Using RCS with Google Messages on GrapheneOS

eatinggrumble84

I double checked that the READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFIERS was still set to Allow for Play Services. Then I just uninstalled Messages, reinstalled 20241120_00_RC07, set the SMS permission and default SMS app prior to opening. RCS pretty much immediately reconnected within a few seconds and started working again with Etouffee provisioned true with this 20241120_00_RC07 version. That hasn't happened in any recent time.
I may still update to the latest Play Store version to get all the features and see how long it stays working with that.

aaravchen

eatinggrumble84
Interesting. I wonder if the automatic granting of permissions wasn't triggering in that older version. If that can work and actually re-authenticate while also successfully provisioning, that seems like a solution that should work indefinitely.

cb474

eatinggrumble84 aaravchen I had a similar experience, but I was still on 20250311_04_RC01. For me RCS failed somewhere between 96 - 134 hours. I was traveling and 96 hours is the last point I know it was working. At one point, I was in an area with no cell phone reception or wifi for 20 hours and eventually just put my phone in airplane mode. When I finally reconnected to T-Mobile via wifi calling RCS wasn't working. I figured it may have failed because of my lack of service, but it sounds like that perhaps is not the case.

Then when I went to set things back up, I started as normal with installing 20241120_00_RC07 and was surprised to see not only that it "connected" to RCS right away, but also Etouffee was "true." That's the first time ever Etouffee has gone to true for me on 20241120_00_RC07 (and I really tried a lot). I'm assuming it happened this time because of setting read_device_identifiers to allow for Play Services.

I'm still tempted to try updating to the Play Store version. But if I can just cruise on 20241120_00_RC07 that's tempting also (and I wonder if I will ever get it to provision Etouffee again).

anorak Is 20241120_00_RC07 still working for you? Or have you had resets?

aaravchen

eatinggrumble84
Mine did the same yesterday morning after about the same time. It's been working so far and I'm hopeful it will run another 98-ish hours.

sparrow29

Off-topic, but this is encouraging re: RCS adoption
https://9to5mac.com/2026/01/12/ios-26-3-beta-hints-at-upcoming-end-to-end-encryption-for-rcs/

whoiswes

cb474

Just FYI - I have 2 Pixel 6as running 20241120_00_RC07 with the READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFIERS permission granted to play services, and they have been up and running without issue since October.

I recently (Monday) moved my 8a back to graphene. I installed 20241120_00_RC07 initially without READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFERS, and wasn't able to get Etouffe to true. Updated to 20250311_04_RC01, which did get Etouffee to true. That all worked fine, and late last night I updated to current. I'll see if things break, and if they do, I'll start back at the beginning (2024 -> 2025 -> current) with READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFIERS granted, giving each step a few days to see how stable things are.

anorak

cb474 Yes, 20241120_00_RC07 is still working perfectly for me with no interrupts since it started. I haven't had any long network disconnects though. I will add that on a Graphene system update my phone restarted and when someone tried sending me a message and it appeared that I was offline for them. As soon as I unlocked the phone (~30 minutes after the message was sent) their message was delivered. I am assuming that's because it is not a privileged app and cannot start until the phone is unlocked.

litlelilim

Following the method of clearing storage on messages and play services and reinstalling messages and giving back its permissions doesn't enable RCS for me anymore. My app is stuck on setting up RCS. I am away so I can't enable device identifiers, wondering if there is a work around.

LordDrakkon

cb474 I seem to have finally got my T-Mobile RCS provisioned and sticking. It has been 4 days now and it's still connected on the latest version of Google Messages. I went with a mix of methods seen in this very long thread.

I had my T-Mobile number disconnected from RCS for 13 days (had kind of given up on it) before doing what I did. I made sure to go to the Google site to disconnect RCS. I cleared the cache and storage of Google Messages (latest version) before uninstalling it. I cleared the cache and storage of Google Play Services as well. I installed Carrier Services from the Play Store. I used ADB to grant the permissions, READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFIERS for gms and ims. I installed the 20241120_00_RC07, gave it all permissions, then set it as the default messaging app. I opened Google Messages, signed in with my Google Account, and finished the setup. RCS did not connect right away! It took a few minutes with no restart needed. Once it connected, I checked to make sure Etouffee was true in the Debug Settings, which it was. I waited about a half hour to make sure it was going to stay connected before upgrading to the latest version from the Google Play Store. After a day, I went in and took away location and mic permissions since those are two things I never really use with Google Messages.

