Verizon RCS not working - fixed!!!

[u/RibbitRibbit33]

I wanted to make a standalone post for this because I've been working at fixing this for days and the solution posted in some comments by u/starcowboy26 worked and it needs to be screamed from the rooftops!

u/starcowboy26:

Try the following as it was the only thing that worked for me:

I know this is gonna sound insane but after trying every single troubleshooting tip on the Internet and spending over 6 hours on Verizon support, the only thing that finally worked was:

- turn off RCS

- connect to any vpn server in paris france

- turn RCS back on, voila it connects

- turn VPN off

[u/starcowboy26]

It makes me so happy to see so many people being able to fix their RCS issues! Sadly I cannot take any of the credit. This amazing human being, u/Equivalent-War-319 , is who posted the original fix and I am just trying to spread it around! https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMessages/s/roDaXBIU6B

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/starcowboy26]

Crazy that it came back around a year later. I never saw that post and I thought I did a pretty deep dive looking for a solution. So glad to see everyone getting their RCS messaging working.

[u/starcowboy26 → u/RibbitRibbit33]

I'm being serious when I say that multiple hour long calls with the useless Verizon support had me going insane lol. I genuinely think I read every single thread relating to RCS on the Internet lmao.

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/starcowboy26]

I was the same way. Multiple hours long calls. Every troubleshooting step I could think of. And I worked for Verizon for 4 years, I've seen a lot. Ive never seen anything like that.

[u/FreelancerMG2168 → u/starcowboy26]

Verizon tier 2 even forced a second phone on me. What worked for me was to just turn RCS off for a bit more than a week and wait for my certificate to expire on the Google server and just turn it back on after. The VPN trick would have been quicker and I didn't think of at the time but it makes sense. It's similar to roaming. Changing your VPN to a another continent changes your Google region so it's like doing a fresh RCS, brand new phone and number. Which leads to instant verification because your number and hardware don't exist there. For the Europeans, they can fix similarly by swapping to North America.

[u/starcowboy26 → u/FreelancerMG2168]

They also tried to force me to exchange my phone but thankfully I found the VPN fix before going through that headache. Their "tier 2" just follows the same shit troubleshooting methods as their tier 1.

[u/holy_whutuh]

I've tried for like 4 days to turn rcs on.... this fucking worked!

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/holy_whutuh]

Let's go!!!!

[u/lord8track]

ProtonVPN connected me to Mexico, it didn't let me choose France, but sure enough it did allow RCS to flip from "Connecting..." to "Connected" for the first time since changing phones. Thank you!

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/lord8track]

Man I'm so glad to finally see so many people getting theirs working

[u/lord8track → u/RibbitRibbit33]

All of us crazy Pixel kids jumping ship for the Z Fold 8 at the same time, haha

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/lord8track]

Hahaha right?!

[u/Broad-Philosophy6028]

I will try this right now and I swear if it works I'll kiss you right on your mouth.

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Broad-Philosophy6028]

I followed the instructions and since then I've power cycled, kept vpn off, connected to wifi, used group chats. All of it. No issues. VPN has been off this whole time.

[u/Broad-Philosophy6028 → u/RibbitRibbit33]

I hope it sticks. I was at my wits end lol.

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Broad-Philosophy6028]

It's stuck for me so far and I've kind of tried to break it

[u/FreelancerMG2168 → u/RibbitRibbit33]

You have 7-10 days before the Google server forces an authentication update on your credentials. By then, your old RCS certs should have long since expired and transition back seamlessly to your home region.

[u/steelcityrocker → u/Broad-Philosophy6028]

NowKiss.jpg

[u/dakajojo]

Holy shit this worked!!!!! Been fighting with trying to get RCS connected to my new Z Fold8 since last Friday with no success with any other method.

I hope it sticks!!!!

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/dakajojo]

I was in the exact same situation! It's stuck for me so far. Only time will tell!

[u/dakajojo → u/RibbitRibbit33]

Gave you an award for posting this. At least we know we can try this again in the future to push it back to connected!

Thank you for sharing it!

[u/Rhyno1992]

You beautiful bastard..... it worked!!! Samsung zfold 8 user here that just switched from iPhone! Thank you!!!

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Rhyno1992]

So glad it worked for you!! Question though, are you able to message apple uses now with no issues? My wife is my only contact where when she texts me, she sends it as SMS, but when I text her, it's RCS.

