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RCS supported carriers

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TimFL1

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 6, 2017
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//UPDATE: Apple has added RCS messaging to their carrier features website: https://support.apple.com/en-us/108048



Let‘s compile a list of country & carriers that have the toggle showing and potentially confirmed working in the Messages app:


Toggle showing:

Belgium
  • Base
  • Proximus
  • Telenet
Canada
  • Bell
  • Chatr
  • Fido
  • Freedom
  • Koodo
  • Lucky Mobile
  • Public Mobile
  • Rogers
  • Telus
  • Videotron
  • Virgin
Germany
  • O2
  • Telekom
  • Congstar
  • Vodafone (with carrier profile update)
Spain
  • Movistar
United Kingdom
  • EE - Since beta 4
United States
  • AT&T
  • C Spire
  • Consumer Cellular
  • Cricket
  • FirstNet
  • Metro by T-Mobile
  • PureTalk
  • Red Pocket
  • Spectrum Mobile
  • T-Mobile
  • TracFone
  • US Mobile - Warp 5G/Verizon Network is supported as of Oct. 2 (Darkstar and Light Speed coming soon)
  • Verizon
  • Visible
  • Xfinity Mobile


Toggle not showing:
  • 2degrees (New Zealand)
  • Boost Mobile (US)
  • Cox Mobile (US)
  • DITO (Philippines)
  • Globe (Philippines)
  • Google Fi (US)
  • iD Mobile (UK)
  • Jio, Airtel, Vi (India)
  • Mint Mobile (US)
  • O2 (UK)
  • One (New Zealand)
  • Optus (Australia)
  • Orange (France)
  • Orange (Romania)
  • Play/Plus/Orange (Poland)
  • Salt (Switzerland)
  • STC (Saudi Arabia)
  • SMART (Philippines)
  • SMARTY (MVNO on Three in UK)
  • Spark (New Zealand)
  • Sunrise (Switzerland)
  • Swisscom (Switzerland)
  • Tele2 (Sweden)
  • Telenor (Sweden)
  • Telia (Sweden)
  • Telstra (Australia)
  • Tesco (UK)
  • Three (Sweden)
  • Three (UK)
  • Vodafone (Australia)
  • Vodafone (Germany)
  • Vodafone (Italy)
  • Vodafone (UK)
 
Last edited:
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T

TimFL1

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Jul 6, 2017
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Germany
Paddle1 said:
Seems a little early for this. It doesn't work for anyone as of now.
Click to expand...
The user who leaked RCS as part of B1 has said that there are issues with provisioning your number with RCS services. They said they‘ll try to verify whether it‘s the beta build breaking provisioning (would be bad cause requires a new beta then) or the servers have hiccups / issues (could resolve itself):

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1805315668587266258
 
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eXoenDo

eXoenDo

macrumors regular
Jun 7, 2010
200
228
This worked for me to get RCS working for me on Beta 2! Requires a computer but once it's up RCS keeps working through restarts etc...

gist.github.com

Fix RCS on iOS 18 beta 2

Fix RCS on iOS 18 beta 2. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
gist.github.com gist.github.com
 
Kung

Kung

macrumors 6502
Feb 3, 2006
485
496
TimFL1 said:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1805316581280694554


Guess this pretty much settles where it‘s available.
Click to expand...

So...hold up. I want to see if I'm reading this wrong. No support for RCS outside of the US? Or no support for RCS *on Apple devices yet* outside of the US?

If the latter, I can understand that. But if the former....this kind of contradicts Google's entire argument for how Apple's lack of RCS support was hamstringing people texting between Apple/Google devices.
 
HouseLannister

HouseLannister

macrumors 6502a
Jun 8, 2021
714
1,138
This is interesting. Is Apple not going to support MVNOs at all or just in the early betas? If only working on the Big 3 in the US, the real test once the feature launches is can a Google RCS Android phone send to an iPhone on a supported carrier if the Android phone is not on a supported carrier (i.e. Pixel on Mint Mobile sending to an iPhone on Verizon). I don’t know enough about the standard or Apple’s implementation to know how well this will cooperate with Google’s.
 