It has been a full 4 days now and RCS is still working on my T-Mobile SIM. I'm not sure if I just managed to get lucky with it still working so far but it is nice to have RCS back working on the line I use the most.

cb474

LordDrakkon That's interesting to hear that you've made it to four days, with the latest version of Messages. I'm still hesistant to update from 20241120_00_RC07 now that I get it fully connected, including with Etouffee provisioned. But I guess I really should try updating to the latest version, to see what happens.

inthewaves

If you're on a recent version of Google Messages (like version messages.android_20260119_02_RC00.phone_dynamic, versionCode 298032063) and the RCS status is stuck on "Connecting..." (with status code of something like 3000), could you please do the following steps:

Open log viewer for Google Play services. You can do this from Settings -> Apps -> Sandboxed Google Play -> Play services app info -> View logs. Doing this first just to have the log viewer in the recents
Open up Google Messages and go to the RCS settings screen
Toggle the "Turn on RCS chats" off and then on again
Go back to the log viewer for Google Play services
Tap the search icon and set the filter to verification

Let me know what you see. For me with Tello (T-Mobile MVNO), it shows this:

type: logcat
osVersion: google/tokay/tokay:16/BP4A.260105.004.E1/2026012600:user/release-keys
flags: bootloader unlocked, dev options enabled
package: com.google.android.gms:255034035, targetSdk 36
buffers: main,system,crash,events,kernel
level: info
filterRegex: verification

--------- beginning of main
02-06 13:13:14.662  3344  9005 I constellation: [verification factory] Doing TS43 verification
02-06 13:13:14.662  3344  9005 I constellation: [verification_manager] Proceeding with verification
02-06 13:13:15.682  3344  9005 I constellation: [verification_manager] Verification attempt finished, new state: NONE
02-06 13:13:15.683  3344  9005 I constellation: [verification_manager] Final verification has state: NONE
02-06 13:13:15.693  3344  9005 I constellation: [event_manager] Successfully synced verification
02-06 13:13:15.698  3344   715 W constellation: [api_verify_phone_operation] Invalid verification method: 
02-06 13:24:43.285  3344  9575 I constellation: [verification factory] Doing TS43 verification
02-06 13:24:43.285  3344  9575 I constellation: [verification_manager] Proceeding with verification
02-06 13:24:44.239  3344  9575 I constellation: [verification_manager] Verification attempt finished, new state: NONE
02-06 13:24:44.239  3344  9575 I constellation: [verification_manager] Final verification has state: NONE
02-06 13:24:44.244  3344  9575 I constellation: [event_manager] Successfully synced verification
02-06 13:24:44.248  3344  5107 W constellation: [api_verify_phone_operation] Invalid verification method:

MrRoboto1212

inthewaves ```

Also T-Mo

Same app ver code you gave. VPN disabled, Play Services has network, notif, phone, SMS, storage/contact scope perms
Messages has all perms

type: logcat
osVersion: google/komodo/komodo:16/BP4A.260105.004.E1/2026012801:user/release-keys
flags: dev options enabled
package: com.google.android.gms:255034035, targetSdk 36
buffers: main,system,crash,events,kernel
level: verbose
filterRegex: verification

--------- beginning of main
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: [verification_manager] Verification failed:
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: bfjf: sync
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: 	at beqn.B(:com.google.android.gms@255034035@25.50.34 (260400-855735097):49)
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: 	at beqn.i(:com.google.android.gms@255034035@25.50.34 (260400-855735097):441)
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: 	at bepg.n(:com.google.android.gms@255034035@25.50.34 (260400-855735097):32)
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: 	at com.google.android.gms.constellation.EventManager.g(:com.google.android.gms@255034035@25.50.34 (260400-855735097):345)
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: 	at com.google.android.gms.constellation.EventManager.onHandleIntent(:com.google.android.gms@255034035@25.50.34 (260400-855735097):384)
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: 	at com.google.android.chimera.IntentOperation.onHandleIntent(:com.google.android.gms@255034035@25.50.34 (260400-855735097):1)
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: 	at ayly.onHandleIntent(:com.google.android.gms@255034035@25.50.34 (260400-855735097):84)
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: 	at yol.run(:com.google.android.gms@255034035@25.50.34 (260400-855735097):64)
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: 	at yok.run(:com.google.android.gms@255034035@25.50.34 (260400-855735097):132)
02-06 23:55:03.093  3565  7853 E constellation: 	at glma.run(:com.google.android.gms@255034035@25.50.34 (260400-855735097):19)

Only difference being this is after fresh app install + 1 reboot, not multiple days of connecting as you eluded to

inthewaves

inthewaves Can't edit my post, but it doesn't have to be that specific Google Messages version. If stuck on "Connecting" even on a not-so-recent version of Google Messages, it would be nice to see the results from the steps for that as well

