Using RCS with Google Messages on GrapheneOS

Unlit6179

I wanted to try out GrapheneOS for a bit of increased security and privacy. I have AT&T, and I was having issues with sending RCS messages, despite RCS displaying as being connected. It would show the first bubble with a circle and check mark (sender), but the second bubble (recipient) would not show and the message would not go through. I could receive RCS messages from people who had both Android and iOS. I was also able to see typing indicators. I decided to switch back to stock. It worked like normal at first; however, I started experiencing the same issue. I could not find what was causing the issue. I assumed it was on the carrier end, and they were of no help.

I think that I've finally identified the issue. I was using the quick tiles to disable both the camera and microphone (only enabling them when needed). I started this practice while using GrapheneOS. You're able to do the same thing on stock android. The issue appeared to resolve when I accidentally left the microphone enabled following a call. I started having issues again after disabling the microphone. I was able to fix the issue by enabling the microphone, but it didn't resolve the issue until after I reinstalled Google messages.

I thought that it might be helpful to share with the community. This could be causing issues for people based on the permissions that they are granting Google messages and for those who routinely disable the microphone.

Unlit6179

Unlit6179 TLDR::

Problem: RCS was connected but not sending messages. Could receive RCS messages and see typing indicator. I suspect that disabling the microphone through the quick tile was the culprit. It does not resolve immediately re-enabling the microphone.

Solution: It worked again after enabling the microphone and reinstalling Google Messages. I assume microphone permissions also matter for Messages.

OfflinePuffin

Unlit6179 from what I understand it doesn't need mic permissions... But I say that and have my enabled lol

Lettuce1602

I found that giving messages, and carrier location permission fixed the RCS problem for me Pixel 9

mjihka

I was able to get RCS working on my device. I'm going to include as much detail as I can think of here to hopefully be of some help to someone else.

Device and situation details

Carrier: AT&T
Phone: Google Pixel 9 Pro
(e)SIM(s): 1 eSIM (that puts it in the second slot for Pixels with a physical SIM slot)
Previous Phone: iPhone 14 Pro Max (logically I had iMessage enabled and RCS as of iOS 18)
Connection Type(s): 5G and Wi-Fi

Story

1st attempt

I setup the phone sans cellular service. I installed all my apps and secondary users. I attempted to use RCS under a secondary user after getting an eSIM provisioned to the phone. Under the secondary profile Messages could see the SIM details, but would never report a status.

2nd attempt

After reading the tips and instructions here in this thread, I reconfigured all the settings and permissions except for using adb to add the extra permission to Messages. I started to do this in the Owner profile. Reading this thread lead me to believe there is something about the RCS verification process that only works in the Owner process. A status never appeared in the RCS settings, but now I would get text messages from Google frequently attempting to confirm my number. I later tried some troubleshooting with AT&T, but they just had me reset network settings and cycled my connections to the towers. At some point in the troubleshooting with them clearing the cache got a status to appear and option to Verify my number. This ended up getting stuck in this state. Eventually they got my verification requests rate limited from asking me to re-input my details to verify so many times. So I would have to try again the next day.

3rd attempt

After getting to a dead end with AT&T, I factory reset GOS. This time I went through all the same steps from before but only setup Messages in the Owner profile. I was able to get the status messages again yet ultimately stuck at the "setting up" stage. I tried more cache clearing and eventually got familiar with the logs formats to have some basic comprehension. I discovered that sometimes when Messages would say RCS was unsupported on my device that it was actually because Messages was setting up RCS in Dual-SIM mode (DSDR) and well I only had one eSIM. Clearing cache while in airplane mode would clear that out and Messages would switch to a single SIM mode RCS setup after that. I also discovered that there was a consistent error in the logs stating something along the lines of "no RCS configuration on SIM." This made me curious if this had to do with the provisioning of my eSIM from AT&T. I tried provisioning a new eSIM from AT&T's website but the error persisted.

4th attempt

After reading all these logs, I got a hunch to setup the phone and RCS all under the stock system (as I call it SpywareOS). So I did just that. I used the Android flash tool to flash the latest stable release back to the Pixel. I configured RCS with Messages and it took several hours to actually work. An annoying part was that right after I opened Messages the first time the RCS status was CONNECTED, but I could not send an RCS message for a few hours. After this I hoped that there was now a configuration in the eSIM that would carry over when I flash GOS on the Pixel again.

5th attempt

At this time, I began to flash GOS again giving me a clean environment excluding the eSIM that would carry over. The first thing that I did, was install App Ops, Sandboxed Google Play services and Messages. That means I also signed into my Google account to download Messages from the Play Store. I added all the permissions and even added the extra permission using adb. I configured all the permissions while the devices was in airplane mode and cleared all caches for Messages, Carrier Services and Google Play Services. I made Messages the default SMS app. I disabled airplane mode and enabled cellular services only. Then I opened up Messages. The first launch I went into setting and had to enable RCS chats in settings. After a second launch, I got the "Enabling RCS" notification from RCS and when I checked the status in Messages' settings the status was CONNECTED. I attempted to send an RCS message, but no luck. Then after a few more hours of waiting it all worked.

