How to activate RCS messaging in Google Messages on Android

byFlorian published on

RCS or Rich Communication Services is a messaging protocol available in the Google Messages application. You can use it to send text messages over Wifi and mobile data and enjoy other chat features while chatting with other RCS compatible devices. In this article, let's take a look at how to activate RCS messaging in Google Messages on Android.

Activate RCS messaging in Google Messages on your Android phone

RCS is very similar to iMessage on Apple devices. Using it, you can send and receive messages over Wifi and mobile data instead of SMS and MMS, add people in group chats and share high quality photos.

Additionally, you can see when other people are online, if they're typing, and let others know you've read their messages via read receipts. It's all more or less similar to instant messaging apps like WhatsApp.

However, for this to work, RCS must be supported by your carrier. If your carrier supports chat features, you will automatically get the "Do more with messages" pop-up window. Anyway, you can also manually enable RCS chat features for messaging by following the steps below.

Steps to enable rich messaging features on Android

  1. Open the Google Messages app on your phone. Install it from here if you haven't already.
  2. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
  3. Click on Settings.
  4. Now head to General> Chat features.
  5. Activate the toggle next to "Activate chat features »
  6. Enter your phone number if prompted and wait for the status to change to “Connected”.

That's it. RCS messaging has been activated on your phone. You can use the chat features while chatting with other people who have RCS enabled on their phones. You can choose to send read receipts and display input indicators through the toggles shown for “Send read receipts” and “Show input indicators” in the chat functions menu.

How to see if the message is sent via RCS (Wifi or Bluetooth) or SMS / MMS?

You can easily verify this by looking at the Submit icon in the compose bar. A message sent over Wi-Fi or mobile data will have a single arrow. However, those that will be sent via the traditional SMS or MMS protocol will display the “SMS” or “MMS” tag under the arrow.

Disable chat features for a particular contact

You can turn off the chat features for a particular contact by opening the chat, tapping the three-dot menu in the upper right corner, and selecting Details. Here you will need to activate the toggle to "send SMS and MMS only".

For obvious reasons, the option will not appear for users who have not enabled RCS on their phone.

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So it was a question of how to activate rich communications services or RCS messaging on your phone. You can use it to send messages over Wifi and mobile data like iMessage alongside other chat features. Let us know if you have any doubts or questions.

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