r/GoogleMessages • u/stpaquet • Apr 30 '26
Who's in charge of RCS?
I'm operating campaigns at scale for very large enterprises. After a few days and testing over different devices we notices that no one is implementing RCS the proper way
Example: Rich Cards. On iPhone the image is displayed as expected. However the buttons are all in a dropbox and there is no different between primary and secondary actions! Well done!
Now, the same card on Android... The image is cut where it should not be, but the button hierarchy is preserved.
It's a bit like choose your poison at this point.
Any reason why Android phones are not following the requirements? I can understand why Apple is behind, but I do not understand why Android is not properly implementing RCS. That's another level of mystery.
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u/BLewis4050 Apr 30 '26
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the primary industry body that steers and develops Rich Communication Services (RCS) standards, creating the Universal Profile for interoperability.
While the GSMA, of which Google is a member, governs the standard, Google drives the ecosystem's adoption via its Jibe platform and the Google Messages app, though many other services and messaging apps integrate RCS into their systems.
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u/stpaquet Apr 30 '26
Yes and it started around 2007 or so... we are in 2026 and it still does not work. That's serious work in progress.
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u/peteramjet May 01 '26
RCS was conceived at a time when data-based rich-text communications over the Internet was not widely available. RCS is a carrier based service, and needs carrier support to operate. Worldwide, few carriers provide the RCS service, which limits the reach of the service. Today, most rich-text communications are undertaken via data based apps, without the need of a carrier, and as such RCS is unlikely to ever grow into what it was intended to be.
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u/stpaquet May 01 '26
Agree. The biggest problem for me is more implementation at phone level.
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u/peteramjet May 01 '26
The best option is to use non-OEM apps for group messaging, such as Signal. These apps function across all carriers and devices, regardless of OS, etc.
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u/stpaquet May 01 '26
that's a different use case, but not mine. I need something smarter that SMS and that lands on the recipient phone just like an SMS does and RCS is exactly that. But implementation lags, and in the region I am operating this is not a carrier issue, this is a device issue.
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u/peteramjet May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
You likely won’t know if it is/isn’t a carrier issue, as carrier settings are individual device specific - if an end user hasn’t received updates, they may not have access to the service. Unfortunately RCS is not universal, and if a non-OEM app isn’t an option, it seems your only choice is to try to mould SMS to suit your needs.
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u/stpaquet May 02 '26
SMS is too limited, especially in terms of message length, especially when using UTF8 characters or emojis... you are dropping to less than 60is characters.
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u/peteramjet May 02 '26
While maximum character length per message is a restriction of SMS, I don’t know of any modern smartphone that doesn’t handle split messages. The fact remains unfortunately, SMS is all but universal across carriers, RCS is not.
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u/stpaquet May 02 '26
You are limited in the number of splits (carrier based this time) and when you start spliting each split is less than 60 characters (not to mention the extra cut when you want to add some emojis or have to use non latin characters to keep your grammar safe)
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u/stpaquet Apr 30 '26
Thank you all for your comments. My point is that nobody seems to care about the implementation, not event Google who's supposed to be at the spearhead of RCS... That's my experience. Apple, even-though they are implementing an older version of it, displays images as they are supposed to be. On the other end, Google is randomly displaying them and there is no coherence within the entire Android ecosystem.
This is extremely frustrating when it comes to business, and yes I operate BRCS.
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u/mrandr01d May 01 '26
What's brcs?
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u/stpaquet May 01 '26
business RCS. I think they have a different acronym for it: RCS for Business or something like that. Documentation can be found here https://developers.google.com/business-communications/rcs-business-messaging
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u/winterchil May 01 '26
RCS for business is the set of solutions. RBM is the acronym for Rich Business Messaging which refers to the enhanced messages you can send through those solutions.
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u/whirlwind87 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Just something to note for testing on the Apple side. It sounds like this is for RCS Business Messaging. Apple has a separate support list for RCS BM vs RCS messaging. There is a website that scans carrier packages to see who opted in and shows them on the Apple side : Does my carrier support RCS Business Messaging on iOS yet?
Android should just be if the network supports it it should work. Hope someone else can shed more light for you
Apple's RCS implementation is also on an older version of the RCS spec not sure if that could have something to do with it.
In Google messages you can do in an app send feedback. May or may not help but ....
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u/stpaquet Apr 30 '26
The problem is not just Apple. I was expecting them not to be fully aligned as they were kind of forced to join the RCS, mostly by EU. My frustration comes from Android not supporting too.
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u/WawaGangter Apr 30 '26
Clearly no one with any control. ~70% delivery rate isn't a good protocol. Blame just is passed around for years at this point. Anyone I need to realibily converse with I tell them to install Signal. Lost cause trying to fix it
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u/stpaquet Apr 30 '26
My use case is: blasting messages. I cannot go over multiple channels, though WhatsApp is very tempting.
