[DakotaGuy]

Wow! I just got this today and it's great! Android finally has good text messaging. How many tries has it taken Google to finally get something like iMessage? ? Anyhow the only issue is is that it'll probably never work between iPhone and Android, but someday SMS has to die and RCS will finally take over.

 

[pika2000]

Wow! I just got this today and it's great! Android finally has good text messaging. How many tries has it taken Google to finally get something like iMessage? ? Anyhow the only issue is is that it'll probably never work between iPhone and Android, but someday SMS has to die and RCS will finally take over.

Don’t worry, the fun will stop at the carrier level. Until all carriers around the world support it, it will be soon forgotten.

 

[Mellofello808]

I enabled this on both mine, and the GF phone.

Humongous difference. The videos come through at the highest quality of any messaging service I have. Telegram is the only other one that seems to send videos as crisp.