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Updated: The tutorial has been updated for more carriers in the USA, Canada, UK, and any country that supports RCS messaging like some Asian countries (India) as well. This includes all the network carriers like Google Fi (US), Verizon (US), T-Mobile (US), Sprint (US), US Cellular (US), Straight Talk/Total Wireless/TracFone/Net10 (US), Freedom Mobile (CA), Telus/Koodo (CA), Sky (UK), and more. See the updated tutorial from below.
Original: Last year, Google introduced their new text messaging app called Android Messages. The latest SMS app called Android messages quickly picked up and stayed for good this time. Later, Google announced RCS (Rich Communication Services) feature with the new Chat option under settings. While the latest update of Messages support the RCS chat feature, the network carriers also need to enable RCS on their supported Android devices. So some folks at Reddit found a way to force enable RCS on any Android device on any carrier in the United States including T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and more.
Thanks to Reddit users u/sh0ch, u/LinkofHyrule, and u/NashRadical for figuring out this amazing way to enable RCS in Google’s latest Messages app. This method has been tested working on carriers like T-Mobile for the Google Pixel phones, AT&T on the Samsung Galaxy S8, Verizon S10+, OnePlus 6T, and many more. So if your carrier does not show up RCS in Android Messages app under settings, follow the instructions below.
Carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, and more have already announced RCS starting Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL devices. But a whole bunch of other devices haven’t seen any update as of yet. Some users have the “Chat Feature” option available, but cannot use it. Don’t worry, here is a working tutorial on how to force enable RCS.
Latest Android messages beta version gets you RCS messaging feature on most of the United States (USA) carriers like:
- Verizon
- T-Mobile
- US Cellular
- Sprint
- Google Fi
Following are the Prepaid US Wireless Carriers
- Virgin Mobile
- Ting
- Tiercel Wireless
- Boost Mobile
- EcoMobile
- Freedom Mobile
- NTT DoCoMo
- Straight Talk
- Telcel America
- Total Wireless
This will work for all the manufacturers’ smartphone and carriers that support RCS. It has already been tested working on Google Pixel 1, 2, 3 along with XL variants, Samsung Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10 Plus, Essential Phones, and many more. This tutorial will also be useful in the future when more carriers like T-Mobile, Sprint, At&T, etc will bring RCS support with Universal Profile. So stay tuned.
Download latest Android Messages APK for RCS
You can also sign up for Android Messages Beta for latest features. Recommended!
APK download: You can also download the latest APK from the downloads repository at APK Mirror.
You can also use this with the Textra SMS app. In advance settings, you will find the Chat features enabled.
We already have Material Design 2, Dark Mode, Android Messages for Web, a Desktop Client for Google’s messaging app available. So download the new Android Messages APK to get the latest features right now.
How to enable RCS on any Android phone from carriers in US, UK, CA with Messages app
This tutorial will force enable RCS on any Android phone in any country or location using the latest Google Messages app. This is a non-root method and safe to do so.
- Download and install/update the latest Android Messages app from above
- Make sure you have enabled carrier services on your phone. Once you enable you should also clear its data. See troubleshooting below.
- Install and install the Activity Launcher from Play Store
- Launch the Activity Launcher app
- Go to ‘Recent Activities’
- From the menu choose ‘All Activities’
- Look for ‘Android Messages’
- Select it and scroll down until you find ‘Set RCS Flags’. It should be something like
- Now, select ‘ACS Url’ and in the menu select the following URL
- Wait until the process is complete. It should take a few minutes. If it doesn’t work, checkout the troubleshooting guide below.
- Select OTP Pattern, and in the menu click
- Click Apply
- Follow the setup in Android Messages
Troubleshooting:
Now for some reason if this doesn’t work on the first try, continue reading. Try resetting the app. Follow the instructions below.
- Clear the data of ‘Carrier Services’ and force stop ‘Android Messages.’ To do so, go to settings > apps > select the app > storage > clear data and force stop.
- Repeat the above procedure
New ACS URLs: If you still do not see the Chat features enabled, force close Messages and repeat these steps with the specific ACS URLs for each carrier. Also, note that Google will be migrating those on the Sandbox to the correct servers once the RCS rollout has been completed.
Here is a videos tutorial by sakitech on How to Install RCS Messaging on ANY Android Phone?
That’s it enjoy RCS on any Android phone with any carrier in the USA using the new Google Messages app.