RCS supported carriers

[Tune]

I can't seem to edit the Wiki... but just wanted to confirm that Boost Mobile is NOT yet supported.

 

[rgeiger97]

I can't seem to edit the Wiki... but just wanted to confirm that Boost Mobile is NOT yet supported.

You can't be a "macrumors newbie" and edit Wiki posts. I went ahead and added it to the post for you.

 

[68000/030]

"for some strange reason"

Because it's being released as part of a beta software and they are probably rolling it out slowly for some reason unknown to consumers... It's really not that strange...

I sware no matter how many times you remind people that they are using a beta and a lot of things won't be fully working yet, they still choose to complain.. unreal

Yeah sure, we'll see how will the support look in October. So far, judging by the list of supported carriers, there's not so much beta testing of this feature going on at the moment...

 

[magicMac]

hope there is a large batch of carriers added in beta 4 carrier profile

 

[Goodeye]

That‘s false. RCS works right away here for new conversations and existing ones (if yours is stuck at SMS, try opening the new conversation composer and enter your contact there, it should trigger iMessage / RCS presence checks and unblock your conversation).


Reactions have only been officially added to the Universal Profile Version 2.7 (adds reactions, inline replies and edit messages / undo send to the spec), which was finalized last month.
For reference, Apple uses Version 2.4 from 2019.

If reactions sometimes work for you it‘s simply Apples Messages app parsing the incoming message from your screenshot as a reaction (same goes for the Google Messages app, it‘s just plaintext being sent with an emoji for both under the hood). Your screenshots reaction text obviously can‘t be parsed cause you can‘t map it to a text (since it‘s an image and not a plaintext you can look up in the conversation).

Not only that if you're in a group chat if its full of Android users it would mean that ALL Android users in the chat as well as ALL iPhone users in the chat have RCS enabled. If not, then it's defaulting to SMS/MMS and will have the standard way we've experienced reactions up to RCS being available (in Beta)

 

[Aoligei]

That‘s false. RCS works right away here for new conversations and existing ones (if yours is stuck at SMS, try opening the new conversation composer and enter your contact there, it should trigger iMessage / RCS presence checks and unblock your conversation).

that's strange. All the chat with Android friends started as SMS then got switch to RCS after replies from other side.

 

[dk001]

that's strange. All the chat with Android friends started as SMS then got switch to RCS after replies from other side.

@TimFL1

I have an S24 Ultra with RCS. I took the eSIM from my 15PM and moved it to my Zenphone 10 (fresh factory reset).
I installed Google Messages as the default and turned on RCS.

When I went to send a message to my S24U, I got a message telling me the recipient can receive RCS and did I want to use RCS. I then chose the option to use RCS to send. It knew when I went to send that RCS is supported. 👍. No initial message send required.

My carrier is Mint Mobile.

UPDATE: I moved the eSIM back to my 15PM. Took a couple of minutes.

 

[ttforever]

EE and O2 in the UK confirmed to lack RCS support.

Both support it via android, so probably just awaiting carrier update

 

[TimFL1]

On a roadtrip just now and RCS has gone incredibly unreliable. I‘m at full 5G due to driving around a major cities highway but all my RCS chats downgraded to SMS and wont upgrade anymore.

I assume Apple is very aggressive about checking RCS presence, unlike iMessage where they hijack your number for a long time. That is something that should be fixed so it doesn‘t downgrade as harshly… especially with loads of contacts abroad (hefty SMS fees).

 

[Aoligei]

On a roadtrip just now and RCS has gone incredibly unreliable. I‘m at full 5G due to driving around a major cities highway but all my RCS chats downgraded to SMS and wont upgrade anymore.

I assume Apple is very aggressive about checking RCS presence, unlike iMessage where they hijack your number for a long time. That is something that should be fixed so it doesn‘t downgrade as harshly… especially with loads of contacts abroad (hefty SMS fees).

I think this is common problem with RCS in general. My Pixel’s Google Message goes on and off RCS message from time to time.

 

[dk001]

I think this is common problem with RCS in general. My Pixel’s Google Message goes on and off RCS message from time to time.

S24 Ultra, OnePlus 9 Pro and 12, Honor Magic V2. On Mint Mobile.
I can’t remember the last time I had RCS drop to SMS while traveling around the US. Unless I just lost cell service entirely.

Ouch.

 

[TimFL1]

S24 Ultra, OnePlus 9 Pro and 12, Honor Magic V2. On Mint Mobile.
I can’t remember the last time I had RCS drop to SMS while traveling around the US. Unless I just lost cell service entirely.

Ouch.

That‘s the funny thing, I was actively using the phone while my wife drove and had full 5G and really good speed.

RCS started working again after we arrived at our vacation home and has been "rock solid" again ever since (as far as I can tell).