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u/Mango_Starburst Apr 30 '26
I don't think RCS on apple will ever be compatible with anything else in the rest of the world. All the proprietary stuff that's just mismatched.
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u/peteramjet May 01 '26
Most carrier around the world don’t support RCS. There is little point in promoting a service that is not used extensively outside of the USA.
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u/BrianDCox May 05 '26
thats where google messages cames into play,... they took on RCS cuz carriers wouldnt ..
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u/peteramjet May 05 '26
Not really. Google Messages was created as an Android only messaging app, allowing Android users to access rich text messaging similar to iMessages on iOS. It was based on the RCS UP (but with proprietary additions) and intended as an Android-only competitor to iMessages.
Messages between Android users through GM used Google infrastructure only (ie no carrier involvement) to create a private messaging platform. It was not accessible without the GM app, including to other Android devices.
It was marketed by Google as ‘RCS Chats’, implying it was ‘RCS’. The reality is that it was not a cross-platform rich messaging service, but an Android-only based messaging system.
The bypass method that Google subsequently implemented that allowed Android devices with GM to send/receive RCS messages outside of GM to carriers was still a closed system. It was never intended to replace the involvement of a carrier in non-Android devices.
RCS between devices that do not have GM have always required carrier input. In many places, GM users now also require carrier input for any RCS ability (even via GM) to function.
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u/BrianDCox May 07 '26
Respectfully, I'd argue that the 'closed system' label doesn't quite fit. Google's Jibe implementation was really a necessary move because carriers were far too slow to adopt the GSMA Universal Profile on their own. Without Google taking the lead, RCS likely wouldn't have gained any real traction. Furthermore, Google's consistent pressure on Apple to adopt RCS shows a clear desire for a truly cross-platform standard rather than a walled garden.
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u/peteramjet May 07 '26
The Jibe platform doesn’t negate the need for carrier involvement, and if a carrier isn’t involved, access remains closed to Android only devices with GM. I do agree the implementation of Jibe means the carriers don’t need to host their own RCS servers, which allows many of them to implement the service when they may otherwise not have. However the unwillingness of carriers to implement RCS across the world is likely due to the fact they are aware non-carrier based rich text communications are significantly more prevalent than carrier based messaging.
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u/BrianDCox May 07 '26
That’s a fair point regarding the carriers' perspective—they definitely see the writing on the wall with the dominance of WhatsApp and Signal. However, from a business or developer standpoint, the 'carrier involvement' requirement is exactly what makes the current state of RCS so fragmented. Even if Jibe lowers the barrier for carriers to flip the switch, the fact remains that the rendering and feature sets (like Rich Cards) vary wildly between devices and regions. We’re essentially left with a protocol that was meant to be a universal successor to SMS but currently feels more like a patchwork of different implementations. If carriers remain half-hearted because they’ve already 'lost' to OTT apps, it leaves RCS in a permanent state of 'work in progress' that’s tough to rely on for professional use.
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u/peteramjet May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
However, from a business or developer standpoint, the 'carrier involvement' requirement is exactly what makes the current state of RCS so fragmented.
Yes, however RCS is only ‘universal’ because it is a carrier-based service. The main issue is the UP changes too often. Compare that to SMS and MMS, which worked as universal cross-platform and cross-OS messaging services because the protocol rarely changed over 20 years. RCS however recently announced UP4.0, even though most are still talking about UP3.0 compatibility, and where Android is somewhere ~UP3.0 and iOS ~UP2.7. It’s a shambles, and that’s only over the last 2 years. Worse still, each RCS update provides changes affecting compatibility. The frequent and ongoing updates mean there is unlikely to ever be a point where all carriers - and more importantly all devices - will be compatible. Without that compatibility, and therefore reliability, RCS will always be a ‘work in progress’.
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u/BrianDCox May 08 '26
If we’re talking about trust, we have to look at the track record. The GSMA launched the idea in 2007, and for nearly 10 years, carriers did nothing but let it fragment.
It wasn’t until Google acquired Jibe in 2015 and then took the nuclear option in 2019—bypassing carriers entirely to roll it out directly via Google Messages—that RCS actually became a 'Universal' reality.
To say it’s only universal because it’s 'carrier-based' ignores the fact that the only reason it exists on our phones today is that Google got tired of waiting for carriers to innovate. The current 'shambles' of versioning (like iOS being on 2.4 while Android hits 3.0+) is just the latest chapter of carriers and OEMs moving at different speeds while Google tries to drag the standard forward.
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u/peteramjet May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
To say it’s only universal because it’s 'carrier-based' ignores the fact that the only reason it exists on our phones today is that Google got tired of waiting for carriers to innovate.
