RCS is included on Verizon plans in the ordinary sense that there is nothing to add. It runs over Wi-Fi or mobile data rather than the cellular text channel, so it consumes data rather than a texting allowance.
Which app carries Verizon RCS messaging
On Android, Google Messages. Verizon was the clearest of the US networks about this: it ended RCS support in Samsung Messages in January 2025 and pointed customers at Google Messages, which is where RCS on Verizon Android devices has lived since.
On iPhone, Apple's own Messages app. RCS arrived there in iOS 18.1 in October 2024, and Verizon has it enabled, so an iPhone on Verizon reaches Android contacts over RCS instead of dropping to SMS.
The Samsung Messages change, and what it looked like
If you had a Galaxy on Verizon and chat features stopped working in early 2025, this is why. The handset did not lose anything, the client app did. Setting Google Messages as the default texting app restores RCS on the same number and in the same threads. See does Samsung support RCS.
Turning it on
On Android: Google Messages, profile menu, Messages settings, RCS chats, on. On iPhone: Settings, Apps, Messages, RCS Messaging. The phone then registers with the network, which is usually quick and occasionally is not. How to turn RCS on and off has the full walkthrough.
If RCS is not working on Verizon
- Chat features missing on a Galaxy. Almost always Samsung Messages rather than Google Messages. Change the default app.
- Stuck on "Setting up". Give it mobile data rather than Wi-Fi only, then see RCS waiting for activation.
- Only some conversations are rich. Normal. RCS upgrades a thread when both ends support it and falls back to SMS when they do not.
- A business message arrived as plain text. That is fallback working, and it is decided per recipient at send time.
What this means for business senders
Verizon is one of the three US networks whose support puts RCS reach above 80% of American smartphones. A verified sender shows your name, logo, and checkmark on a Verizon handset exactly as on the others, and there is no Verizon-specific registration on top of the standard RBM agent approval.
Verizon's row, next to every other US network and the handsets each one covers, is kept current in the RCS carrier support tracker.
- Verizon supports RCS via Google Messages (Android) and Apple Messages (iPhone, iOS 18.1 and later).
- Verizon supports encrypted RCS on iPhone (iOS 26.5, 2026).
- Samsung Messages RCS on Verizon ended January 2025, use Google Messages.
- RCS on Verizon uses data rather than the SMS channel, so it does not draw on a texting allowance.
- Business senders need no Verizon-specific approval beyond a standard verified RBM agent.