P

Paddle1

macrumors 603
May 1, 2013
5,156
3,629
I doubt it will be limited the way it is now. It barely even works on the few carriers it is available on.

There are many things still disabled or not fully rolled out in iOS 18 and I'm sure this is one of them.
 
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T

TimFL1

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 6, 2017
2,008
2,415
Germany
Kung said:
So...hold up. I want to see if I'm reading this wrong. No support for RCS outside of the US? Or no support for RCS *on Apple devices yet* outside of the US?

If the latter, I can understand that. But if the former....this kind of contradicts Google's entire argument for how Apple's lack of RCS support was hamstringing people texting between Apple/Google devices.
Click to expand...

HouseLannister said:
This is interesting. Is Apple not going to support MVNOs at all or just in the early betas? If only working on the Big 3 in the US, the real test once the feature launches is can a Google RCS Android phone send to an iPhone on a supported carrier if the Android phone is not on a supported carrier (i.e. Pixel on Mint Mobile sending to an iPhone on Verizon). I don’t know enough about the standard or Apple’s implementation to know how well this will cooperate with Google’s.
Click to expand...
So this is the current situation:

Apple does not provide their own Jibe Service equivalent, they require operators to provide the RCS service endpoints (as defined in the spec), just like they do with e.g. MMS.

Years ago Google did the same, but carriers in the US were very slow to spin up Universal Profile / interconnected RCS hubs so they started providing a generic Jibe fallback as part of Google Messages (e.g. if your carrier has no RCS support, they take over and throw you on Jibe so every single Google Messages user gets access to RCS, no matter which carrier. If your carrier supports RCS, the Google Messages app uses that first and foremost).
This kind of killed all chances at RCS being properly implemented at the carrier level, because Google ate their cake with their generic fallback method which enabled carriers to be lazy (no real money in RCS, so slow adoption and eventually most carriers just gave up). Some carriers, namely the big 3 in the US, did at least partner with Jibe and provide endpoints that essentially forward traffic to the Jibe Service (so they have a RCS endpoints that does nothing except link to Jibe, zero requirement on their end).

Now we‘re in 2024, Apple pushes out support for RCS at the carrier level. There is no Apple-Jibe-Competitor that kicks in when your provider doesn‘t provide RCS functionality (or at the very least a Jibe link-up endpoint). The laziness of carriers becomes very apparent and public, probably forcing most of them to at least partner with Jibe for their endpoints.

The beta only seems to have the 3 big US carriers set up for RCS, could be partially due to Apple probably having the most discourse with these 3. Others can easily get their carrier profile updated to include their own RCS setup, it‘s just a matter of getting it done, which carriers are notoriously bad in.

Could be that we‘re looking at a fall launch for most carriers with a ready to go RCS setup, or worse, staggered all throughout the next year until carriers get their asses together and provide updated profiles or Apple says „nvm“ and pushes out a generic RCS setup that also links up to Jibe (unlikely, would play into Googles hands too much).
 
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twx

twx

macrumors 6502a
Sep 22, 2017
620
1,887
Michigan, USA
RCS from my iPhone 15 Pro Max on Verizon to another VZW customer is now working as of this morning. Just noticed it.

1e844fb9337f70a382db8d00f3598264.png
 
D

DarthBradicus

macrumors regular
May 13, 2008
105
78
Pittsburgh, PA
twx said:
RCS from my iPhone 15 Pro Max on Verizon to another VZW customer is now working as of this morning. Just noticed it.

1e844fb9337f70a382db8d00f3598264.png
Click to expand...
Strange. Also have a 15 Pro Max on Verizon and RCS is not working for me. I also have a T-Mobile line where it is working, but my main line is Verizon.

I’ve toggled it off and back on, and I checked with people who are also on Verizon.
 
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