Samsung phones are an absolute bloat nightmare. Every app is locked down, every update removes features, and Good Lock is just corporate Stockholm Syndrome pretending to be customization. Buy anything else.
this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2026
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So much for "bro RCS is an open standard everyone can implement it bro"
Meanwhile, Google Voice still doesn't support RCS.
Honestly, that would have been Apple's best clap back: "We'll support RCS when Google Voice does."
Wish Signal still did normal txt messages I dislike having more than one app but yeah I guess they have their reasons.
Their reasons were nonsense and I believe they simply didn't feel like supporting SMS anymore, change my mind
meh i use QuikSMS (FDroid) for the very occasional SMS I receive (2FA etc), i haven't sent an SMS in a decade or more. Fuck RCS
I use Signal for messaging.
It was so nice to accidentally discover you were using encrypted messages.
Check out Beeper. It loads SMS from Google messages, and messages from WhatsApp, Signal, Facebook and Instagram messengers, discord, etc.
Beeper is pretty good. I don't have it mirror Signal because it kind of defeats the purpose, but works really well to unite WhatsApp, Instagram Messages, FB messages and various other ways people keep in touch with me without having to open the spammy apps involved
It's built on top of Matrix, which I also like. It should all be encrypted when being used in the client.
But there is a step in the process that involves decrypting the signal message to encrypt the matrix message
If you are feeling really bold you can use a self hosted matrix server bridged with signal to do what beeper does and keep everything encrypted.
Is there any instructions for this now?
When I tried like 2 years ago the instruction were so terrible I just gave up.
It didn't really explain how all the parts interacted and just assumed you knew everything about Matrix.
Yes, I might figure that out if/when Beeper starts to enshittify
They stopped coincidentally around the same time Google announced that no third party messaging apps would be allowed to use RCS.
Not surprising considering Google strong armed their own app as the only option for RCS. I didn't love Samsung Messages, but I hate Google Messages so much. All the dumb shit they add, like the banana remix button on photos, an emoji focused mode for photos, and recently adding @ mentioning. This isn't Teams. I don't want this shit in my text messages. I just want read receipts. That's it. Sorry, rant over.
Bullshit software recognizes bullshit software
Samsung messages is perhaps the worst software I've ever encountered, so fuck Google, but its at least a lateral step lol
I ended up bailing on samsung message a few years back due to their refusal to do anything RCS based, not surprised they dropped it
They couldn't use RCS even if they wanted to
Google controls all
This isn't entirely accurate. RCS itself is an open protocol, meaning anyone can use it.
The locked down/restricted version of it is Googles version of RCS, which they expanded on to add things like end to end encryption (which don't take me wrong, is nice to have).
But, once the towers supported data, nothing was stopping them from implementing the standard RCS form, or even designing their own modified form that was open access that anyone can use. The latter honestly may have forced google to open their version sooner as they would risk losing leader status on the RCS protocol if they didn't.
That's honestly a good solution to a lot of proprietary services based off open protocols. Just make an open version that has similar features and invite everyone else. insert blackjack and hookers joke here
It did have RCS on T-mobile, though it was a bit restricted, couldn't run on unlocked phones without some dial code tinkering. I gave up on it after a couple years
That may have been my problem, I had no option for RCS at all on my unlocked s20 through tmobile
It appears so. I had an unrooted S20 with T-mobile and it did have the option to enable RCS (tried it for a bit but it was pretty useless)
Yes it was extremely annoying. Had to dial in and do some very hacky phone code entry. Then it would work for a few months until they tweaked something on back end and it would cut out again. It was a shame as I actually liked Samsung Messages; I know people criticized it as duplicative, but it was cool how it would sync across devices, fit in with native one UI style, etc.
The second Motorolla launches GrapheneOS support for Razr, I'm dropping Samsung lol.
I'm on the last flip where Samsung messages came pre-installed, but RCS already disabled, so at the very least I have the choice not to install Google's shitty RCS app.
Any suggestions for decent FOSS replacements?
For RCS no, as it isn't an open protocol despite all of Google's hooting and hollering
For regular SMS, QUIK SMS is a very nice continuation of an older FOSS app.
QkSMS