Conclusion

So I'm not sure if setup in SpywareOS was a necessary step, but it was part of my steps that led to it being enabled. Also, in many of these steps I had to regularly go into my Google account and sign-out the devices from previous attempts and disable the devices allowed to perform automatic number verification (https://account.googel.com/phone).

For a TL,DR:

Possibly setup RCS in stock prior to GOS
start with a fresh install of GOS
install Google Play Services, Google Messages and Carrier Services
set permissions on Google Play Services: Allowed (Contacts, Network, Notifications, Phone, Sensors, SMS) Not allowed (everything else) App batter usage (Unrestricted)
sign into Google account and enable automatic phone verification
enable airplane mode
set permissions on Messages: Allowed (Call logs, Camera, Contacts, Microphone, Network, Notifications, Phone, Sensors, SMS) Storage scopes (Music and audio, Photos and videos) Not allowed (Location)
enable Developer mode, enable USB debugging and set READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFIERS to allow then disable developer mode and USB debugging
set permissions on Carrier Services: Allowed (Call logs, Network, Phone, Sensors) Storage scopes (Contacts) Not allowed (Camera, Location, Microphone) App batter usage (Unrestricted)
clear cache on Messages and Google Play Services
disable airplane mode
ensure cellular services is enabled and Wi-Fi is disabled
open Messages and ensure RCS chats are enabled
wait a few hours

quaff

I'm on TELUS, and RCS stopped working after a few weeks of constant usage.

I know someone else on GrapheneOS as well who's RCS stopped working around the same time, and they use a different network (Freedom).

This leads me to believe it was a recent GrapheneOS update that killed the RCS connection.

Carlos-Anso

quaff This leads me to believe it was a recent GrapheneOS update that killed the RCS connection

People blame 'GrapheneOS update' for all kinds of things. Most often it is not the cause.

In this case it is much more likely a change to Play Services or Googles RCS service or Messages app which is incompatible with the way a device is set up or the way some carriers are set up or a combination of these things. There are complex interactions and many places that there can be differences.

Carlos-Anso

Worth looking at this if you are not aware.
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/20980-if-rcs-just-broke-on-you-do-this

quaff

Carlos-Anso

Fair enough. Easy to blame GrapheneOS updates (especially without checking the changelogs to see if the updates actually broke anything). That thread you shared did the trick. That's crazy that all those steps are required. Will have to do it for the other person I know to see if it works for them too. Thanks again (until the next time).

carcosa

It seems that this problem doesn't only affect GrapheneOS, and Google has a pending fix for it:

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-messages-rcs-setup-broken-fix-3541616/

I remain slightly skeptical that it will be fixed, but this does seem to confirm that it's a Google problem, not a GrapheneOS problem.

quaff

Welp. It was good for about a month. Just had another GrapheneOS update, and afterwards my RCS is not sending again. I'm still receiving. I doubt it was GrapheneOS's update... but the timing is very sus.

graphitelover

Disgusts me that RCS protocol is kept closed-source and that apps like QUIK SMS are forced to only support SMS or use reverse engineered implements

See https://github.com/octoshrimpy/quik/issues/124

BeepBeep

SillySaurus

This thread is so long it's cumbersome, but SillySaurus' post is the only place I found reference to the new RCS 3.0 standard so I'm adding to this thread nevertheless.

RCS 3.0 is a particularly important development because it's an industry standard backed by the GSMA, it's also backed (not yet supported) by Apple, and the 3.0 specification's improvements are intended to facilitate end-to-end-encryption with interoperability across providers.

Here are additional articles on it:
https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/03/14/rcs-messaging-will-get-end-to-end-encryption-on-iphone

https://9to5mac.com/2025/03/14/end-to-end-encrypted-rcs-messaging-on-iphone/

Theoretically (yeah, yeah, I know... ;) this should enable a form of RCS which FOSS clients/AOSP/GOS could support without necessarily sharing metadata with Google's servers, without using Google's proprietary messaging client, and without needing to run GSF on GOS.

While I wish I could get everyone I know onto Signal, I cannot. So, SMS is still the lowest common denominator when it comes to messaging. This new standard gives me hope that the current messaging situation, lacking in both privacy and security, perhaps isn't permanent.

Paulgos

Pixel 9 on T-Mobile.

I have tried litteraly everything in this thread. I gave Google every single permission in the settings, and every single permission in app ops.

Still, my RCS is stuck on setting up...

I have no idea what else to try, just extremely frustrated.

