Google Restricts RCS Messaging On Some Android Devices

If you buy a high-end Samsung or iPhone device, there’s little to choose between them. It’s the Android OS that has always been the catch. But now Google is slowly changing that as well—and it’s causing serious anger amongst users…

3/4 update below; article originally published 3/1.

Android is changing—this year we have seen an exciting focus on AI upgrades to existing apps, as well as security crackdowns on dangerous apps and the third-party app store ecosystem. And later this year, we will finally see an update to texting between Android and iPhone, with Apple’s reluctant RCS concession.

One of the themes here is control. Apple exercises it to a high degree over its ecosystem and Google, through Android, traditionally has not. But that’s changing. Google is heavily focused on the walled garden elements of its “Play” ecosystem, including the additional protections available to its huge user base.

Now we have just seen the latest examples of Google’s “Play” style of Android becoming ever more like iPhone. According to reports, users with rooted devices—taken outside the semi-walled garden—can no longer use RCS.

As explained on a Reddit thread that has highlighted the issue: “As of 2024, Google is now quietly blocking RCS messages on rooted Android devices. Even if your device only has its bootloader unlocked, it is now at risk of being quietly shadowbanned from sending RCS text messages.”

A Google spokesperson told me that “ensuring that message-issuing/receiving devices are following the operating measures defined by the RCS standard is one of the ways Google Messages prevent spam and abuse,” and that “as we fight spammers and fraudsters, we take into account different indicators.”

Not a popular move for those impacted. “Shadowbanning is one of the most classic, Orwellian tools in the censorship toolbox,” complained the original poster on Reddit, “and it is being used against people who paid full price for a device and pay monthly for cellular service. Google is now full-on denying your communications.”

“A large volume of RCS spam comes from automation, which typically relies on modifications to the sending device,” Google’s spokesperson explained. “Our spam prevention techniques constantly evolve in response to the changing behavior of spammers. We will continue to look for ways to prevent spam and fraud while minimizing the number of users affected.”

The issues can be difficult to work around. According to another Reddit poster, “I have a rooted Pixel 7 Pro and RCS broke (again) this morning. Even worse, there's the potential that things don't just magically switch to SMS on other people's phones because your RCS is broken. You just won't receive texts from people.”

That poster described the update as “the Applefication of Google,” and that perfectly sums up what we’re seeing here. The user-first, buyer beware philosophy of old is changing quickly, and those latest AI upgrades will bring ever more control Google’s way. This has implications for users, and for Android OEMs—including Samsung, who have to navigate the Google tightrope when they push original innovation.

There is a workaround that does seem to work—at least for now. According to 9to5Google, “those who are savvy enough to root have found a straightforward enough fix that involves bypassing the safety feature (Play Integrity API) that looks to be responsible for preventing RCS access.”

Difficult to tell if any workarounds will persist, though. Another Reddit poster suggests there may be a cat and mouse game behind the scenes as Google tightens up. “People have been fighting the play integrity API/device integrity hard for the past few weeks now. For the past few years, it was relatively easy to bypass. Now, all of a sudden, things are breaking much more rapidly, and are resistant to the same workarounds that have functioned for years.”

And while that poster, and others, refer to this as Orwellian, the spin side is that most Android users within Google’s ecosystem want broadly the same level of security and protection enjoyed by their iPhone counterparts. As such, I don’t see this kind of tightening changing back anytime soon.

While blocking banking apps and wallet functionality makes sense, blocking RCS will be much more unpopular. “This is unethical [and] despicable,” complains the original Reddit poster. “I am willing to concede the banking apps, but preventing me from communicating is absolutely beyond the pale.”

3/1 update: This RCS crackdown isn’t the only Android morphing towards iPhone evolution we have seen this week—and the other seems even more blatant. It seems that Google is borrowing one of Apple’s flagship recent innovations for its own devices, and it’s now appearing on devices.

Google has started updating Pixel phones with the “Satellite SOS” feature that has been seen on Apple’s devices from iPhone 14 onward. As explained by 9to5Google, “if you dive into Settings > Safety & emergency on a Pixel phone today, you’ll very likely see ‘Satellite SOS’ appear between Emergency SOS and Car Crash Detection. Google, seemingly in an error, has rolled out the setting widely to virtually all Pixel device through a recent update to Adaptive Connectivity Services.”

