Using RCS with Google Messages on GrapheneOS

aaravchen

gos27371
I believe that deregistraion ability via that link has been mostly intentionally misleading Google propaganda.
It only actually works if you can sign in to authenticate your ownership of the phone number you're trying to deregister, which means you have to have a Google account, with that phone number linked to it, and have to be signed into Messages with your Google account, and if the RCS server being used is Google's (no longer even available to the best of my knowledge, now their all "the carriers", even if they're temporarily being run by Google on behalf of the carrier in many cases).

gos27371

aaravchen Oh that absolutely would check out.

alwarnecke

WestQuester installed messages.android_20241120_00_RC07.phone_dynamic versionCode 262371063 on October 13th and RCS has been functioning for me ever since. I won't upgrade until the issue is solved.

Thank you so much for this. 50 hours and counting, RCS still going strong. I installed the bundle with APKMirror, working great.

Pixel 7, Spectrum Mobile (Verizon)

iudnu

iudnu A follow up... After doing this a couple times everything seems to be working as expected for me -- as of about a week or so.

WingedHussar__

gos27371 Dang, made it the furthest with these steps. (T-Mobile, Pixel 9a). Really appreciate everyone's help they're providing here.

I can get to "Connected" but won't actually send as anything but SMS / MMS.
I've also tried a lot of the other fixes including one where I removed the number off my Google account and re-add, no luck.

Weirdly (Or maybe not, new to GOS) the Carrier Services app doesn't show up in the app list, even when "Show system apps" is selected. When I go to uninstall it via the Play Store I can click "More Options" and it'll open the Carrier Services app info screen, but Permissions/Force Stop/etc. are greyed out. The only button I can click is "Enable" but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Having a heavy reliance on RCS between friends & family means I'll probably have to come back to GrapheneOS - either I'll convince enough of the people I message to swap to something like Signal or maybe there will be a better solution by then haha

23Sha-ger

WingedHussar__
Clean cache from the Google Messages, reboot, if it's connected, it should work.
Basically it's using the Jive infrastructure from Google, like XMPP/Whatsapp.
Can be quirky but eventually works.

WingedHussar__

23Sha-ger Appreciate the reply, gave it a try & no dice. I'll give it some time and see if it figures itself out.

Turtacular

WingedHussar__ you are likely not provisioned (etouffee showing as false in the debug menu). If that's the case, I can point you towards an apk bundle that has worked for three phones so far and continues to work on my own for 2 weeks now.

BuckWylde

Turtacular Which apk bundle is this?

WingedHussar__

Turtacular I am using: 20241120_00_RC07 from APK Mirror, 262371063

I have good news that it does work now. All I did differently from yesterday to today was clear cache as 23Sha-ger indicated, rebooted, and then waited. Around 3 am this morning I got spammed by a bunch of RCS messages that Google was apparently holding.

Edit: noticed that the app must have updated to the current version (292683063). Still works at least for now.

However, if you can share the one you have that would be great - just in case I get the 24-48 hour issue others have described.

Turtacular

@BuckWylde @WingedHussar__
What I've consistently done is use this apk first to get connected:
com.google.android.apps.messaging_messages.android_20241120_00_RC07.phone_dynamic-262371063_minAPI26(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a,x86,x86_64)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk

And then update to this bundle to get provisioned:
com.google.android.apps.messaging_messages.android_20250311_04_RC01.phone_dynamic-273168063_4arch_7dpi_24lang_0fa6bd6ebbb40b6d0d8682c5d4f6453d_apkmirror.com.apkm

Since doing that, I've not needed to do the 24 hour trick anymore, though make sure to disable automatic updates for the app in the Play Store.

BuckWylde

Turtacular I just did your method and I instantly got provisioned! I'll update to how long it lasts

cb474

Turtacular What carrier are you on?

cb474

Turtacular What I've consistently done is use this apk first to get connected:
com.google.android.apps.messaging_messages.android_20241120_00_RC07.phone_dynamic-262371063_minAPI26(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a,x86,x86_64)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk

And then update to this bundle to get provisioned:
com.google.android.apps.messaging_messages.android_20250311_04_RC01.phone_dynamic-273168063_4arch_7dpi_24lang_0fa6bd6ebbb40b6d0d8682c5d4f6453d_apkmirror.com.apkm

Since doing that, I've not needed to do the 24 hour trick anymore, though make sure to disable automatic updates for the app in the Play Store.

Turtacular If you're currently in "waiting to connect" land, turn off RCS, then delete the Messages app. Install the first apk I mentioned and RCS should connect instantly. Update to the bundle and Etouffee should provision in under a minute.

