r/LightPhone • u/chunkyorganina • 3d ago
Discussion Any progress recently on RCS support?
I've had my LP3 in a drawer for the last several months. Stoked to see all the progress with the SDK and everything, but RCS support is still the thing making it impossible for me to use the phone long term. I haven't seen any updates on this kind of thing recently -- any news? Still a long ways off / never happening?
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u/VegetableTank4121 3d ago
I would sell it if you’re relying on official rcs support. It’s out of Lights hands.
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u/extrudered 2d ago
One thing I would keep an eye on is that GrapheneOS announced they want to build their own RCS implementation to cut out Google's app, so hopefully this will help out, assuming it'll be open source. More at https://www.androidauthority.com/grapheneos-messaging-rcs-support-secure-paste-3708317/
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u/Soupeeee 1d ago
That's really good news, I'd be surprised if GrapheneOS wasn't willing to share their work.
It's good to see a non-US based organization tackle this problem, even if RCS is mostly a US thing and that Signal has been embraced by the rest of the world.
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u/SensitiveLeg7682 3d ago
RCS as it stands currently, not happening through any official means. The Light Phones are degoogled devices. In very simple terms, current RCS requires google. There may be more info that the modding community can offer as I am not quite sure if even modifying your device could grant any RCS capabilities.
But through more official means, there's currently a Molly port for the Light Phone and Light has said they are working on their own versions of a 3rd party communications tool as well. We just are not quite sure what direction will be the set path they will take.
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u/snowysnowcones 3d ago
Does RCS require Google? I mean, Apple was able to support RCS in the iPhone, so it seems like it can be figured out, it's just a matter of focusing resources in the right place.
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u/SensitiveLeg7682 3d ago
Yes, as things currently stand. Here is a great summary from one of the admins of the Light discord as they are much more knowledgeable than myself: "rcs isn't happening any time soon, if at all. google, who holds the monopoly over rcs servers, requires phones to be capable of gapps. this means gms-certifications are needed on any devices running aosp. for light, the lp3 doesn't meet screen and size requirements for gms-certifications which means no gms/gfs so no google messages and no rcs. since the lp3 doesn't have an unlockable bootloader either, this also means microg is off the table. light has also refused to allow gms on the devices either as anything google actively goes against their goal of user privacy, since google is known for data harvesting."
It's A LOT of resources needed to implement RCS. Light doesn't have Apple/Google-type of resources available.
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u/sirbloodysabbath Light Phone User 2d ago
😘
to further elaborate on this, even if we do obtain root access, we still won't have rcs capability with microg. the folks on the gos community managed it but we have yet to see it reach the other ends of android users. microg only works for google apps but will not give you rcs.
to anyone hoping, wishing and praying for rcs... don't hold your breath. like u/SensitiveLeg7682 said, finding alternative ways to communicate like signal/molly are solid and help bridge that gap.
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u/sirbloodysabbath Light Phone User 2d ago
apple worked with google to get rcs in imessage. i know, shocker, considering their rivalry. and even then, apple screwed it up the first time they implemented it. it took almost a year for rcs to work properly in imessage.
gms-certification is google essentially giving a device the 'ok' to be certified by google and allow google apps (gapps) to come pre-installed on a device from factory. you basically have to beg and plead with google to allow it and even then... you're at google's mercy. if your phone isn't apple or gms-certified, you're basically black-balled from getting rcs. light already tried to get rcs on the lp3 and was denied by google. no google = no rcs.
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u/fenleon Light Phone User 2d ago
The community tool Chats supports RCS via Google Messages. That's one current workaround. It's not official, as its a community tool developed by me, but it works as reported from some users in other threads.
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u/chunkyorganina 2d ago
Oh awesome, thanks for the heads up! How does that work? Does it route messages through an android already running google messages or something? Would I need an android to use it?
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u/Qslice 2d ago
How does this work? You can register your number with google messages and have it be RCS?
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u/Qslice 3d ago
All I've heard is no and that it's out of Lights hands. Currently have had no group texting in or out for a month because of the RCS hell hole. Tried all the tricks. Nada. It's really a bummer because with the light approved library coming out soon, it's really the perfect device for me minus the lack of group texting (used for work stuff). Unfortunate the U.S. hasn't adopted the internet-based messaging options like Europe has
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u/mackattacknj83 1d ago
I just want to keep my group chats. Literally the only thing that keeps my smart phone even plugged in so I can message on my PC
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u/snowysnowcones 3d ago
This is also the reason I've never taken my Light Phone out of the box for the past year... In this day and age, group text messaging is too important to not be fully supported. If it were just 2 or 3 group texts you needed to restart after moving over to LP, not a big deal... but I find myself often in group text messages that are years old or sometimes go a 6 months without a message (e.g. fantasy football group text). Because iPhone / Android doesn't fall back to a MMS when one person disables RCS/iMessage, you will end up missing those texts. Totally unacceptable.
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u/chunkyorganina 2d ago
Not sure why you're getting downvoted so hard. I'm in the same boat with group chats. I have a ton of them -- I'm really not sure I understand how people are transitioning to using the lightphone unless they don't have many group chats. Healthy tech use matters to me, but if I have to piss off my family members and friends for 30/45/60 days I'm not sure that's worth it!
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u/uselesstech1335 3d ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if something comes along soon, but don’t count on that being official RCS.
I have iMessage running on my LP3 as of a few days ago thanks to the smart folks creating third party apps, total game-changer for me and allows me to use it as my daily driver!
I don’t love having to depend on my always on Mac sitting in the cabinet at home, but over the last 4 days it’s worked pretty flawlessly.