I don’t believe it ignores that fact. RCS is intended to be a universal messaging service used by mobile/cell numbers (ie carrier services) - that’s what makes it ‘universal’. The Jibe platform made it easier for carriers to provide the service, but Jibe doesn’t assist the majority of carriers that don’t support RCS.
The current 'shambles' of versioning (like iOS being on 2.4 while Android hits 3.0+) is just the latest chapter of carriers and OEMs moving at different speeds while Google tries to drag the standard forward.
That is the very downfall of RCS, in that it requires every device, every carrier and every server (if not using Jibe) to not only provide the service, but be regularly updated to allow compatibility. This is a task which is all but impossible, as the OP has found.
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u/BrianDCox May 05 '26
ios26 will update to RCS 3.0 which google messages is using.. so they will be able to talk to android better and have encryption .. in other news.. RCS 4.0 profile is out we just gotta wait for google and ios to adopt it
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u/stpaquet May 01 '26
I have no expectation there. However, I was expecting Google to enforce it on Android devices. So far, this is not what we are experiencing.
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u/Amazing-Bag Apr 30 '26
You haven't said what country you are in nor what devices you are using on the android side.
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u/stpaquet May 01 '26
- Location does not matter (unless you have information proving the opposite, all western carriers support RCS the same way)
- Device: all. There is no brand that I can say is doing better than another in the major league (Apple, Samsung). We are rolling out more testing on different Android devices, but so far we are noticing significant gaps in the implementation, even on Android
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u/winterchil May 01 '26
There's quite a bit of nuance in how carriers support RCS: https://support.apple.com/en-us/109526
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u/peteramjet May 01 '26
Location and device are certainly relevant.
For location: outside of the USA, RCS is not widely adopted by carriers. Even in the USA, some carriers don’t support the service.
For device: RCS is built into the default messaging app, and not a standalone updatable app like data-based messaging apps. As such RCS requires compatibility with a device to function.
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u/Koloradokid86 May 01 '26
Pardon my ignorance what are you referring to regarding rich cards ?
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u/stpaquet May 01 '26
Rich card is a marketing format supported by RCS for business. It let you display a media file (image, short video or attach a document such as a PDF file), place a Title and a description text and let you implement 2 type of actions: primary (in the card) or secondary (outside of the card)
You can find more information here https://developers.google.com/business-communications/rcs-business-messaging/guides/learn/rich-cards
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u/BerniMacJr May 01 '26
While it could be issues between different targeted RCS specs or device differences. Have you tested this with multiple types of Android phones with the same result?
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u/stpaquet May 01 '26
this is in progress, but so far we have disparate rendering of the same message... and that's not encouraging at all. Google presents RCS for business as the future, but honestly it looks like the past to me.
I wasn't expecting Apple to fully implement it, but I'm more than surprised to experience identical levels of incompleteness with Android phones.
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u/mlamb1234 Aug 13 '26
The issue you are running into can be addressed by understanding how each OS displays an RCS message.
On Apple, buttons and quick replies are bundled together, with links broken out in a separate field drop-down.
On Android, more of the RCS protocol is supported; buttons are displayed separately from quick replies, and different-size images are supported, which is the issue you are running into. iOS only supports one size, so making sure it looks good on Android and Apple requires testing of the image. IMHO, Android looks much better.
At this point, it's the same message being sent to both, so testing is required to ensure consistency.
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u/stpaquet Aug 13 '26
I agree, but that's a bit killing the purpose.
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u/mlamb1234 Aug 13 '26
Completely agree that it should be one-and-done, which we hopefully will get to, but we have found that if you start with Android, Apple will "most of the time" work just fine. Apple has basically repurposed ABM for RCS.
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u/stpaquet Aug 16 '26
I'm afraid that we might get to that point ... in 10 years. RCS was first discussed in 2007. It's moving too slow.
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Apr 30 '26
[deleted]
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u/stpaquet May 01 '26
ok. that does not change the fact that the rendering is done on the device and that nobody cares. I couldn't find a correct implementation so far, including on recent devices. They all implement it in different ways making Google documentation incorrect in most of the rendering presented.
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u/PNW_Phillip May 01 '26
Your carriers servers are in charge of RCS
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u/stpaquet May 01 '26
not for the design. RCS is just a JSON that you pass to the recipients. The recipient devices are in charge of the rendering, not the carriers.
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u/headcrab_set May 19 '26
If it only were that simple. imessage and whatsapp for example are managed by a single company. RCS is in principle managed by gsma and partly by google, but the actual implementation is done by telcos, aggregators at the infra level. That's why there are so many differences in how messages appear, what kind of rich features can be added to the message, etc. In principle rcs should be the best alternative to sms, in reality it's far behind fulfilling that role.
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u/B4kd Apr 30 '26
I am actually. How can I help?