BeepBeep

Paulgos
Did you also see this?...
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/20980-if-rcs-just-broke-on-you-do-this

Paulgos

BeepBeep

Just wanted to hop back on and say I got it working. The only thing that worked for me was to use an old APK of google messages

messages.android_20240105_04_RC00.phone_samsung_openbeta_dynamic from APK Mirror

Maybe everyone's problems are just caused by modern versions of google messenger.

I read this entire thread and followed every step, so I am unsure if it was a combination of things or just that old apk that did the trick, but heres what I did

Install all 3 google things, store, services, carrier services. Gave every single permission to all 3.

ADB on computer adb.exe shell appops get com.google.android.gms | grep READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFIER

Installed messages from playstore, gave all permissions, stuck on setting up..

uninstalled. Installed old apk, turned on RCS, instant activation.

hemlockiv

Paulgos Could you do a huge favor and run this from an ADB shell? (It just lists all the permissions granted to Messages/RCS/PlayStore/PlayServices/CarrierServices. It does not change anything on your device or leak any personal information.) If your RCS is still working, then sharing the output of this will help me and others check whether there's some permission we need to fix

for i in com.google.android.apps.messaging com.android.vending com.google.android.gms com.google.android.ims com.shannon.rcsservice ; do echo $i && dumpsys package $i | grep -i permission.*granted && appops get $i; done

groove_untie145

At this point I've given up all hope on getting RCS to work, give all the weird phoning home that it does and the time I've spent troubleshooting it, I don't think it's worth it.

chenxiaolong

I reinstalled the OS on my phone a couple days ago and had to go through the RCS registration process again. I was not able to get things working at all with the latest version (version code 280825063). I even rebuilt the OS with a small (insecure) hack to the gmscompat layer to grant Google Messages all the system app permissions it gets on the stock OS, but no luck.

However, I was able to get RCS working again by installing an old version (version code 242499063 from August 2024) and it registered immediately with the READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFIERS trick. It's still working after upgrading to the latest version afterwards. Seems like it's only the registration process that's problematic, but once it does that, it stays working.

DirtyDan

chenxiaolong where did you install the old version of Google Messages from?

carcosa

After months of not having RCS, I re-read this thread and saw the READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFIERS trick. I used adb to grant it, then cleared all application data for Google Messages and Google Play Services, and rebooted. Started Messages, and it registered RCS immediately.

I then turned off the READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFIERS permission. RCS worked until I went to bed, but was not working this morning. I gave it the permission back without resetting anything, and it re-registered immediately. I'm not crazy about this, but I can live with it. I am using the current version of Google Messages, didn't need to install an old one. On a T-Mobile MVNO, no Carrier Services installed.

DirtyDan

carcosa

hemlockiv

Thanks! I can confirm to people reading this thread that I was able to restore RCS functionality without having to reset the phone. Though for privacy, you may wish to (explained later).

I uninstalled Google Messages (I did not disable RCS (even though it wasn't working when I uninstalled). I then temporarily granted Play Services all permissions including turning off storage scopes for maximum file access. (This is why doing this on a fresh GrapheneOS install is better for privacy since you're basically giving Google access to everything on your phone, even if temporarily). For some reason, I didn't have much luck when using storage scopes.

I already allowed play services to see device identifiers as explained above (I temporarily installed App Opps and Shizuku apps to avoid having to use ADB). But I double checked this permission flag.

Restart the phone.

I installed the older version of Google Messages from Aurora Store, version code 242499063 from August 2024, and immediately gave it all permissions before opening the app.

Restart the phone.

I opened Google messages and made it the default SMS app. Confirm the toggle for RCS in google messages settings is enabled, even though it likely will not be working just yet. Then sit back and wait for the message history to populate, which can take over an hour or longer depending on history size.

After it completes (scroll down to the bottom of your message list to see if it's still loading anything), restart the phone.

After restart, RCS immediately turned on.

I then removed the additional permissions from play services (leaving just network, SMS, phone, notifications, contacts/contacts scopes, and storage scopes). I allowed Google messages to have the same permissions.

I then disabled shizuku and uninstalled shizuku and app opps (obvuously skip this step if using adb). Then turned off developer settings.

Restart the phone to confirm RCS still works, which it did for me.

Then it's time to update Google Messages to the newest version. The Play Store on the owner was giving me problems and not updating it. It said the app was installed from outside the play store and gave me the option to update from that source or the play store. But when I actually clicked update in the play store, it wouldn't work.

My clever workaround was to install Google messages on another profile/private space using the play store on that profile, which updates the app on all profiles. It worked and the one on the owner now says it's installed through the play store and can update normally going forward. :)

Restart again just to confirm everything still works.

This was done using the owners profile without google's carrier services installed. The phone uses a Verizon-network MVNO esim. I did everything on wifi without a VPN.

« Previous Page Next Page »