Using RCS with Google Messages on GrapheneOS

cb474

MrRoboto1212 My RCS never worked with 71063, but I waited it out while testing 66063 and it took 3 days to actually connect. I thought after that amount of time it would fail again like the others, but suddenly RCS began working after not checking the status for a full day. That's why I was surprised - I sent a message to someone and it was a dark color instead of grey

Once it started working on 66063, how long has it continued to work? Is it working beyond the 36 hour typical failure point?

MrRoboto1212

cb474 It is still functioning as of now

Judgeadam

Well it finally happened bois. My RCS stopped working and is falling back to SMS. I was more or less fine on Verizon for a few weeks and now it don't connect again. We are back to square one.

Am on latest GOS and messages. Any ideas what to try? Just wondering. This is starting to worry me. I can't believe RCS may tank using GOS. How are you guys doing with the latest update for those on Verizon? I did the whole install messages ver 2020804 etc then update. No dice.

Judgeadam

Judgeadam after latest GOS update now it says device not supported. Ugh. Back to this again. Oh well.

mousetrapreplica

Something has almost certainly changed with the way RCS is working, at least through my carrier, in the past 48 hours. On T-Mobile MVNO Mint Mobile.

I'd had 0 issues for weeks using the "workaround" of installing the old version sited often in this thread, rebooting a lot, upgrading the app after RCS connection. Yesterday I had intermittent RCS downgrades in different conversations. Today I cannot seem to get the "workaround" to work anymore despite many retries and lots of patience/waiting.

GrapheneOS

If you're on GmsCompatLib 101, try downgrading it to the version included in the OS via Settings > Apps using the menu at the top right for uninstalling updates in the app menu.

pfbangs

GrapheneOS

This worked. Rolled back, rebooted, cleared recently updated (official play build) GMess cache (not storage), relaunched, RCS sent successfully. Reply received. Confirmed working. (Thank you)

@GrapheneOS would/should this be the first TSing step should future builds see similar behavior?

BuckWylde

I can confirm that what GrapheneOS said works. I just got everything working again!

mousetrapreplica

GrapheneOS this worked. T-Mobile MVNO user. Thanks.

tRexDestroyer

GrapheneOS
This worked thank you. I'm using Google Fi

pfbangs

My original report here
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/1353-using-rcs-with-google-messages-on-grapheneos/1071

Worked for whatever duration between now and the beta release the team referenced would fix it (it did).

I was removed from all RCS group chats from the original downtime (30 day GMess threshold, forced removal from all RCS group chats- I was offline for 32 days). Folks trying to re-add me to those groups simply created segmented/splintered conversations @ SMS/MMS (it was ugly). Other (iDevice) users creating new groups with me included also created splintered group comms across MMS/SMS. But when I created replacement RCS conversations/groups as the only Android user, all function worked. New group chats created slowly, as needed with family and friends, and worked until yesterday. Intentionally didn't create numerous new until at least some number of weeks went by providing some amount of confidence.

BETA gOS update installed yeterday (build #2025102301). Can't send RCS any more. RCS settings in GMess shows Verizon <phone number> Status: Connected. "Not sent" error on Send-- can resend as SMS. Really don't have the bandwidth/energy to give to this again. Will follow this and hope the thread/issue is re-opened. May need to make a decision I don't want to make re: security & user profile functionality vs reliable RCS function. I'm happy to deal with it, but involves many others who don't have related patience or knowledge of related.

GrapheneOS

pfbangs

would/should this be the first TSing step should future builds see similar behavior?

No, it was a one time issue because we didn't know updating GmsCompatLib out-of-band would be detected by Google Play as some kind of tampering occurring. It appears that it's detected by DroidGuard and other apps may also be detecting it either through Google Play or on their own. We'll need to avoid doing out-of-band GmsCompatLib updates unless we resolve this. That's quite unfortunate since it would be a nice way to quickly ship fixes for sandboxed Google Play compatibility layer issues including regressions caused by recent updates to their apps without needing to do an OS update. It would have been a good way to quickly fix compatibility issues with RCS in particular, but it seems we won't be able to use it without making changes to it.

ralm

MrRoboto1212 what exactly does Etouffee do?

It's the name of the RCS server. 'Etouffee provisioned: true' just means you're connected to it.

cb474

ralm It's the name of the RCS server. 'Etouffee provisioned: true' just means you're connected to it.

In that case, what does it mean when it says "connected" in the RCS settings, even though Etouffee may not be "true"? What does "connected" in settings refer to? What are you connected to in that instance? Just wondering.

That aside, I notice that on the github issue tracker, the main issue that seems to cause RCS to fail every 36 hours and not work without the step of installing an old version of messages is now labeled as a feature request and not a bug.

See: https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/6331

It sounds like this is not regarded as an urgent issue, I guess?

robertmckeever2

GrapheneOS So are you saying this is now fixed for all US carriers or is this something that will incorporated with a new update?

EDIT: Specifically, I am asking in regards to AT&T as I use an MVNO under them.

mousetrapreplica

robertmckeever2 this doesn't look like a fix. This looks like individual updates to a specific system app has caused some users, probably T-Mobile / MVNO and maybe Verizon users, to not be able to use the workaround every day and a half to keep RCS working.

robertmckeever2

mousetrapreplica Yeah, that was my thought and take on reading it, but needed to ask/confirm since it wasn't totally clear.

Thanks for the info and carrier.

de0u

cb474 I notice that on the github issue tracker, the main issue that seems to cause RCS to fail every 36 hours and not work without the step of installing an old version of messages is now labeled as a feature request and not a bug.

It is not clear to me that everybody needs to downgrade every 36 hours. If that is true, it would presumably be good for the developers to be aware of that. If that is true for only certain carriers, it would probably be good to know which ones.

ralm

cb474 What does "connected" in settings refer to? What are you connected to in that instance?

I don't know. The only thing making sense is that the RCS dog won't hunt unless 'Connected' and 'Etouffee provisioned' are both true.

GrapheneOS

cb474

That aside, I notice that on the github issue tracker, the main issue that seems to cause RCS to fail every 36 hours and not work without the step of installing an old version of messages is now labeled as a feature request and not a bug.

Only certain carriers such as T-Mobile require an older version to work around the newer version not working with them on GrapheneOS yet. There isn't a need to downgrade repeatedly for those carriers but rather to stay on the old version so verification keeps working. By upgrading, you're breaking verification and then it's only a matter of time before the existing verification expires. It's known that the recent Google Messages versions don't work for a small number of carriers including T-Mobile and their MVNOs on GrapheneOS yet.

cb474

de0u It is not clear to me that everybody needs to downgrade every 36 hours. If that is true, it would presumably be good for the developers to be aware of that. If that is true for only certain carriers, it would probably be good to know which ones.

Not everybody, but as I say above, for some people on T-Mobile and related MVNOs, you do have to downgrade every 36 hours. There is no other way to keep RCS working. If the devs don't know this, then it would seem they are unware of what a disruptive hassle this is.

UndercoverBozo

GrapheneOS This worked for me as well thanks.

Judgeadam

GrapheneOS omg this totally worked!!

Did the rollback of compatlib in apps, cleared cache on gmess, rebooted, turned off rcs messages which still said not compatible, killed gmess, restarted gmess, turned on RCS, bam connected in 5 seconds!!

You guys are amazing thanks and also to everyone else here who helped

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