Google Messages may remove the SMS/MMS-only toggle for RCS chats

Rich Communication Services (RCS) has reshaped Google Messages, bringing read receipts, larger media attachments, and cross-platform messaging with iPhone users. RCS isn’t without its own issues, though, and Messages has so far offered an easy way to opt out on a per-chat basis if it causes problems – a feature that now looks like it could be going away.

Even after switching to RCS, Messages has offered a contact-by-contact toggle letting users disable RCS for a specific chat and fall back to plain SMS and MMS. That’s worked fine up to now, but version messages.android_20261002_00_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic of Google Messages for Android contains new text strings suggesting a significant change is coming.

The strings include a banner reading “The ‘Only send SMS & MMS messages’ setting is going away. Switch now, or let it update automatically,” along with buttons labeled “Dismiss” and “Switch now,” under a banner titled “Switch to RCS chats now.”

<code>&lt;string name="force_sms_home_banner_body"&gt;The “Only send SMS &amp; MMS messages” setting is going away. Switch now, or let it update automatically.&lt;/string&gt;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&lt;string name="force_sms_home_banner_negative_button"&gt;Dismiss&lt;/string&gt;
&lt;string name="force_sms_home_banner_positive_button"&gt;Switch now&lt;/string&gt;
&lt;string name="force_sms_home_banner_title"&gt;Switch to RCS chats now&lt;/string&gt;</code>

At some point in the near future, it appears Messages will start notifying users that they’re losing this per-chat option. When that happens, only two alternatives for avoiding RCS seem likely to remain: turning RCS off entirely across every chat, or relying on the existing fallback that uses SMS and MMS only after RCS delivery fails.

There’s no clear timeline yet for when Google might flip the switch and roll this change out widely, but it looks like only a matter of time. Given how spammy RCS content can sometimes get, losing this granular control isn’t an appealing prospect – though it may be one users eventually have to accept.