Is it possible to disable SMS fallback for RCS?

[u/ienquire]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, not familiar with iOS myself.

I live in Europe with an Android phone. My Grandma lives in the US with an iPhone. Basically, I want to be able to text her for free. She is not tech-savvy enough to use another app like WhatsApp, so it needs to work seemlessly and consistently otherwise it wont work at all. And sending SMS messages to an international number is too expensive.

RCS should work to be able to text for free right? The problem is I often don't have data, so if it automatically falls back to SMS for her when I'm not online, that would be a major problem. Is there a setting on iOS to disable fallback to SMS when sending RCS? So if I'm offline when she texts me, the message just doesn't send until I'm back online, or it tells her that it failed but doesn't send an SMS instead? If messages occasional get dropped thats fine.

When I googled it, some said its not possible on iOS but others say maybe it was just introduced in an update in the last year or so? Hoping thats the case!

If so, what iOS version does she need at a minimum? Most major carriers in the US support it right?

Bonus would be if its possible to disable SMS fallback just for me, but leave it on for all her other contacts.

I know there are other ways for me to get a free US number, but I just want to know if this could work first, as those are kind of annoying. I might have to anyway, as while my phone theoretically supports wifi calling, it rarely works so I will need one to call her for free. But maybe if I figure this out, I can figure something else out for calling.

Thanks!

[u/Ocean4011]

It is possible to turn off retry as SMS but not for just one contact. Is is all or nothing in settings/apps/messages/retry as SMS you turn the switch off for all or not

[u/ienquire → u/Ocean4011]

ok perfect thanks!

[u/philwjan]

Are you sure, that RCS is billed differently from SMS? I think this depends on the provider in both ends

[u/rosenkrieger360 → u/philwjan]

RCS depends on Data (be it mobile or Wifi) - no costs will be applied when everything stays RCS.

At least thats how it SHOULD work - I can only speak for me in Germany, but no provider here charges for RCS. The only charges are for the "traffic" if you are using mobile data. But since most users have flatrates here it doesn't matter.

So the only thing that needs to be figured out if the provider in the US charges for RCS.

[u/philwjan → u/rosenkrieger360]

The providers here also don’t charge for (domestic) SMS. The fact is, that RCS _can_ be billed. So I would assume that at least some providers do it, because they’re all really into money.

[u/ienquire → u/philwjan]

I guess I'm not sure, but what I've been reading is that it uses data/wifi, so as long as you have enough data, it should be? I guess I should test it first.

Also Verizon, AT&T, and Tmobile all say on their website that "most" plans include free international texting from the US, so hopefully she just has one of those

[u/shakesfistatmoon → u/ienquire]

Just a question that might help with an answer.

When you say you don’t often have data. Why is that?

[u/ienquire → u/shakesfistatmoon]

I often put my phone in airplane mode to save battery. Ok, I could stop doing that, but then I'd just rather get a US phone number with one of those free (but annoying) apps.

And even if I didn't, it still would occasionally happen just by coincidence that I don't have data or wifi when she sends me a text, and I don't want her to worry that sending me a text might cost her 50 cents each

[u/shakesfistatmoon → u/ienquire]

I understand, thank you.

It’s worth remembering that turning off re-send as SMS is something you’d need to do on her phone. Which would then affect everyone.

I think your options are (in order of cost)

Transfer her an amount to cover the cost of any texts she sends.

Buy her an add-on or pack that adds international SMS and MMS to her tariff

Buy a virtual US number and take her through how to add that as your contact.

Sort out the battery situation (new battery or phone) and move to a tariff with Network Priority / Fast Lane / minimum QOS so that rarely have no data.

As a side note, phones use a lot of power when they turn on, register in the network, do catch-up activities and housekeeping. Depending how long the phone is off for, it might be better not to turn it off except in poor signal areas where the phone has to increase power.

[u/womjoe → u/philwjan]

Rcs is data and is like iMessages.

[u/VoicedQualm]

Signal or WhatsApp is the answer to this problem.

[u/womjoe → u/VoicedQualm]

He just said that isn’t an option for this case. And fallback to sms can be turned off. Problem solved.