MrRoboto1212

inthewaves

inthewaves Let me know what you see

Any particular reason why you liked to know this? I provided it because I've had constant issue since October - no RCS from then on

MrRoboto1212

inthewaves repeated these steps, and viewed play services logs, like I did in the post directly below it, and nothing is associated with it now, only a header

type: logcat
osVersion: google/komodo/komodo:16/BP4A.260205.002/2026021201:user/release-keys
flags: dev options enabled
package: com.google.android.gms:255034035, targetSdk 36
buffers: main,system,crash,events,kernel
level: verbose
filterRegex: verification

```
`

MrRoboto1212

Let me add a few more lines which occur directly after those ones for good measure:

02-07 00:02:04.258  3565  8334 E constellation: 	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1154)
02-07 00:02:04.258  3565  8334 E constellation: 	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:652)
02-07 00:02:04.258  3565  8334 E constellation: 	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1563)
02-07 00:02:04.259  3565  8334 E constellation: [event_manager] Failed to sync verifications:
02-07 00:02:04.259  3565  8334 E constellation: bfjf: sync

MrRoboto1212

cb474

Personally, updating to the latest version doesn't do anything for me. It doesn't connect and stays on 'Connecting...'

Hence why: people are turning to much to order versions of Messages.
You would think Google would have the whole 'connecting to RCS' thing nailed after this, but apparently not. They keep screwing it up cause "billion dollar company" shenanigans.

inthewaves

@LordDrakkon Could you go to Debug menu -> RCS -> Configure MobileConfiguration, tap on your SIM between the Force Sync and Refresh buttons, and then scroll down and take a screenshot? I'm mostly interested in is_ts43_supported and upi_policy_id

For me on Tello with the latest Google Messages (20260119_02_RC00), upi_policy_id is upi-carrier-tos-ts43 and is_ts43_supported is true. RCS doesn't activate for me.

On an older version of Google Messages (20241120_00_RC07), Tello had upi_policy_id of upi-mo-strict-policy-mt-priority where RCS activation succeeded (but sending messages in RCS doesn't). (The config also doesn't have any ts43-related fields.)

jcom

Are there carriers/MVNOs right now where RCS is just working properly without all of this tinkering? And if so, is that anticipated to continue or will it break at some point down the line?

wildoil

jcom it worked for me without any issue when I was on Google Fi. I didn't have to do anything beyond installing Messages from the Play Store and using it as my default SMS app.

It stopped working when I switched to Mint (beyond the short bursts after installing the old version of Messages).

5rlyn

jcom US Mobile's "Warp" network (Verizon MVNO) is working, albeit took some time for it to connect. I would assume any Verizon based network then as well. It may stay that way, or it may run into the same problem T-Mobile and AT&T has eventually (though US Mobile maintains MVNOs on all three, so theoretically you could change to any one that was working at the time).
Google Fi is likely the safest, though it's more expensive and a somewhat ironic choice.

cb474

jcom As others mentioned, supposedly RCS works properly with Graphene on Verizon and I have seen a few people mention it working on Google Fi but that has not come up as much here (it's weird that Google itself is not doing the additional verification checks that cause the problems). That's in the U.S. I don't really know about carriers outside the U.S.

But I don't think anyone can say that it won't eventually break on Verizon or other carriers where it is currently working. At first it was only T-Mobile having the problem, where Messages needed to have special system level privileges (that Graphene doesn't allow) to verify with the backend servers properly. Then AT&T made the same updates to their backend system that T-Mobile made and AT&T started having the same problems on Graphene. So it's entirely possible other carriers will also at some point make these changes. Who knows.

inthewaves

MrRoboto1212 The TS.43 verifier in Google Play services doesn't appear to be functioning properly (it doesn't have permissions to finish an EAP-AKA challenge from the carrier's entitlement server). If your logs had similar output to my logs like [verification factory] Doing TS43 verification, then we would likely have the same issue. Some carriers seem to be expecting verification based on TS.43. But your logs didn't show it, so might be a different issue.

Could you go to the Google Messages Debug menu (can show this by searching for *xyzzy* in Google Messages) -> RCS -> Configure MobileConfiguration, tap on your SIM between the Force Sync and Refresh buttons, and then let me know what it says for is_ts43_supported and upi_policy_id? If the policy id is upi-carrier-tos-ts43 or upi-ts43-only, then your carrier probably expects TS.43 verification

MrRoboto1212

inthewaves

is_ts43_supported: true

upi_policy_id: upi_carrier_tos_ts43

I'll mention RCS_enabled_state: Enabled too, but I'm on endless connecting mode, so I'm not sure if it means much when Etouffee hasn't turned true

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