1mo ago

RCS messaging expands to more iPhone users in the US

www.neowin.net RCS messaging expands to more iPhone users in the US

iPhones now support RCS messaging on 16 US carriers, enabling features like read receipts and typing indicators. But some carriers are still holding out—find out if yours made the list.

Here's the list of US carriers that now support RCS messaging on iPhones:
AT&T
C Spire
Consumer Cellular
Cricket
FirstNet
H20 Wireless
Metro by T-Mobile
PureTalk
Red Pocket
Spectrum
T-Mobile
TracFone / Straight Talk
US Cellular
Verizon
Visible
Xfinity Mobile

22 comments

And yet on Android Google hasn't opened an API for any other app to use RCS, so users are forced to use the Google Messages app. It's really irritating the hypocrisy.
- Came to say this. It's fucked up.
  And as a grapheme user, I can't even use the Google Messages app for RCS. Which is even more crazy. It's truly: give us complete control or else
  
  You frustration is born of a similar issue to mine. I'm running stock Android but rooted and I have to use two Magisk modules to obtain the ability to use RCS. However about once a month Google does something to break the ability to use RCS and I have to disable it for a day or two while the maintainers figure out a way around it.

All this and I still have 2 regular group chats with android friends who’s phones are not using RCS. I went from feeling bad I have an iPhone to being annoyed their androids are not using RCS.
- Google voice does not support RCS. Typical Google bullshit
  Sent from my Pixel™
  
  What is google voice?
  A fellow pixel owner
- I don't really understand RCS. It's supposed to be an open standard but unfortunately it's only available in 1 of 2 Android apps, which are controlled by Samsung or Google. Personally, I don't have a Google or Samsung account, and these don't work without them.
  They could have just used the actually open standard they already used 10 years ago (XMPP) but for some reason they've found some other one that doesn't appear to be very open.
- All they’ve gotta do is download google messages* and it’ll work, that’s on them at this point

Fuck RCS, it's too little, twenty years too late.
Why would I want to use a "new" messaging service that's ass-backwards by being hardware/device bound? It's completely antithetical to design concepts from 30+ years ago?
XMPP provided more, 20 years ago.
- Because it's better than what we have. And people are too dumb to know any better.
- I was asking myself the same question: Why do we even need this? Why is it being discussed? The answer is that Google is trying to leverage a heavily used tool—SMS—as a key component of security and identity verification. I’m talking about banks and government entities globally. Encouraging people to rely on it will reinforce real identity and, naturally, provide control to those we all know are eager to seize it. Google’s strategy here is similar to what they did with Gmail: taking control of a key pillar of identity.

Still unsupported in Australia, unfortunately (｡╯︵╰｡)

RCS is so much better than SMS. All praise Apple for inventing such a wonderful thing. I just wish they’d invent some sort of port that I could plug headphones into.
- Not sure if serious.
  
  No, it’s a joke.
- Why downvote
  
  Probably because the article in no way has a tone of “hail apple” and instead is just informative about who can use RCS on which carriers on iPhones. It even says
  Previously, iPhone users were left out of the RCS party,
  So it’s not denying the fact that Apple didn’t previously support RCS. As pointed out in an above comment, you can only use RCS on Android through Google’s messages app, so it’s not like Android has been some bastion of open standards here, each corporation is driven by profit.
- RCS is garbage.
  And you should use /s to let people know you're being sarcastic.
  Frankly, the iMessage approach has been the answer forever, Signal had the idea for a while and dropped it.
  
  iMessage has been the answer? This is one of the reasons I switched to Android. Apple's solution is make you all dependant on only buying their products / services to able to communicate between them. I just received a video in a group chat yesterday that looks like it was taken on a Gameboy from the 90's because one person on the chat has an iPhone that doesn't support RCS, so we're all stuck on SMS.
  Honestly, WhatsApp has been the answer for years, which is fucking sad as well.
  
  Yeah, the internet doesn’t understand sarcasm. 🤷

22 comments