I Think the Internet Just Figured Out a Way to Force RCS on Your Android Phone

RCS might have arrived in the US without the greenlight from Google and before the carriers can push their own version in 2020. The Internet, because it will always be undefeated, might have figured out how you can force enable RCS on your phone right now.

A reddit thread that popped up at the r/UniversalProfile subreddit, laid out a series of steps that sure seems to get RCS “Chat” features up and running within Android Messages. There’s no telling how long this set of steps will work, but it might be worth trying to get that fully-featured, cross-carrier RCS working today.

So far, the thread linked below has users with a range of phones and across multiple carriers all saying that “Chat” features in Android Messages are now live and working. I can verify that the process lit up “Chat” with status “Connected” on both my Pixel 4 with Verizon service and Pixel 4 XL with T-Mobile service.

To get RCS on your Android phone right now, here are the steps that worked for me:

1. Turn off WiFi
2. Enroll in the Google Messages Beta (Play Link)
3. You might need to update Messages after enrolling in the beta
4. Restart your phone
5. Clear storage for Messages and Carrier Services (Settings>Apps> find each app and clear storage)
6. Install Activity Launcher and open it (Play Link)
7. Tap the top menu and choose “All activities”
8. Find Messages
9. Find “Set RCS Flags” and tap it
10. In ACS Url, choose “http://rcs-acs-prod-us.sandbox.google.com/”
11. In OTP Pattern, choose “Your\sMessenger\sverification\scode\sis\sG-(\d{6})”
12. Tap Apply
13. Close all apps open
14. Open Messages
15. You should now see a pop-up to “Upgrade Now” to RCS
16. Tap “Upgrade Now” and follow the welcome screens
17. Messages will now enroll your phone. It could take several minutes.
18. To confirm it worked, open Messages, tap top-right menu>Settings>Chat features. You should see status as “Connected” if it worked properly.

Want proof that it worked? Here’s me texting between Verizon and T-Mobile. You can see in this chat log that my first messages were text and a lighter blue bubble. Once “Chat” kicked on, it switched to a darker blue bubble and the read receipts, as well as the typing indicator went active. I think this works, folks.

Holy sh*t.

// reddit

Cheers Brandon!