Set up RCS chat features on Galaxy S25

RCS (Rich Communication Services) upgrades your texting experience with read receipts, typing indicators, high-resolution photo sharing, and group chat improvements. Here is how to enable RCS on your Galaxy S25.

Enable RCS in Google Messages

1. Open Google Messages. If it is not your default SMS app, set it as default first via Settings > Apps > Choose default apps > SMS app.
2. Tap your profile icon in the top right corner.
3. Tap Messages settings.
4. Tap RCS chats.
5. Turn on RCS chats if it is not already enabled.
6. Wait for the status to show Connected. This can take a few minutes.

Verify RCS is working

1. Open a conversation with someone who also has RCS enabled.
2. Look for a chat bubble icon (rather than SMS/MMS) in the message field.
3. If you see “Chat message” instead of “Text message” at the bottom, RCS is active for that conversation.
4. Send a message and check if you see delivered/read indicators.

RCS features you get

• Read receipts (see when your message was read).
• Typing indicators (see when the other person is typing).
• High-resolution photo and video sharing (no more blurry MMS compression).
• Larger file transfers compared to MMS limits.
• Better group chat management.
• Wi-Fi messaging (send texts over Wi-Fi when you have no cellular signal).

If RCS won’t connect

1. Make sure mobile data is turned on (RCS setup requires data).
2. Check that Google Messages is updated to the latest version in Play Store.
3. Go to Messages settings > RCS chats, turn it off, wait 30 seconds, and turn it back on.
4. Clear Google Messages cache: Settings > Apps > Messages > Storage > Clear cache.
5. If the status stays on Connecting, try resetting network settings: Settings > General management > Reset > Reset network settings.
6. Contact your carrier to confirm RCS is supported and enabled on your plan.

RCS with iPhone users

Apple added RCS support to iPhones starting with iOS 18 in late 2024. If the iPhone user has updated to iOS 18 or later, you should see RCS chat features in your conversations with them. If they are on an older iOS version, messages will fall back to SMS/MMS.