MMS can send (group/images) but not receive (group or images) (maybe other phones are sending via RCS?)

Recently installed e/OS on my Fairphone 4 and found that I could send MMS group texts with either the Messages app or a custom build (hacked by me) of Simple-SMS-Messanger (GitHub - craigcomstock/Simple-SMS-Messenger at as-home-app) which I have used for quite a long time without trouble.

The other participants are using iPhones and I have read that iOS 18 added RCS. When looking at their phones I see their messages to the group and they have a little “RCS” text above them, while my messages have a little “SMS”. I also noticed that images sent to me from iPhones don’t arrive either.

I see that Messages app uses the same android-smsmms (though probably some diffs but same base-layer) so suspect that the issue has to do with de-googling maybe?

I’ll check logcat and see if it says anything interesting.

I am going to install stock Fairphone Android build and see if things work with my iPhone friends or not.

Thanks!