Enable RCS on Android
Google Messages is the only Android RCS client on US networks, so this is the only place the setting lives. If your phone came with a different messaging app, install Google Messages from the Play Store and accept the prompt to make it the default. The steps match Google's own instructions.
- Open Google Messages.
- Tap your profile icon in the top right.
- Choose Messages settings.
- Tap RCS chats.
- Use the toggle at the top to turn it on or off.
When you turn it on, the number registers with your carrier. The status line at the top of the RCS chats screen reads Setting up or Connecting while that happens and Connected once it is done, usually within minutes, though it can take up to 24 hours on a newly ported line. When you turn it off, the change is immediate and every conversation reverts to SMS and MMS on your next message.
Enable RCS on iPhone
Apple added RCS in iOS 18, so anything earlier has no setting to find. Check Settings, General, About if you are unsure which version you are on. It also needs a carrier that supports RCS on iPhone, and Apple keeps the list.
- Open Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap Messages.
- Scroll to RCS Messaging and use the toggle.
On a supporting carrier the switch is on by default and the phone registers itself the first time it has service. Apple's note is that there can be a short delay after RCS is first turned on (Apple support); if the words Waiting for activation sit under the switch for longer than an hour, RCS messaging waiting for activation explains what is holding it. iMessage continues to work exactly as before either way, because RCS only affects conversations with non-iMessage users. Turning RCS off on an iPhone therefore changes nothing about your blue threads and everything about your green ones.
How to check that RCS is on
On Android, the RCS chats screen reads Connected. On iPhone, the RCS Messaging switch is on with nothing pending beneath it. On either, a conversation with another RCS user is labelled RCS rather than SMS or Text Message in the compose field, and you see typing indicators and read receipts once both sides have it. If the status never settles, why RCS messaging is not working walks through the causes in order.
If the toggle is missing or greyed out
On Android, a missing RCS chats entry almost always means you are not in Google Messages, or it is not set as the default messaging app. On iPhone, a missing RCS Messaging entry means either iOS 17 or earlier, or a carrier that has not yet shipped the bundle for your plan, which the RCS carrier support tracker records network by network. A greyed-out toggle on either platform usually means a managed work profile controls it, in which case the setting belongs to your employer rather than to you.
Turning it off for one conversation
There is no per-thread RCS switch on either platform. The toggle is account-wide. If the goal is to stop read receipts rather than to disable RCS, that is a separate setting under the same RCS chats screen on Android, and under Settings, Apps, Messages on iPhone. Turning read receipts off keeps everything else RCS gives you, which is usually what people actually want.
What actually changes when you turn it off
RCS is a delivery layer, not an app, and what RCS messaging is covers everything that layer adds. Switching it off does not disable texting, it downgrades it. You lose typing indicators, read receipts, high-resolution photo and video sending, group chat features, and the encryption RCS provides between participants. Messages fall back to SMS and MMS, which every phone supports. Existing conversations stay in place, and no history is deleted.
Two practical side effects catch people out. Media you send after switching off is compressed hard by MMS, so photos that looked fine last week arrive noticeably worse; that is MMS behaving normally, not a fault. And Google warns that turning RCS chats off removes you from the RCS group chats you were in, so the switch is not something to flip back and forth.
Reasons people turn it off
The common ones are troubleshooting a stuck conversation, wanting delivery to behave identically for every contact, avoiding read receipts, or reducing data use on a very limited plan. RCS uses data rather than the SMS channel, so on a metered connection that is a real, if small, consideration. Toggling off and on again is also the standard first fix for a registration that has stalled, which is why the same setting appears in most RCS troubleshooting guides. If you no longer have the phone, Google's deactivation page at messages.google.com/disable-chat turns RCS off for a number remotely.
- Android: Google Messages, profile icon, Messages settings, RCS chats, toggle.
- iPhone: Settings, Apps, Messages, RCS Messaging (iOS 18 or later, on a carrier that supports it).
- It is on when Android reads Connected, or the iPhone switch is on with nothing pending under it.
- Turning RCS off does not stop messages, it drops them to SMS and MMS.
- You lose read receipts, typing indicators, image quality, and encryption, and you leave RCS group chats.
- There is no per-conversation switch; the toggle is account-wide.
- A greyed-out toggle usually means a managed work profile controls the setting.