Switching between RCS and SMS

I’m trying to talk to someone over text who has an android, but every text i send is being sent as SMS and all of theirs are being sent as RCS. It keeps flipping back and forth and it’s annoying.

iPhone 11, iOS 18

Posted on Nov 29, 2024 3:22 PM

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Posted on Dec 2, 2024 7:34 AM

This is happening to me as well since the ios 18.1.1 update last friday. Sometimes I send a msg and it goes by RCS but mostly its going by sms. My boyfriend's msg are coming to me as rcs but when i reply it sends as sms. Prior to the ios update everything was by RCS both ways with zero issues. I wish I hadn't updated the ios...Apple needs to fix this crap

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Dec 2, 2024 7:34 AM in response to GageBenway

This is happening to me as well since the ios 18.1.1 update last friday. Sometimes I send a msg and it goes by RCS but mostly its going by sms. My boyfriend's msg are coming to me as rcs but when i reply it sends as sms. Prior to the ios update everything was by RCS both ways with zero issues. I wish I hadn't updated the ios...Apple needs to fix this crap

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Dec 14, 2024 9:35 AM in response to GageBenway

i am having the same issue where i cannot use RCS with my husband(mine keep sending as SMS), but he can text me back with RCS. i am able to text everyone else that has RCS, with RCS. i have no idea why it won’t switch back to RCS for him. i tried turning my phone off and back on. and i am on wifi. Apple please fix this issue.

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Nov 30, 2024 10:36 PM in response to GageBenway

This was happening to me too after I woke up to find my phone auto updated. I waited about a day, and then waited for my boyfriend running a Samsung phone to send me a message (making sure it said RCS for it) and I replied back with a photo from my camera roll while connected to wifi. Suddenly it began to work again and my messages towards them are no longer swapping back and forth every time I text.

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Feb 7, 2025 2:21 PM in response to GageBenway

I had one contact frozen as SMS. I tried restarting, resetting networks, turning RCS on and off. Nothing worked. The only thing that worked for me was going into Messages clicking Edit in the top right. Selecting the contact. Then clicking Unread instead of delete. Immediately switched back to RCS.

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Jan 7, 2025 10:01 AM in response to GageBenway

I solved my SMS/RCS issue by resetting networks:

To reset your iPhone or iPad's network settings, you can do the following: 

  1. Open Settings
  2. Select General
  3. Select Transfer or Reset iPhone or Reset
  4. Select Reset Network Settings
  5. Enter your passcode if prompted
  6. Select Reset Network Settings again


You will lose saved wifi passwords however.

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Switching between RCS and SMS

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