Using RCS with Google Messages on GrapheneOS

alwarnecke

bebop10 the only permissions I give Messages:

Contacts
Network
Notifications
Phone
SMS

RCS works just fine with these.

inthewaves

@MrRoboto1212 If you're willing to, can you try reinstalling Google Play services?

In Google Messages, disable RCS toggle if it's left on and uninstall Google Messages
Delete your Google account entry under OS Settings app -> Passwords, passkeys & accounts -> Accounts category
Uninstall Google Play services and Google Play Store, then reinstall them from the App Store
Give Phone permissions for Play services and give it ICC auth permissions
Open Play Store to login to your Google account
Download Google Messages from the Play Store and set it as the default SMS app

MrRoboto1212

inthewaves I suppose I could try that as a last resort by now. Although everything is fully updated apps-wise, so I'm not entirely sure how it could help.

Definitely not performing a factory reset. RCS is not that important. If I were that worried about a MITM attack I would power off my phone in public.

namecheckobnoxiously

Can anyone in Canada confirm if they have RCS working on Bell? I've granted special permissions, but I'm getting "Not supported. Your device does not meet security requirements"

Pixel 10 XL Pro

inthewaves

namecheckobnoxiously Bell is working for me: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3c1357f5-ce0c-47f6-b219-33904d82b477

Please make sure that you've followed https://grapheneos.org/usage#rcs, i.e. you need to be in the Owner user (and not a private/work profile), Google Play services needs the Phone permission, and likely Play services and Messages also needs Internet permission. You may also need to clear storage for Google Messages and reboot.

If it's still not working, can you let me know the value of the upi_policy_id in the Debug configuration menu for Google Messages? You can unlock the debug menu by searching for xyzzy in Google Messages, then tap on your profile icon -> Debug -> RCS -> Configure MobileConfiguration. Then tap on your SIM between the Force Sync and Refresh buttons to view the configuration.

user5678

Circling back to give an update as promised.

I disabled RCS in mid January.

It was not without consequences. I missed messages from work, friends, and even a family emergency. It sucked.

But I am so glad that I did it.

I have nothing but gratitude and complements for the GrapheneOS devs for the current workaround in the ICC authentication in Sandboxed Google Play.

However, I do not trust for a minute that Google or T-mobile (or some other carrier) will not make a change that breaks RCS yet again.

I even made a separate post advising anyone who will listen to wait longer before using RCS.
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/32171-free-advice-wait-to-use-rcs-until-it-works-perfectly-in-the-world

For this thread, and those of you still fighting the good fight:

After the 30 days, the RCS group messages in my Google Messages App still had the warning at the bottom: "RCS chat not available"

After I deleted the Google Messages App, and went back to using the GrapheneOS/AOSP messaging app, any group messages that I had were now displayed as a conversation between me and a single other person (a 62-character random string)

So, instead of a group message with Alex, Bob, and Carl and me, the residual RCS chat exists is a message between me and
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@rcs.google.com

Obviously, I cannot keep messaging to that group.

On a family member's iphone, their iMessage said "user5678 has been removed from the group"

A group chat with 2 family member iphones and me on GrapheneOS is now working fine with old MMS group chat.

I know someday RCS will just work without the ever-present threat of Google or a carrier breaking it, but I won't be fooled again so soon.

node-daemon

Shendai are you on the latest stable release?

Shendai

node-daemon Yes, as far as I know.

Build 2026021201

starscream

RCS working for 7 days straight now.

But I am scared of updating to the latest release.

Can someone confirms it still works please?

aaravchen

starscream

Can confirm. I've been working for 12 days (since 10 Feb) on the latest available Google Messages release, including the new Google Messages update that happened on Feb 15th.

I was on the latest Google Messages before the GOS update that added ICC, and lucked into the GOS ICC fix update becoming available before my RCS connection expired. I enabled the ICC switch when it became available in GOS, and I've kept working without any RCS problems while continuing to use and update the Google Messages like any other normal app.

latermater5

Has anyone noticed RCS staying connected longer with the ICC setting on than without? If so, for how long?

Currently I have the ICC toggle off as RCS tends to stay connected for almost a week.

cb474

latermater5 The ICC toggle is supposed to correct the problem with why Google Messages was failing to stay connected to RCS, on carriers like T-Mobile, by providing a way for Messages to complete the verification procedure that it repeats periodically. Prior to the ICC togle Messages could not get the permissions it required to complete the verification.

So I don't think there is any reason to expect RCS to fail with the latest version of Messages, once the ICC toggle has been enabled. Of course, in the future Google or the carriers could change something again. But until they do so, things should just work, with the ICC toggle enabled.

I enabled the toggle 11 days ago and have accepted all updates to Messages, from the Play Store, and RCS continues to work fine without interruption. So I would just go ahead an enable the toggle, if you are on a carrier like T-Mobile or AT&T. On the other hand, if you are on Verizon (or other similar carriers) it was already known that RCS should work fine. Perhaps that's why you're not having a problem. The ICC toggle is only necessary for certain carriers.