I tried this method this morning and it worked for me. It was great to get connected and provisioned without all the rebooting I had been doing. I wonder if updating to the Play Store version would have worked with the same method? Of course, that would mean the 36 hour reset problem would continue. In any case, I followed your suggestion to update to 20250311_04_RC01 instead. Now I'll have to wait and see if it lasts beyond the 36 hour reset period. Thanks again for the idea.

nowcircumscribeyahoo

Turtacular This is the only method currently working for me, P9 on T-Mobile. Practically all features retained, and no daily reset needed. This is totally fine until GOS has a more universal/permanent solution, thank God. 🙏

Turtacular

cb474 Mint for all three devices. Two Pixel 8s and one 7 or 7a- I forget which.

cb474

Turtacular Thanks. So that's T-Mobile. I've been using the same version of Messages (with the .apkm file) to get connected. But I'll have to try your method of updating to a different old version, instead of the Play Store version. I had been wondering if there is some version between 20241120_00_RC07 and now that just works.

Do you clear data and cache before installing the old version to get connected?

I've been following @Vuraze method. 1. Uninstall Messages. 2. Reboot. 3. Install old version of Messages. 4. Set Messages as default SMS app. 5. Open Messages and check RCS. 6. Reboot regardless of whether Messages "connects" to RCS or not. 7. Check that Messags is "connected." 8. Update to Play Store version. 9. Check that Messages has provisioned Etouffee, but usually I have to reboot at least once to get Etouffee to provision.

Turtacular

cb474 I was using that same routine but this works simpler IME.

If you're currently in "waiting to connect" land, turn off RCS, then delete the Messages app. Install the first apk I mentioned and RCS should connect instantly. Update to the bundle and Etouffee should provision in under a minute.

cb474

Turtacular That is a lot simpler! Thanks. I'll try that.

Is there any reason you use the .apk for the first version of Messages and the .apkm (bundle) for the second?

Turtacular

Simplicity in the first and necessity in the second 👍

SouthernPolish99

I wanted to share my experience getting RCS to work on AT&T, since I haven't seen any recent posts with that carrier. This is on a new pixel 9.

I had tried all the before mentioned permissions, settings and simple tricks with no luck. I tried two different previous versions and neither provided any change. I went back to my old phone and turned off RCS, waited a day, even left some chats, no difference. I was always sitting at trying to connect.

What finally did it for me was editing the read_device_identifiers setting for messages to allow, and installing messages version 242499063. This and a restart and a force stop and clear cache got it to connect. I even received a text message from the carrier (!) Saying that Google is reauthenticating your phone number. Within the next couple hours all message threads switched to RCS and the group message I was waiting on updated. Has been working for about 4 days now. Hope this helps someone.

seaside

SouthernPolish99 Thanks for sharing, unfortunately this did not work for me on AT&T through US Mobile, it just says "RCS chats aren't available for this device." And I am reluctant at this point to try with my actual AT&T (direct, no MVNO) sim as I don't want to break all my RCS group chats again.

I hope Graphene devs can find a fix, but I have lost all faith in RCS on GOS. I don't trust Google not to make more breaking changes going forward, and with the way that RCS breaks (i.e. not reliably falling back to MMS in group chats but instead breaking them to the point of being unable to receive messages, thus forcing me to have to get other group chat members to delete and recreate the group chats), it's such a hassle when RCS breaks that I've moved my main sim to an old Pixel running stock OS and may not move back even if devs do find a fix to the latest RCS issue.

seaside

aaravchen I appreciate that you took the time to write all of this out, and I hope it's able to help someone. But I don't believe it applies to AT&T.

At the beginning of this RCS saga, I received a text from Google saying that my carrier was now responsible for maintaining RCS, so I believe AT&T has already made the changes that Google asked for. Back in October, I also was able to get RCS working using Verizon through US Mobile, but when I attempted the exact same steps using AT&T through US Mobile, it didn't work. This again seems to indicate that AT&T has already changed something about RCS on their end.

I have since tried just about every workaround I've seen posted on this forum, on the GOS Discord, and on Reddit, and none of them have worked for AT&T. Aside from SouthernPolish99, I also have not seen anyone say they've gotten RCS working on AT&T.

I tried SouthernPolish99's steps, but they didn't work for me. Possibly because I'm using an MVNO, but as I said, I'm not willing at this point to experiment further with my main AT&T sim for fear of breaking all of my RCS group chats again.

Edit: I also want to mention, I do not believe that granting alarms & reminders permissions is necessary. It certainly is not necessary to get it working on Verizon (through US Mobile).

« Previous Page Next Page »