Rich Communicator Services with the four largest US carriers announcing (a Google-less) plan to roll out the SMS/MMS successor. Today, a trick has emerged that appears to enable RCS on any Android device and carrier.

Pre requisites

Download and install Activity Launcher app
Join the beta programme in Google Play for Messages App.

  • First, make sure you’re using the beta version of the Google Messages app. Open this link on your phone, scroll down, and hit “join beta” on the listing. Update your app and make sure it says “Messages (beta)” before continuing.
  • Download the Activity Launcher app on the Play Store
  • Navigate to system settings on your phone, apps, find the “carrier services” app (make sure system apps are shown), and then clear storage data on that app
  • Force stop the Messages (beta) app to make sure it’s not running in the background
  • Open up the Activity Launcher app you downloaded earlier. Tap “Recent Activities” at the top and then select “All Activities”. Scroll down the list until you find the Messages app and click it to expand the options. Select “Set RCS Flags”.
  • Under the “ACS Url” section, select ‘”http://rcs-acs-prod-us.sandbox google.com/.”
  • Under the “OTP Pattern” section, select the only option available.
  • Click Apply, then go back home and open Messages again. 

1.) Open Activity Launcher

2.) Tap ‘Recent Activities,’ and in the menu choose ‘All Activities.’

3.) Look for ‘Android Messages.’

4.) Tap it, then scroll until you find ‘Set RCS Flags’ (com.google.android.apps.messaging.ui.appsettings.rcs.overrides.OverrideFlagsActivity).

5.) After pressing it select ‘ACS Url’ and in the menu select ‘http://rcs-acs-prod-us.sandbox.google.com/.’

6.) Follow setup in Android Messages. Will take around three minutes. If it doesn’t work, continue reading.

7.) Clear the data of ‘Carrier Services’ and force stop ‘Android Messages.’

8.) Repeat steps 1-4.

9.) Select OTP Pattern, and in the menu click, ‘Your\sMessenger\sverification\scode\sis\sG-(\d{6}).’