WestQuester

latermater5 I left the toggle on and it has never disconnected.
Latest Messages, Mint Mobile, Pixel 8.

whoiswes

I have 3 phones, previously connected to RCS on the 20241120_00_RC07 Messages build. Updated all three to the new GOS release, enabled the ICC toggle, and updated to current messages (currently on 20260217_00_RC01). All three phones have remained connected to RCS and stable since. I think 2 of the 3 phones needed a reboot after updating messages before sending worked, but post reboot sending and receiving has been fine across individual and group chats, with iPhones in the mix.

On T-Mobile network through US Mobile MNVO.

barley

I just moved my eSIM from my iPhone to a Pixel 8 Pro with GrapheneOS installed. I turned off iMessage/Facetime and also used the website to deregister my number from iMessage.

After setting up the Pixel 8 Pro the only thing that isn't working for me is RCS messaging.

Some (maybe) useful information:

I'm on US Mobile on the Warp (Verizon) network
Standard, non-RCS SMS messages go through without issue
I've used my number on both iMessage and Google RCS at various points in the past
I've tried with the new ICC toggle OFF and ON, and it didn't appear to make a difference

When I check the logs for Google Messages, I see a couple entries that seem interesting that I haven't been able to remove after resetting the RCS connection process several times:

BugleRcsEngine: No RCS Configuration was found in Bugle for simID
BugleRcsEngine: Cannot use CS.apk as it's battery optimized (I assume this is referencing Carrier Services which I installed to see if it would help)

barley

The status code just changed to 4006: Your device does not meet security requirements

inthewaves

barley Have you followed https://grapheneos.org/usage#rcs (i.e. give Google Play services the Phone permission and make sure you're in the Owner user)? You should also make sure both Play services and Google Messages have internet permissions.

There was a US Mobile Warp (Verizon) user that ran into the same 4006 status code issue, and they managed to resolve it by following the steps in their last post:

barley

inthewaves Thanks for the reply! I have tried those steps, but I've also been trying a bunch of stuff in quick succession. It's possible I need to be more patient...

I also went to accounts.google.com and turned off other "versions" of my Pixel 8 Pro from the auto-verification process. These were from previous times when I had stock Android or GrapheneOS on this phone.

I re-started the RCS process following the steps you linked. We'll see if it works this time!

barley

barley Well, turns out the issue was with iMessage. It still hadn't released my phone number until I went to a different device and de-selected the option for iMessage to send message to my phone number.

I also tried stock Android briefly, and that verified RCS almost immediately.

When I re-installed GrapheneOS it was also immediately able to verify RCS. I just did the steps in the message that @inthewaves suggested.

Looks like I'm all good now!

Twlight-Princess

inthewaves Guess this would be a good question for you. At minimum what permission would be required for all of this to work. I've seen so many different post and different permission. even on the usage guide I looked today and it seems like it has changed a bit from when I first looked at it. I'm sure for some features this is a YMMV kind of thing.

Play Services
Phone
Network
Notifications
SMS
Sensors

Google Message - Default
Phone
Network
SMS

YMMV
Contact and Accounts
Notifications
Camera - ask every time
Microphone - Ask every time
Photos and video - Storage scopes

BTW thank you for all the hard work you and the team put into this. Been working great and I've had no issues Mint User.
For myself I was on that old version 2024 and was working the whole time no problem. Even for myself I just turned on the option and updated to the latest version via play store. I did run into a update error at first but rebooted, then it updated and been fine since.

namecheckobnoxiously

inthewaves

Thanks for the reply! Google Play has the phone permission granted, Google messages is default with network permission enabled and Play Services Special Permissions is enabled. I've cleared the storage for Google Messages and rebooted. Still getting "Device not supported"

upi_policy_id = upi-zr-mt-with-fallback

inthewaves

Twlight-Princess In my experience, I've tried around 4 different carriers (3 Canadian, 1 US being Tello since they allow non-US to sign up and use Wi-Fi calling), and they've never needed more than what's listed in https://grapheneos.org/usage#rcs. This was on a fresh sandboxed Play services install, so all of the exploit protection settings are also at their defaults (dynamic code loading via memory and storage are both allowed), and internet/sensors are enabled as well. The verification process also involves Play services making API calls to a Google service, so that's another source where verification blocks can happen (e.g. rate limiting, blocking due to some unknown criteria, etc.).

Just now, I disabled RCS on Bell, cleared data for Google Messages, and then opened Google Messages. Now seeing this log line for Play services which indicates that I'm getting rate limited: [verification_manager] Verification API failed with error: syncVerif failed: generic::resource_exhausted: verification resource is exhausted due to too many recent verifications or attempts.

namecheckobnoxiously We do have the same policy then. Can you share some logs from Google Play services with the following steps?

Do this first to have the log viewer prepared in the recent apps: Open log viewer for Google Play services. You can do this from Settings -> Apps -> Sandboxed Google Play -> Play services app info -> View logs.
Now, open Google Messages and go to the RCS settings screen
Toggle the "Turn on RCS chats" off, wait a bit, then turn it then on again
Go back to the log viewer for Google Play services
Tap the search icon and set the filter to verification

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