I really wonder how this works with RCS group chats, I mean they can‘t crash them whenever a single participant has issues?
How group chats behave with RCS is one big question mark no one seems to have tested properly so far…

 

[dk001]

That‘s the funny thing, I was actively using the phone while my wife drove and had full 5G and really good speed.

RCS started working again after we arrived at our vacation home and has been "rock solid" again ever since (as far as I can tell).

I really wonder how this works with RCS group chats, I mean they can‘t crash them whenever a single participant has issues?
How group chats behave with RCS is one big question mark no one seems to have tested properly so far…

Good question. I’m going to have to look into that before this goes live.

 

[TimFL1]

On a roadtrip just now and RCS has gone incredibly unreliable. I‘m at full 5G due to driving around a major cities highway but all my RCS chats downgraded to SMS and wont upgrade anymore.

I assume Apple is very aggressive about checking RCS presence, unlike iMessage where they hijack your number for a long time. That is something that should be fixed so it doesn‘t downgrade as harshly… especially with loads of contacts abroad (hefty SMS fees).

I just read an insightful post by someone on reddit, who claims that these issues potentially stem from using wireless CarPlay. Sounds plausible to me, since that disables loads of connectivity related functionality like wifi etc (and maybe even uses car antennas for some things)?

 

[dk001]

I just read an insightful post by someone on reddit, who claims that these issues potentially stem from using wireless CarPlay. Sounds plausible to me, since that disables loads of connectivity related functionality like wifi etc (and maybe even uses car antennas for some things)?

That is interesting. Have to keep an eye on that. The only device I use RCS on and Wireless (Sync 4) via my vehicle is my S24U.

 

[xxFoxtail]

Visible (US) should be getting it in the next beta release.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Visible/comments/1e6igsl/_/ldu28kt
Edit: RCS confirmed working on Visible

 

[Maclver]

Hoping Xfinity gets RCS with the next beta. Had to go back to iOS 17 because MMS and SMS wasn’t working on iOS 18.

 

[bigjnyc]

On a roadtrip just now and RCS has gone incredibly unreliable. I‘m at full 5G due to driving around a major cities highway but all my RCS chats downgraded to SMS and wont upgrade anymore.

I assume Apple is very aggressive about checking RCS presence, unlike iMessage where they hijack your number for a long time. That is something that should be fixed so it doesn‘t downgrade as harshly… especially with loads of contacts abroad (hefty SMS fees).

This happens to me all the time on my work Galaxy S22.... I could be in a major city and the phone goes from RCS to SMS all the time. I spoke to an android user friend of mine and he told me this is a common RCS issue they deal with.

 

[dk001]

This happens to me all the time on my work Galaxy S22.... I could be in a major city and the phone goes from RCS to SMS all the time. I spoke to an android user friend of mine and he told me this is a common RCS issue they deal with.

I find that odd. Had an S23 Ultra and switched to an S24 Ultra. Coastal SoCal and no mid-Arizona and I have not noticed an issue with RCS. The few times there was an issue it was due to cell coverage.

While testing an Honor Magic V2 and other android devices I have the same experience with RCS. No real issues.
Wonder why the difference. Running mine on Mint Mobile.

 

[Yptcn]

It seems like SFR in France is getting it too . I just read that on a french forum .

 

[TimFL1]

This happens to me all the time on my work Galaxy S22.... I could be in a major city and the phone goes from RCS to SMS all the time. I spoke to an android user friend of mine and he told me this is a common RCS issue they deal with.

It‘s bulletproof here except when I use CarPlay, then it vanishes.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Can you disable SMS fallback without disabling RCS?

 

[TimFL1]

Can you disable SMS fallback without disabling RCS?

From my limited testing / experience, it works like this:

- Messages changes on the fly between RCS and SMS, this is partially decided by your data connection and the connection of your contact
- When you send a RCS message that‘s not delivered (e.g. your data goes out in the process or your contact didn‘t heartbeat Jibe etc.) it fails and gives you the option to resend as SMS if the send as text messages toggle is off

There seems to be NO way to force a RCS chat from staying RCS, regardless of participant RCS status. That is for 1-on-1 at least, no idea how group chats work with RCS since no one I know is willing to move their group chats off of WhatsApp (and loads of iOS users without RCS / 18 betas).

I wonder why we don‘t have an indepth guide about RCS group chats yet, mainly how SMS downgrades etc work and what the limit is for them (UP specifies 100, which is 68 more than iMessage groups support).

 

[Ansath]

Not seen any joy with the UK, yet.

 

[TimFL1]

Not seen any joy with the UK, yet.

There have been a few MVNO who came out and claim they‘ll be on board with Beta 4 (I think Visible is one of them?), so it‘s probably safe to assume that new RCS supported carrier profiles have to wait for new builds to release.

I have a feeling that Beta 4 will explode in terms of RCS support. Shouldn‘t that hit today?