Check This iPhone Setting to Make Texting Better for Everyone
Hey, would you mind doing me a favor real quick? If you’re using an iPhone, can you verify that RCS chat is enabled for me? Thank you, I appreciate it. You see, as an Android user, I can’t use all the fun features of iMessage, but RCS allows us to share some of them. The only problem is that iPhones sometimes seem to disable RCS for certain chats after an update. Or for no reason at all.
RCS has been around for a while, but because it needs to be supported at both the carrier and device level, it has taken a while to reach ubiquity. Naturally, you may have seen chat conversations between iOS and Android users who still default to the old SMS-style text messages, and you’ve just gone about your day. However, these days, if you’re chatting with your Android friends and you don’t see a read receipt, or your photos and videos are streaming in potato quality, there’s probably an easy solution.
To check if RCS is enabled on your phone:
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Open the Settings app on your iOS device, then go to Apps.
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Go to Messages > RCS Messaging
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Enable the RCS messaging toggle.
And that’s it! If you’re texting your contacts from multiple devices, it’s also worth checking RCS support on each of them. It can be a bit annoying, but trust me, your Android friends will thank you.
What do you think of it so far?
If you’re using an Android phone, it might also be worth checking that RCS support is enabled, although this is less likely to be a problem. While iOS devices support iMessage and RCS as robust messaging options, Android only has RCS. Both platforms can use SMS, but your Android phone probably uses RCS by default.
Still, it can’t hurt to check. The specific instructions differ depending on the manufacturer, but you can usually go to your default messaging app’s settings and look for a “RCS Chats” section to make sure the protocol is enabled on your end as well.
