Google Messages RCS isn’t working for some users, but a weird VPN trick might fix it

RCS in Google Messages has stopped working for some users The issue mostly seems to be affecting newly set up Samsung phones Various fixes have been proposed, but the simplest and weirdest seems the most reliable RCS (Rich Communication Services) is a worthwhile upgrade to SMS — it brings encryption

<![CDATA[ <article> <ul><li><strong>RCS in Google Messages has stopped working for some users</strong></li><li><strong>The issue mostly seems to be affecting newly set up Samsung phones</strong></li><li><strong>Various fixes have been proposed, but the simplest and weirdest seems the most reliable</strong></li></ul><p>RCS (Rich Communication Services) is a worthwhile upgrade to SMS — it brings encryption, read receipts, and more, and it’s accessible via Google Messages on Android. Except right now, it seems not to be working for a number of people.</p><p>It's not clear how widespread the issue is, but various posts on Reddit suggest there are issues with RCS on recent Samsung phones like the <a href="https://www.techradar.com/phones/samsung-galaxy-phones/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-8-review">Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8</a> and <a href="https://www.techradar.com/phones/samsung-galaxy-phones/samsung-galaxy-s26-ultra-review">Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra</a>.</p><p>The issue most commonly seems to occur when swapping over to a new device, so people who’ve had a <a href="https://www.techradar.com/phones/samsung-galaxy-phones/samsung-galaxy-s26-review">Samsung Galaxy S26</a> for a while with no issue, for instance, are seemingly less likely to run into problems than someone who just bought the phone and set it up.</p><p>But in any case, a number of Reddit users report RCS failing to connect, in some cases followed by a 3100 error code. The good news is that there are several potential fixes floating around, and one of them is quite straightforward.</p><p>That fix, as highlighted in <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMessages/comments/1vszt0g/verizon_rcs_not_working_fixed/?" target="_blank">one Reddit thread</a>, is to turn off RCS, connect to a VPN, then turn RCS back on, and hopefully it will reactivate as normal. You can safely turn the VPN off at this point. This Reddit post says that you should connect to a VPN in Paris, France, specifically, but elsewhere, users have claimed success by using other VPN regions, so it’s unlikely you need to choose Paris — we certainly can’t see why that would make all the difference.</p><p>Anecdotally, this method seems to have the highest success rate going by the replies on Reddit, with most users exclaiming variations of “I can't believe this actually worked,” and that’s good, because not all the suggested solutions are as simple as this.</p><h2 id="the-official-suggestion">The official suggestion</h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:5712px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="JtPwwjgoWRzcPtvP84Noo6" name="Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 5" alt="Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 inner display" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/JtPwwjgoWRzcPtvP84Noo6.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="5712" height="3213" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="caption-text">Some Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 users are reporting RCS issues </span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: Richard Priday / TechRadar)</span></figcaption></figure><p>So we’d suggest trying this method first, but if it doesn’t work, then Google’s own support team <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMessages/comments/1vrshaj/comment/p4l4h15/" target="_blank">posted a suggestion too</a>. They say you should update to the latest version of Google Messages, then turn RCS off, clear data for Carrier Services, restart your phone, and finally turn RCS back on.</p><p>If that doesn’t work either, another user has <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMessages/comments/1vqcvbu/comment/p4gk8r5/" target="_blank">posted a six-step process</a> that involves stopping the Google Messages app, then removing your phone number from Google, followed by turning off two-step verification, turning off recovery phone, and removing Google Play Services updates, then turning Google Messages back on — after which, if RCS is now connecting, you should re-enable/update all of the above.</p><p>This feels like a bit of a nuclear option though, and not all users found this method worked for them. So hopefully the weird VPN trick will solve the issue for you. Interestingly, this trick first <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMessages/comments/1ftl0gv/comment/lqe3cwl/" target="_blank">emerged two years ago</a> when some users were having similar issues. So, while we’re not sure why it works, it has a long history of solving the problem.</p> </article> ]]>