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

I'd like to add, maybe it is or isn't an American thing. speaking for myself, an American, I use a multitude of messaging apps. on both android and iPhone. I personally hate the whatsApp interface. can't stand using it. the iOS messages app for me, has the best UX out of all of them. Not trying to convince anyone to change or anything. But ultimately, I use what has been used all along. if someone starts a WhatsApp conversation I continue it there (which I will say is better while traveling for my wallet at least!) if I get a text, I respond to the text in messages. it all depends on where the conversation began. These alternative apps didn't always exist.

I'm glad SMS is working for you. It totally does not work for me. So many times I paste an image into Messages on MacOS and the message cannot send.

If you're just using iOS, most of what you do will work well. But if you have Text Message Forwarding enabled and try to send messages using Messages on MacOS, you'll get more failures than successful deliveries. For me, it's very frustrating. And the low res videos were also a huge PITA.

And if SMS Is working for you, great. But it was not working for me and my group. We'd constantly complain about it, but I was the only one willing to use something better. Every time I suggested it, I would always get a response that there is a perfectly good messaging app on my phone. Why should I install another one?

There is such friction created by people these days in switching to something better. It's amazing how a better product can come along and die on the vine because of the tyranny of the default.

Sorry. I'm not directing this at you specifically. It just seems to be the attitude of people. You ask them to try something new and their immediate instinct isn't to ask why or what's better. It's to simply say no.

So the RCS messaging feature was working fine when I messaged my boyfriend who has android it was working today no longer works. And I tried another friend messaging another friend who has android and it shows up as RCS. And I’ve already talked to Apple and they’ve tried different ways and now they’re trying to tell me I need to call AT&T, which is my cell phone carrier to talk with them and I was on hold with them still on hold with them. It’s a long wait but it works with other people who have android it just doesn’t work with my boyfriend anymore and I’ve turned the feature on and off restarting my phone. It doesn’t work. It’s only with my boyfriend and it started today.

I'm having the exact same issue. The first day it was available, the RCS messages allowed my husband and I to text, send photos, and videos seamlessly ( I have the Iphone 15 pro max and he has the S24 ultra). Yesterday, I was no longer able to message him, everytime I tried it would say it failed and I had to "resend as SMS" Super annoying and frustrating to have to go back after every single message even though I have the setting on for it to automatically send as SMS if RCS or imessage are not available.

As in my comment above, that was the first thing I did. AT&T has the technology. My entire household of 5 is on the same cell account. I’m the only iPhone, there are 3 different Samsungs and one Google phone. RCS is on and off with each of them intermittently and not all at the same time. Sometimes we’re in the same b house when it happens (so same tower, same WiFi, etc). Definitely NOT a carrier issue in my case at least.

Turn off your Wifi. I was connected to my company's wifi network and my RCS messages to my wifes android phone wasn't working. Walked outside and the wifi disconnected and all the messages went through with no problem.

Same. It’s 10/24/24 and it’s been weeks. https://community.verizon.com/t5/Apple/10-2024-iPhone-14-Pro-Max-Can-t-send-MMS-RCS-text-messages-to/m-p/1780311

At the bottom of the forum for my phone (linked above), the gentleman states he believes it’s a Verizon network issue because he’s noticed t-mobile users aren’t experiencing this but iPhone and non-iPhone users are having these issues.

oh and resetting your network settings or factory resets are NOT working.

I'm on T-Mobile and it mostly isn't working. It will show up as RCS for a while and then revert to SMS.

I gave up trying to figure it out. Maybe they'll get it working consistently someday and maybe not. Either way, whatever.

Usmaak wrote:

I'm on T-Mobile and it mostly isn't working. It will show up as RCS for a while and then revert to SMS.

I gave up trying to figure it out. Maybe they'll get it working consistently someday and maybe not. Either way, whatever.

Who’s they?

RCS has now started working again on my phone. I had numerous calls and chats with Verizon, but I’m not sure anything they did fixed the issue.

The one thing I tried on my end (after reading about similar issues on Android forums) was turning off RCS on my phone for 14 days. On day 15 I reenabled it. I suspect that this might have fixed the issue rather than anything Verizon did.

Lots of people on this post have very different problems with RCS. My issue was that new RCS threads worked, but older RCS threads from before I upgraded my phone did not work. My guess is that there was some kind of per-thread key exchange/authentication that did not properly transition over with the phone upgrade and by turning off RCS for an extended period of time, it forced the phone to reestablish those keys.

RCS is back on my phone. It comes and goes. When it turns on, it will stay on for a few days and then it goes back to SMS. For me, it has nothing to do with whether the recipients have RCS on their phones (though they do), it has to do with my phone. If I go to General > About and tap on ESIM > Carrier, I see "Voice, SMS & RCS" when RCS is working on my phone and "Voice & SMS" when it isn't.

I'm not sure whether T-Mobile or Apple is to blame for this. This entire thread has been a mishmash of different issues. In my case, it has nothing to do with whether someone else has RCS set up. It's all on either the carrier or Apple.

Dmac190 wrote:

Has anyone tried iOS 18.1? It says it has bug fixes and being put out so fast seems to indicate an urgent fix.

Millions upon millions have now updated to iOS 181., which was actually in beta testing since before the official release of iPhone 16 models. It primarily introduces Apple Intelligence to phones which are eligible for it. And yes, there are bug fixes as almost ALL iOS updates contain. To suggest it was rolled out fast is, however, not correct.

Regardless, if you have an issue with RCS, that wouldn't likely be included in an update. RCS is still a carrier provided feature.

I am on T-Mobile as Well and I will say that T-Mobile has dropped the ball. I previously had an iPhone 13 Pro Max that I dearly miss. That phone after the update to iOS 18, the RCS messages didn’t work.

After I have upgraded to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the same thing is happening, with no trouble shooting recommendations resolving the problem. Right out the box I was told after their protocol trouble shooing they tried to tell me to do a warranty exchange. I told them that “if this problem occurred on my previous device and now it is happening on my new device, then it isn’t the device but the account or the line.”

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.

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.

" I also wish that they would have waited to implement it until it was stable."

Who’s they? It’s certainly not Apple as most are not having this issue. I’m certainly not and text my Android friends using RCS without issues. Apple has implemented RCS to comply with the RCS standard, not Google’s customized version. Remember that it takes 3 to tango with RCS: your iPhone, your cellular carrier, and the Android user you are texting.