I just switched from a fairphone on a “normal” Android to e/os. (Still in the process of understanding everything…) I discovered the issue with RCS messages and saw on several topics that there is no issue for now but something being under work.
My question is about these days of change from a phone to another : how to be sure no message is lost on the way ? How did you do, especially for people you could not warn about this issue ? (I don’t feel like writing to all my contacts…)
the first messages I was sent appeared on my old phone (no sim car on it but still wifi and linked to my google account). → I swiched RCS off there, not sure if it was a good idea. No I put it back but I don’t seem to receive messages anymore.
when people write me with RCS, they receive an error message 1 hour after and can send it back as an sms. I hope everybody will do and that their phone will remember to do so. Any hint on how to avoid issue there ?
Thanks a lot !
Ps : a bit lost in all the possibilities/ things to check when swhitching, I found some articles summerizing it all, but if there are step by step tutorials I’d be very happy for it. Maybe it’s too much to switch and de-googlize at the same time I really was really using all the google suite tools and synq.
How did you deal with the lack of RCS messaging when changing to e/os?
I didn’t. I’d already moved my number to a SIP provider and set up a url for SMS to be sent to with a Node Red routine which autoreplies and tells them to use Signal.
I’m not sure my contacts are all ok to use signal instead of sms but I’m curious of that configuration and happy to discover that. So with putting a number on such provider, you manage to get a kind of virtual phone to contact with.
For people who would really want to keep RCS messages, that could be an option too ? (by sending the message to the phone then). But I’m not craving enough for these messages to set up an installation just for this.
Although RCS is a standard supposedly supported by carriers, in reality it’s pretty much controlled by Google with most messages going through their servers. For the privacy conscious it’s not much better than SMS. I’d therefore choose another means by which you wish to be conversed with and insist on it with your contacts. I chose Signal (easiest for non-technical people) and devised a means by which I can hammer the point home to those with a mind to resist. You could do something similar if you have the technical know-how. Otherwise just tell everyone what you are moving to.
As far as I know, RCS is an open standard with end-to-end encryption. Hopefully a solution will become available for /e/OS soon. Threema, signal etc. are not open standards and they depend on one company.
RCS goes through the carriers. There are good reasons not to want to use RCS, but it is a standard and can be freely implemented, as far as I can tell.
Reasons not to use it : the carrier knows who you are talking to, where you are and a lot of meta information.
Some still do, but I imagine Google will switch off their software implementation of RCS soon. It’s expensive and of little value. Google has already started pushing carriers towards supporting RCS themselves, and has turned off jibe in some countries.
However, if I am correct with the information carriers get when you use RCS then Google switching off their implementation is not good news. I’d rather Google got the data and not my carrier. Google is very good at not letting anyone else get its data.
I really was really using all the google suite tools and synq.