https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/1/24087418/google-messages-blocking-rcs-on-rooted-android-devices
Google says it’s taking measures to prevent spam and abuse.
Wtf is the reasoning here, just checked and it's broken for me also.
Reasoning
They stated its for reducing spam and that jazz.
However, it has the hidden benefit of yet another reason to avoid rooting, which means less access to functional adblocking
yet another reason to avoid rooting
we can all agree that literally nobody would give up their rooted phone if they're forced to choose between root or RCS
Been paying a bunch on my rooted custom a13 rom in the past 2 months. 1 single magisk module (Play Integrity Fix by chiteroman) was all it took, simpler than it has been in a long time. I have full safetynet or 2/3 play integrity reliably, which to my understanding is all google can reasonably enforce on modern devices and android versions for a while to come.
So with sadness I must say I can't use google pay at all ... cause they killed it. But google wallet (formerly google pay, formerly android pay, formerly google wallet, formerly google checkout), works just fine
You better set yourself a reminder for 20 minutes from now to update this when they rename the app again.
Indeed. I have found an article which I hope I can simply keep bookmarked to make it a simple task following whatever the next method may be.
But I have also found things calm down considerably over time, google seems to concentrate their resources on recent android versions. Once a15 or a16 are out for a bit, I probably won't even have to update the module anymore.
All my older rooted phones have access to everything, even after years of not caring at all.
People say it works fine. I wouldn't know, didn't care for the feature even when my phone was fully stock.
I have it on z fold 4 and with Magisk, Zygisk, Play integrity Fix, Shamiko I'm able to use it fine. Today I got the message that my phone doesn't meet the "security requirements" even though I passed safetynet and couldn't use it. I was ready to disown anything Google, but then I updated Play Integrity Fix and everything is working now.
Same. DriveDroid is the one thing that keeps me on root though. If I need something, I'll see if I can bypass it.
I would definitely root. But I do want to have access to my banking apps and GPay. Even though I do have a watch that can do all that
You can have root as well as gpay and wallet. I have literally right now in Android 14.
What phone? I'm on S23u and kinda gave up back in the note 10 era. Samsung is going to be my go to regardless of root status.
Honestly how fucking dare they mess with communication like that, especially with no notice. I've been missing messages from my roommate and dad with no sign of anything being misconfigured. It's one thing for things to be inadvertently broken from rooting, but doing it on purpose under the table is disgusting behavior
Turns out I was missing messages also from my mom during a family emergency. I'll probably be disabling RCS going forward
RCS is walled off by design, so that users are dependent on Google and their phone carrier. If they wanted an open standard they would have adopted something like XMPP.
No... RCS is a protocol (from GSMA) anyone can implement, Google just spearheaded it and developed Jibe to make it easy for operators to implement, but by doing this it means Google gained a lot of control of it and added their own features to such as end-to-end encryption.
RCS is designed to be used with a phone number though. And fall back to SMS when unavailable. If XMPP was used.
If RCS was fully walled off, Apple would not be able to implement it like they said they would
The proprietary RCS standard is owned by the GSMA. They can license the use of RCS to large companies such as Google, Samsung, or mobile operators. But can a private developer get a license and develop his own RCS client? I think not.
RIP but true, I only interact via matrix bridges but maybe I should setup a iMessage one to cover all bases lol
I'm on LineageOS, rooted, and RCS is working for me. Is the block tied to the device safety attestation?
My device (somehow?) passes safety check, and I've had no problems with my banking app, Pay, or other annoying apps that insist you don't own your own device.
I lost RCS for most of yesterday on my rooted stock phone. After I realized what was going on I went into Magisk and saw that an update was available for Play Integrity Fix and that solved the issue. What I found most annoying wasn't that it didn't work, but that it broke in a way that seemed like it was working. Both myself and other people saw that we were connected/chatting via RCS and their messages sent just fine, but I didn't receive them. Well, until I applied the update, then I got all of them.
You pass without Magisk? Curious if you're on a Pixel as they can fail attestation if the bootloader is unlocked.
No, I have Magisk which is probably what it is. I'm still used to the r/LineageOS rules where you're not allowed to even mention the existence of Magisk. lol
I haven't rooted any phones or flashed roms in years. Please let me know why it's so taboo to mention Magisk?
I'm not sure which level I pass, I can use everything but etrade right now.
Tap to pay using gpay and all my banking apps work
You can use Simple Play Integrity Checker on IzzyOnDroid (fdroid repo) or the play store. It also checks safetynet.
If gpaywallet works that would indicate 2/3 play integrity if your android is recent I think, so it might be unrelated to the api. 3/3 isn't enforceable yet afaik, too many legitimate devices can't pass it.
Apps can still bring their own root checks, but magiskhide should allow you to pass those.
Unless the app is quite nasty and checks for the mere presence of apps that don't do much without root or xposed, in which case there are also modules that allow you to limit what apps other apps can see being installed (really seeing installed apps should be a permission, but sadly it isn't on most roms yet)
They say that it's for reducing spam but then i read that in india they allow businesses to pay for sending unsolicited spam to the point that enabling RCS it's like stating "i like spam, please send more"
An "industry standard" that Google seems to have complete control over. Sound like another failed Google messaging app.
Google Messages is a mess. It NEVER falls back to SMS if you lose data connection, making it very unreliable.
As a result I've had several messages fail, with no notice unless I open the app and see the "failed" message.
As a result I disabled RCS and the app and installed QKSMS and only use SMS. It's 100% reliable. For chats I use WhatsApp.
Add to that they are now blocking rooted users WITHOUT TELLING THEM, and it's really a pile of steaming sh!t.
Suchai needs to go. Google as a whole is getting worse under his leadership.
Even Android has stagnated under him. It should be way better than it is but he doesn't inspire creativity and excitement in the staff. They are all playing it safe, with zero innovation.
We did. RCS was made over a decade ago by mobile phone OEMs
Except now that everything runs Android and theres so few OEMs left, Google gets to dictate a ton of stupid requirements even though it's open source and runs off the Linux kernel.
They already paid Samsung to remove RCS from their messages app so that google messages would be the only major app with support.
Incidentally, it runs like complete garbage compared to even the OEM SMS apps of Android jellybean.
So when they go around making a hissy fit about imessage, I really don't care because I can't even use RCS without using their shitty gapp.
The current alternative is a data based app like signal.
Not one single mention in the article of what an "RCS message" is.
Boy do I hate articles that just assume you know all the context you need.
Found info on Samsung website that "Samsung Messages" app should support RCS? Is it true? Can this app be installed on non-Samsung phone?
It used to, it no longer does because Google paid or convinced Samsung to remove RCS and make Google Messages the default.
I used to unlock the bootloaders for a couple of years on all my phones, 10 years ago or so. I installed cyanogenmod and used it the way it was supposed to: rooted. But then Google Pay came along as well as banking apps that actually did their jobs better then the banks' web sites. You couldn't use either of that reliably with a rooted phone. So now I am back to stock android and I am actually quite happy with it. I like the google services, including Google Pay. Also, stock android improved a lot since the early 10s.