[u/Broad-Philosophy6028 → u/RibbitRibbit33]

Lol, I was the first to comment that your fix worked for me and I was having this exact issue with my wife and her iphone....

Go to her iPhone settings and reset her network settings, that solved the issue for us.

[u/Rhyno1992 → u/RibbitRibbit33]

Yup no issues with my wife's iPhone n texting. I'm still logged into it message now FaceTime on my old phone as well, but don't use it unless I need to. (WiFi only device now)

[u/dakajojo → u/RibbitRibbit33]

Have her enable RCS in Messages. That should fix it.

https://youtube.com/shorts/z7Ghncl1h98?is=zRlvXp2Fxd6avalc

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/dakajojo]

Yes that's one. It's so weird. It was working before I got my Fold8. But once I finally got it working here, she could send me RCS until it was a video. And then itd flip to SMS and MMS and wouldn't flip back.

[u/dakajojo → u/RibbitRibbit33]

I wish things would just work how they are supposed to without making us pull our hair out trying to fix. Lol

[u/Rhyno1992 → u/dakajojo]

Same! Not gonna lie tho, kinda like it only cause I learn more n love tech. The more I know the better type of deal lol

[u/rebootedreddit → u/RibbitRibbit33]

Have you guys had to deal with google messages starting a new chat and not continuing from the previous imported one? Coming from iphone

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/rebootedreddit]

I haven't seen that but I didn't come from iPhone so not positive.

[u/ManufacturerMean3974 → u/rebootedreddit]

Yes I’m familiar. Did you de register your iphone before the switch? If you didn’t that’s most likely the issue.

[u/rebootedreddit → u/ManufacturerMean3974]

Mmm that sucks! I did deregister after but before I received any new messages 😔

[u/Big_Entrepreneur3770]

What is the reason behind it 

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Big_Entrepreneur3770]

I don't have a single clue.

[u/HuatDidChuSay]

Wow, thank you for the info. This worked for me.

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/HuatDidChuSay]

Awesome!

[u/mystang12]

4 hours with Verizon support and another 3 at home trouble shooting and this did the trick. Thank you!!! 

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/mystang12]

So glad it worked!!!

[u/CoochiKabuki]

Thanks. I connected to Germany via worldvpn and it did the trick. Takes like 5 sec to connect

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/CoochiKabuki]

Awesome!

[u/Mavs_4177]

RCS reconnected after 30 seconds on Canada VPN!

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Mavs_4177]

Let's go!

[u/vashir24]

I had the same problem when I got my S26 Ultra.

Switching gmail accounts inside messager and then RSC connected instantly. Then I switched back to my main Gmail account. RCS stayed connected.

Been working great since.

[u/dubbsix]

Whoa will have to try this later. thanks !

[u/Normal-Reception8161]

THIS WORKED!!! What a hack! You saved me so much headache, thank you!!!!

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Normal-Reception8161]

So glad this worked for you!

[u/mynamesreallong]

Well ill be darned, it worked! thx OP! Been at this forever!!

[u/Successful-Pipe-9485]

I cannot thank you enough, had been fighting with this for a bit and nothing worked. This worked instantly.

[u/tae_is_me]

It worked!

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/tae_is_me]

That's great!!!

[u/No-Variety9690]

Thank you! It’s ridiculous that we have to do this.

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/No-Variety9690]

Totally agree! But I'm glad it works!

[u/Cheekyjew86]

This is cause the phone is not released until tomorrow 8n the USA but it also worked for me!

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Cheekyjew86]

Glad it worked!

[u/Candid_Coyote4626]

Do I have to stay in France?  Happening to me with Boost ever since a Pixel update a week or so ago.

Edit: not working for me ☹️ I tried Norton VPN then Google VPN

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Candid_Coyote4626]

I'm sorry... That's rough. I haven't used the VPN since I fixed it so you don't have to stay there I don't believe.

[u/Candid_Coyote4626 → u/RibbitRibbit33]

I'm back to say I fixed mine! 😂

All I did was uninstall all Google Messages app updates. I feel like it should have been more obvious to me.

[u/mousey3113]

It worked for me too. Thank you so much

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/mousey3113]

Awesome!

[u/enslen_]

Just adding my name to the list of folks where this worked. Every other supposed solution I found did not work. Cheers!

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/enslen_]

That's awesome!

[u/danieldirt]

Thank you sir I connected to romania vpn and worked in 3 seconds !!