The feature is seemingly pre-release and doesn’t yet function. But based on some of the links being shared, it seems there may be an optional search and rescue plan available from Garmin that works in tandem with the satellite SOS feature.

All told, a leveling up with this kind of feature, allied with the shared focus on generative AI with which Google and Samsung are speeding ahead while Apple prepares for an iOS 18 catch-up, means that flagship devices from each of these OEMs will get ever closer and closer in features and performance. And while satellite SOS will be useful to a small proportion of Android users, the AI differentiation that will be apparent when Apple eventually goes live will be much more signifiant.

3/4 update: Clearly, the risk for Google is that the more Android starts to align with iPhone, the more likely the risk that Android users will make the switch. And on that note, some interesting research has just been published, claiming that when Android users do switch, they opt for less expensive iPhone models, rather than premium, flagship devices.

Their report is unsurprisingly now generating headlines. According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, “a small but consistent share of iPhone buyers do switch from Android phones, and these customers tend to be more male and have lower incomes than existing iPhone owners.”

“Overall,” CIPR says, “Android switchers, who represent 10-15% of iPhone buyers in a given quarter, tend to buy older and thus less-expensive models. In the 12 months ended December 2023, 29% of Android switchers bought the legacy SE, 12, or 13 models, where the 13 included the base and mini models. In comparison, 21% of upgrading iPhone owners bought one of those models.”

There are various conclusions that can be drawn from this research—relative price points and demographics being the obvious ones. But the research might also suggest that the more premium Android handsets, particularly from Samsung, have relatively level features and performance with iPhone counterparts and so are holding onto more of their users.

There is also something to be said for brand loyalty on the Android front, specifically to Samsung—the nearest equivalent to Apple and iPhone in terms of approach. We saw that in the wall-to-wall Galaxy AI branding that dominated Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week.

CIPR’s report confirms this: “A large percentage of Android switchers are coming from less expensive Android phones, of which there are many. The legacy iPhones may be a better match for their smartphone budgets. In addition, Android switchers exploring the iOS universe may not feel the need to get the latest and greatest iPhone with the newest features.”

CIPR has previously reported on the specific demographics of Android to iPhone switchers, finding that “customers that switched from an Android phone to an iPhone fall within the middle of the age distribution. 28% are from 35-44 years old, compared to 20% of repeat iPhone buyers... Android owners tend to be younger than iPhone owners. This happens despite the social pressures for younger smartphone owners to enter Apple’s walled garden.”

This last point is particularly timely, given the current focus on iMessage and its lock on younger US consumers, for whom the iPhone is the dominant handset, helped by the social distinction between those infamous blue and green bubbles.

For those electing to make the switch, it could not be easier—there’s been an app for that. It’s as simple as running the app with the two devices close to one another, just as though you’re transferring from one Android or iPhone devices to a newer model of the same.

This year will be a watershed for the relative merits of Android and iPhone, and it will be all about AI. Excitement for Apple’s iOS 18 continues to build, with the promise (vague so far) that it could be their biggest OS upgrade yet. And that’s because this is Apple venturing out on the generative AI ice for the first time. Meanwhile, Google is racing ahead with Gemini updates—despite some awkward setbacks along the way, and Samsung doing its own Galaxy thing.

The advantage for Apple and its iPhone will be the clean approach. Android will always struggle with the two masters syndrome—Android on the one hand and the device OEM with its separate ecosystem on the other. Apple doesn't have that issue. And the complexity of the Android AI landscape is set to be further complicated by the leading Chinese OEMs jumping into the AI fray.

And perhaps this last point is the most important of all. With the next generation of AI-capable devices due this year (if not already available), performance differentiation will be key. The Chinese Android OEMs—Xiaomi, Honor, Huawei—will promise more device bang for the buck, and that could make all the difference when on-device AI processing is concerned.

All told, 2024 is going to be a year of change of the smartphone world.