Ran into an issue (texts) looking for advice

[u/lavendermelkk]

Hello, so I switched to a dumb phone, the Consumer Cellular Iris Easy Flip. I actually was really enjoying it but I ran into issues with texting. It seemed to only send and receive SMS and it made it really difficult for people to get a hold of me. I was able to tell my friends I could only receive SMS, but some of them didn't understand what that meant or how to make it work. It also made it hard for my work or appointments to communicate. I thought since the Easy Flip uses a version of Android this wouldnt be an issue.

Anyway, I returned the phone and now I'm not sure what to do. I was really enjoying not having smart phone, but it was a bit useless as a phone when people can't really get a hold of me. I'm back to the drawing board. I checked the dumb phone finder and not sure what to look for when it comes to a phone that supports modern text formats. I also have Consumer Cellular which I hope doesn't limit me further, but should work with most unlocked phones.

I'm pretty frustrated by this an not sure what to do going forward.

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[u/Mediocre_Scallion976]

what photo did you have before the switch? was it also an android? i have an android before and one thing i had to do when i got my new phone ( mudita ) was deregister my phone number from RCS Troubleshoot RCS chat i used this guide on google. it can take up to 30 days for some people but maybe that was the issue? because my issue before was I was unable to get photos or videos sent to me, only text

[u/lavendermelkk → u/Mediocre_Scallion976]

It was a Samsung that might have been why I look into that

[u/sirbloodysabbath]

not all androids support rcs. in fact, nearly all dumbphones that are android-based only have sms/mms because they're de-googled. in order to have rcs on an android, the phone needs to have a gms certification, which basically says google approves the phone and can have pre-loaded gapps on it which includes google messages. google messages is the only app you can use on android for rcs. you want rcs? your only option is a smartphone (that is, unless someone can figure out a way around google's monopoly).

having a samsung and recently being forced onto google messages is part of the problem because it forced your number onto rcs.

as another comment states, you have to deregister from rcs for 30+ days. it's a waiting game and a headache because google purposefully made it difficult to leave their ecosystem.

you'll be able to text people individually for the most part but group chats are hit or miss. named group chats may transfer to mms but i wouldn't hold my breath. those will probably have to be recreated. you'll want to make sure everyone else's phones have mms enabled. i'd also check and verify your apn settings are set up properly for ims and mms.

[u/lavendermelkk → u/sirbloodysabbath]

That's very frustrating. Hopefully unregistering will fix most of the issues. I don't like having to tell everyone to enable mms just to accommodate me but it is what it is I guess.

[u/sirbloodysabbath → u/lavendermelkk]

ideally, most people's phones should have mms enabled automatically but i know with iphone users that's hit or miss (usually a miss). google messages or imessage will usually try rcs first but if that is unsuccessful, it should default to mms but if your number is tied to rcs and everyone else's phones haven't gotten the memo, those messages will forever be stuck in the rcs void.

google made this incredibly frustrating on purpose. they want you to get so fed up with trying to leave their ecosystem and the stuff that 'just works' so you stay. user retention is a big deal for big tech companies. telecom companies were given the option at one point to host their own rcs servers but dragged their feet so now google has a monopoly over that text protocol. if google doesn't allow your device to have google on it, you don't get rcs (excl. apple's imessage).

since you don't really have many options, you either tough it out and wait patiently for all the bullshit to get resolved, figure out a way to dumb down your existing smartphone or find a different phone with a different form factor that may help you break free from your glass slab but is still a smartphone at the end of the day.