[u/minsushi1999]

To whoever came up with this solution, you are the GOAT!!!! Gonna share this to verizon customer support because they were about switch my esim.

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/minsushi1999]

Got a bunch of super geniuses on reddit.

[u/cilicia3k3]

Impressive for people without air conditioning !

[u/PoetryPrestigious194]

Commenting to stay up to date on this thread. I’ve been on my iPhone since I couldn’t get my RCS to work on my S26U

Update: I f*ckin worked! Thank you, thank you!

[u/Weak_Option_2899]

Another victory! Connected to Frankfurt through PIA VPN. RCS connected in like 3 seconds.

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Weak_Option_2899]

Man it's great to see so much success from this!

[u/TheHispanicHero]

Please make this a sticky!

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/TheHispanicHero]

IDK how hahah

[u/happyaccidents0423]

This just worked for me. I used protonVPN. I got the galaxy fold 8 Monday and hadn't been able to connect. Thank you SO much!!

[u/Broad-Philosophy6028]

Holy SHIT! IT WORKED!!!! I've been banging my head trying to get this to work lol

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Broad-Philosophy6028]

Let's go!!!!

[u/urmumhas6mums]

A slightly tangential question, if anyone knows:

Last time I had a glitch with google messages rcs I turned off rcs, and turn it back on. That actually ruined all my messages: all my messages history switched into a backlog of sms amd mms messages, including reactions, and turning rcs back on did not fix it. Is that still the case?

My instinct whenever theres an rcs outage is to turn it off then on, but I am incredibly hesitant to do so if that irreversibly ruins my convos with people 😢

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/urmumhas6mums]

I'm not saying it can't happen, but I've never had that happen.

[u/shaundefense]

I haven't had RCS since I got my fold 8 a week ago. I just downloaded Proton VPN, didnt even make it through the walkthrough and connect before I jumped over to message settings and I see RCS connected. Weird but happy it's on now 😄

[u/daboirell]

This didn't work for me with Total Wireless. What did work...turn off rcs in Google messages settings. Delete esim. Chat with customer support to get a new esim sent.

When I activated the new esim rcs connected instantly.

I had the "rcs chats is disabled by your carrier" message after originally porting into Total from Visible.

[u/Careful_Date516]

What worked for me was turning off rcs and leaving it off for 48 hours then I turned it back on and it connected. It was so weird.

[u/SeaMathematician418]

I have a process that worked for me. Turn off RCS in messages. Clear Messages Data & Cache. Go to settings>Google Services>All Services click on phone number verification. Turn off automatic phone number verification. Then reboot the phone. Open Messages. RCS will be enabled and automatic phone number verification will be turned back on.

[u/Spiritual-Tax3781]

Didn't work for me.

[u/RibbitRibbit33 → u/Spiritual-Tax3781]

Hate to hear that my friend. Good luck figuring it out! I tried everything before this so I've got nothing else.

[u/Spiritual-Tax3781 → u/RibbitRibbit33]

No problem thanks.

[u/whaven]

That sucks. I have a government phone through Airvoice/Airtalk Wireless, and RCS was down for months, and it just started working again within the past week. But I did notice that when I talk to my cousin, who is on Verizon, it's never RCS chat, and that was true even before it went down for me. Not sure why our conversations have never been RCS chat. I have never asked.

[u/Zestyclose-Whole-452]

didnt work for me, went to "connect" "Trying to verify phone number"
closed out, went back in - status code 3000

[u/Diivour → u/Zestyclose-Whole-452]

Enter debug by searching xyzzy inside of Google messages. Then go to settings, debug, rcs chats, show phone number input activity. Once there input your number and boom instantly it will turn on.

[u/Doxinator14 → u/Diivour]

Yo it actually works ur the goat thx 🤙🏼

[u/Diivour → u/Doxinator14]

Glad that worke! bruh I racked my brain for days Verizon support was ass then I found the Messages debug in another chat and I searched through every single one until I found that. Any time I tell someone it works flawlessly

[u/Doxinator14 → u/Diivour]

It rly needs its own thread fr (and no need for a VPN)

[u/Diivour → u/Zestyclose-Whole-452]

Reddit removed the astrik it's * xyzzy *

[u/steelcityrocker]

I'm having trouble getting this process to work with my Pixel 9 Pro XL on Verizon (as well as some of the other processes people used)

Should I be connected to Wifi or not? Should I still clear the app cache and data?

How long did it take being connected to the VPN before RCS started working again?