<free advice>
for new GrapheneOS users:
Do Not enable RCS
If you have alraedy enabled it (like I did in 2025 when I made the mistake of concluding Google and Apple would have RCS working well in the near future.) disable it
There are 3 types of people:
1) Those who play the percentages in life, and memorize the Black jack basic rules before gambling at a casino.
https://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/strategy/calculator/
2) Those who let their judgement be clouded by the hope of "my device would be perfect if it could just [do that thing that it cannot do]
3) Those poor tortured souls, working tirelessly to troubleshoot glitches and bugs -- metaphorically pushing a boulder up a hill for all of eterntity like the Greek myth of Sisyphus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus
This free advice is for Type 1 people. The other 2 groups of you cannot be convinced, but I do wish you nothing but success in life.
The GrapheneOS dev team deserves a ton of credit: First, for making the best phone OS -- bar none. Second, for their most recent addition of a workaround implemented in Sandboxed Google Play, to allow ICC authentication with device identifiers.
The workaround (for now in February 2026) allows GrapheneOS users, with sandboxed Google Play Services, to connect to cellular carriers that have implemented the RCS connection according to Google's latest recommendations. The number of cell phone carriers who do this will gradually increase over time.
However, even though the GrapheneOS devs have come up with a great solution for today, be aware that changes to your cell carrier's servers, or changes made by Google to the Google Messages can break your messaging at any time, and without any warning.
in 2025, RCS messaging worked for me, and my carrier about 5 months out of 12 (42% of the time). That means it was NOT working and I was missing messages 58% of the time. The 42% also included months where I had to re-install Google Messages every 36 hours to reconnect. Terrible stats.
In 2026, it was painful to spend the 30 days missing group messages after I disabled RCS within the Google Messages app. Even though I planned doing it when I would not have any major events in my life, I still missed personal, work and even family-emergency messages during that month.
It sucked. I had to apologize to everyone, and generally look like a jerk. (Everyone universally asked me "why don't you just use regular android or buy and iphone instead of being and idiot?")
I am here to tell you it was worth it.
If you think you cannot miss any messages for 1 month, double check, then triple check and then quadruple check your assumption.
All of the poor souls still hoping Google will clean up their RCS dumpster fire in 2026 are at risk of missing a new message at any moment when RCS is broken yet again by Google or their cell carrier. But I will spend 2026 not worrying about it at all.
I have GrapheneOS on a Pixel10 Pro. My basic communications work. Love the phone. Love GrapheneOS.
Some day, years from now, this will no longer be a concern.
But not this year.
</free advice>