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Hope you like RCS, because Google Messages plans to remove this easy way to turn it off
Oct 6, 2026 — 4:02 PM ET
- Google Messages currently lets you disable RCS for conversations with individual contacts.
- A new app update appears to start laying the groundwork for this option’s removal.
- After that happens, your only option for avoiding RCS may be disabling it across all chats.
Forgive us for sounding like a bit of a broken record at this point, but the arrival of Rich Communication Services (RCS) has been an absolute game-changer for Google Messages. It’s brought us everything from read receipts, to bigger media attachments, to cross-platform messaging with our iPhone buddies. That said, RCS isn’t without its own problems, but thankfully Messages has provided us with an easy way to opt out if it’s causing problems. Unfortunately, that now looks like it could be going away.
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Even once you’re using RCS in Messages, the app has so far offered a contact-by-contact toggle that lets you disable RCS for that particular chat and go back to old-fashioned SMS & MMS:
That’s worked fine up until now, but it version messages.android_20261002_00_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic of Google Messages for Android we’ve spotted some new text strings that reveal plans to seriously change things:
<string name="force_sms_home_banner_body">The “Only send SMS & MMS messages” setting is going away. Switch now, or let it update automatically.</string>
<string name="force_sms_home_banner_negative_button">Dismiss</string>
<string name="force_sms_home_banner_positive_button">Switch now</string>
<string name="force_sms_home_banner_title">Switch to RCS chats now</string>At some point in the probably-not-too-distant future, it appears that Messages will start telling users that they’re losing this option. When that happens it looks like you’ll only have two other choices for avoiding RCS: turning RCS off entirely, across all chats, or relying on the existing fallback option that uses SMS & MMS only after RCS delivery fails:
We can’t say exactly when Google might be planning to flip the switch and make this change go live, but it sure looks like it’s only a matter of time. Considering how spammy some RCS content can get, we don’t love the idea of losing this option — but maybe we better start getting comfortable with that inevitability.
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