A21s no longer supports RCS

[Mike_PT]

So basically my provider (vodafone) stopped RCS support. Supposedly the service would migrate to Jibe (google's own servers).

You can read more about it here:
https://www.samsung.com/ie/support/mobile-devices/what-does-vodafones-rcs-termination-mean-for-my-ga...

According to the article, the only thing i should do is to keep my phone updated, which i do. I have the latest update released on 2023-10-11 that has the september 2023 security patch. All of my play store apps are updated and the galaxy store ones too..

The problem is that the samsung messages app is still on version 13.1.21.213 which is very old, i think it came out in september 2022. There were already several dozen updates released since then. Latest version is 15.something.

I checked my DNS requests and notice that the phone is still trying to reach the vodefone RCS servers.

Manually updating the messages APK is impossible because the version i have was the latest that samsung signed with this specific certificate. Newer versions have a different certificate and give an error when i try to install them.

So what can i do? Samsung specifically said that RCS messages would still work with an update but the update never came.

What options apart from installing google messages do i have?

[GoanGeek]

All samsung phones now come with google messages as the default messaging app now.

So I guess you are better off using google messages.

[Piper123]

Agree with @GoanGeek about devices now using Google Messages.

That said, I found RCS very unreliable so have turned it off and gone back to SMS and MMS.

[Mike_PT]

I came asking for support for a samsung own product that it's still receiving updates by them and i'm advised to use instead a "third party" app. The samsung phone is actually my mothers, she's not very tech savvy but she does know how to use samsung messages. Changing to a different app is not a solution for her.

[Mike_PT]

I've been using RCS for years and never had a problem and so was my mother (the owner of the samsung phone). MMS's have a cost and she already payed a lot because she was used to sending emojis on the app, that are now sent as MMS's.

Like i said previously, samsung messages is still receiving updates and so is her phone. Samsung own support page says it should work with an update.

Using a "third party" app is not a solution for her.