Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Several Redditors have reported issues when texting between Android devices and iPhones.
- The users noted that RCS worked for a short time before reverting to SMS despite the availability of data connectivity.
Update, January 17, 2025 (03:03 PM ET): Curious what might be behind this RCS-breaking behavior, we reached out to the companies involved for comment, and Google has now followed up with Android Authority to shed a little light on what’s going on here.
Sure enough, this seems to be a bug on Apple’s end, and one that Google says the iPhone-maker is aware of. When an Apple device succumbs to this behavior, iMessage reverts to SMS, despite all the requirements for RCS remaining available.
As confirmation goes, that’s still quite frustrating, and we don’t have any better sense for when a long-term solution might become available. But at least now we have a little more clarity as to where this problem originated — and who we’re looking at to deliver a fix.
Original article, January 17, 2025 (04:45 AM ET): Apple finally adopted RCS messaging last year, enabling a more modern texting experience between Android and iPhone users. This recent messaging standard uses data connectivity and offers high-quality media sharing, read receipts, and more. Unfortunately, it sounds like some users are seeing an annoying problem when using RCS between the two platforms.
Redditor Kaaji1359 reported issues when texting their iPhone-toting wife from their Google Pixel phone. More specifically, the user claimed that every message was initially sent and received via RCS for “a month or so” before reverting to the older SMS standard.
What’s actually happening here?
The Redditor noted that they still encountered this issue after they’d switched from a Pixel 6 Pro to a Pixel 9 Pro while their wife switched from an iPhone 13 Pro to an iPhone 16 Pro. Furthermore, the user clarified that they’d switched from Verizon to T-Mobile, but to no avail. The latter change suggests that this isn’t a carrier-specific problem. The Redditor also tried restarting their wife’s iPhone, and this fixed the issue for roughly 20 minutes before texts reverted to SMS once again.
Several other users chimed in to report the issue, noting that they had devices like the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 6 series, Pixel 8a, and Pixel 8. One person also noted that they experienced this problem on the Visible network. A few users specifically noted that they experienced this problem despite both parties having data connectivity, which is required for RCS. So it’s not just a case of devices falling back to SMS because one party lacks data coverage.
Do you have problems with RCS texting between Android and iOS?
755 votes
There are a few workarounds mentioned in the thread. The original poster noted that restarting their wife’s iPhone resulted in RCS working once again, albeit for just 20 minutes before reverting to SMS. Another user suggested disabling the option to fall back to SMS when RCS/data coverage isn’t available, but the original user noted that this didn’t make a difference. Finally, one user suggested that iPhone owners reset their network settings (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset Phone > Reset > Reset network settings) to solve the problem.
We’ve asked Apple and Google for comment regarding this issue and will update the article accordingly. Nevertheless, the fact that RCS seems to temporarily work after restarting the iPhone suggests that it could be an iOS-specific problem rather than an Android or network problem.
