You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Why is RCS not working between my iPhone running iOS 18 and Android?

I am running iOS 18 on my iPhone 14. RCS is enabled but does not work when messaging my Android phone. I have RCS running on my Android phone and works fine between other Android phones. My iPhone is on the Verizon network while my Android is on T-Mobile. I've tried disabling/enabling RCS on my iPhone a number of times as well as rebooting. Any other suggestions?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 14, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 16, 2024 11:05 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 16, 2024 4:38 PM

I have the 15 pro max

Downloaded the ios update and no options for RCS in message settings

I was previous on Android and my carrier O2 supported RCS

But since this update nothing at all

It's one of the reasons that made me chose this phone over another android becuase with the promice of RCS I could message my friends and family

No idea what's gone wrong but I'm very disappointed

152 replies

Nov 21, 2024 7:35 AM in response to Fuzzylobes

Fuzzylobes wrote:

My other lines that family members use iPhones have their RCS Messages work flawlessly. My line is the one with the problem and even under eSIM it shows only Voice and SMS is provided for service and not RCS.

That probably means that your line was not provisioned correctly in the carrier’s network. Call them and request that they either add the feature or reprovision your account.


OR it means that you do not have Cellular Data enabled on your iPhone. MMS and RCS (and Visual Voicemail) require cellular data to work, they cannot use Wi-Fi.


OR it means that you have a corrupt VPN profile.

Nov 21, 2024 8:19 AM in response to lkrupp

I wish I knew who "they" was. I don't understand how this is supposed to work.


I have T-Mobile. I have an iPhone 14PM. I have never gotten clear indication on where the fault lies for this.


I know that this has nothing to do with the recipient because my actual device keeps switching back to SMS based on Settings > About. When I tap on the ESIM Carrier, it shows Voice, SMS & RCS when RCS is available and Voice & SMS when it's not.


I just discovered that if I shut off my line and turn it back on, RCS does come back.

Nov 21, 2024 12:43 PM in response to Usmaak

Apple and Google are alleged to be talking to each other about adding encryption that works on both platforms. iMessage has end-to-end encryption between iOS users. Google has end-to-end encryption between Android users. iOS -><-Android does not have encryption yet unless both sides are using a third party messaging app like WhatsApp.

Sep 16, 2024 10:20 PM in response to logan2k

I would disable rcs chat on both phones, and then do a setting reset on the iPhone and an app reset on the android phone. on the android phone you may also have to stop the google messaging app and clear cache and data, then start it back up.


apple Reset iPhone settings to their defaults - Apple Support


Droid/ google https://support.google.com/messages/answer/9363493?hl=en#zippy=%2Cstep-clear-google-messages


Sep 16, 2024 10:27 PM in response to logan2k

I would disable rcs chat on both phones, and then do a setting reset on the iPhone and an app reset on the android phone. on the android phone you may also have to stop the google messaging app and clear cache and data, then start it back up.


apple Reset iPhone settings to their defaults - Apple Support


Droid/ google https://support.google.com/messages/answer/9363493?hl=en#zippy=%2Cstep-clear-google-messages

Sep 17, 2024 5:54 AM in response to lkrupp

See this Apple support document that lists the carriers that support RCS.


Wireless carrier support and features for iPhone in the United States and Canada - Apple Support


And this link to a 9to5Mac article about RCS


https://9to5mac.com/2024/09/16/heres-how-to-check-if-your-carrier-already-supports-rcs-on-iphone/


Your Android friend’s carrier must also support RCS as well as the Android phone itself.

Oct 25, 2024 7:10 PM in response to logan2k

Not sure if this will help but a couple of thoughts.


It’s possible your carrier does not support RCS yet. You can check here: Wireless carrier support and features for iPhone in the United States and Canada - Apple Support


Another issue is that RCS on iPhone does not work with VPNs (yet). Here’s an article that may help explain: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rcs-messaging-and-mozilla-vpn


It’s specifically about Mozilla’s VPN, but it’s true for other VPNs too.


Best of luck to you.

Nov 21, 2024 8:20 AM in response to Usmaak

Usmaak wrote:

This just keeps getting worse for me. For a while, the RCS would work for a while and then it would go back to SMS. Eventually it would come back to RCS again. Now I have to reboot my phone and it only stays RCS for an hour or two before reverting. I wish that there was at least a reliable way to get it to come back without having to restart my phone. I also wish that they would have waited to implement it until it was stable.

It is 100% stable on my iPhones. Just MAYBE the problem isn’t with Apple, as hard it is to believe that. There are many steps in the process of delivering RCS in addition to your iPhone:


  • Your carrier’s network
  • the individual MTSO’s in your carrier’s network, which may or may not have been updated to support RCS
  • the carrier’s network of your recipient and its MTSOs
  • whether or not the recipient is using an RCS compatible messaging app on Android (which requires a separate app as Android doesn’t support RCS natively)
  • whether or not the recipient has a new enough device that supports RCS
  • Whether you have cellular data enabled as required
  • whether you have any apps installed that can block RCS, most especially VPN



Sep 17, 2024 11:04 AM in response to logan2k

I'm running iOS 18 (was using public beta and RCS was working). Now just on mastered iOS 18 and RCS is still working.


If you are switching from Android to iPhone and still have your android phone, you might want to make sure you disabled RCS on that Android before switching to the iPhone — you may need to put your Sim back in the Android to do this.


Side note, sending texts via Satellite works too. Great for sending updates on status during remote hikes or anywhere you don't have signal.


T-Mobile (US)

iPhone 15 Pro Max


Why is RCS not working between my iPhone running iOS 18 and Android?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.