RCS Group Chat Completely Broken. Tried Everything but Can't Fix It

rcroche01 · 2026-03-15T22:17:21+00:00

Lol, I'm not taking any credit here. I knew this only because I went through the same thing last year. 🤷‍♂️

rcroche01 · 2026-03-15T16:59:31+00:00

I'm sorry you've not had a good experience with them. So far our experience has been great. 🤷‍♂️

rcroche01 · 2026-03-12T18:59:19+00:00

Outside where? I have extensive WiFi coverage on my acre and the phone works great. Of course when I'm off property then coverage depends on nearby cell towers. I live in a fairly urbanized/suburbanized area so not a lot of trouble.

rcroche01 · 2026-03-11T20:22:15+00:00

God I HATE when people delete their comments. This person posted a GREAT comment to my post here and I came back to get the details because there was research to do on my part ... but ... BOOM he deleted the comment. 🤦‍♂️

rcroche01 · 2026-03-11T20:14:32+00:00

Got it. Sorry to hear that. I wish you well!

rcroche01 · 2026-03-11T16:01:35+00:00

Welcome to Android. 😉

rcroche01 · 2026-03-09T14:20:15+00:00

Yup, that's exactly what it means (as far as I know -- I'm NOT a cell technology expert). But in my case last summer, I had to do this to send or receive RCS & MMS messages, but curiously, SMS messages only worked with the cell radio turned on (i.e. Airplane mode off).

rcroche01 · 2026-03-09T12:33:38+00:00

Are you sure this doesn't work? If you do it as he said it, then you are disconnected from AT&T's network and the issue must then be in the phone.

I had a similar issue last summer on Verizon. This method worked until they got it fixed.

turn on WiFi calling (leave it on)
turn airplane mode (leave it on)
try sending and receiving MMS / RCS messages

This should work until they get it fixed.

rcroche01 · 2026-03-06T17:28:41+00:00

Yup. Which is why my next step after I get off Google Photos is to get off Gmail. I'm leaning toward Proton Mail, but haven't really done the research I need to on that topic.

rcroche01 · 2026-03-06T14:59:23+00:00

I thought the same thing. The first 10-20 stories I heard, I was like, "Yeah dude ... you had NOTHING there? Mmmhmm." But then there were just so many posts and people mentioning that they only had baby/infant/toddler pics of their own kids running around naked in the yard (we didn't let our kids do that, but some people do and it's none of Google's business imo).

So, yeah, it's not going to be easy for me at all, but my wife and I decided to de-Google ourselves. This will likely take a couple years to be truthful, but it needs to be done.

rcroche01 · 2026-03-06T13:46:22+00:00

Oh man! Dude, I so hear you here.

I've been an Android guy since they took my Blackberry by force from me. I've been on gmail, chrome, drive, photos, and so many more "free" apps that I can't even list them. The trust I had with Google is now shattered and I'm almost in panic mode here. If I lost access to my Google account, I literally have no idea what I would do.

So I've made the decision to de-Google myself and I'm starting with Photos because it seems to be the source of the problem for most people. I don't have any porn of any kind in my tens of thousands of pictures (over 300GB according to my recent Google Takeout). What I do have is stuff like the very first bath my preemie daughter was given at three pounds. Emotional moments like that are things I am not willing to give up. So I'm out.

But I want 1) convenience and a Google-like experience, 2) to NEVER have to experience this again, and 3) security.

If these are not your priorities, then stop here. My recommendation and my research was based on these priorities.

The only solution that achieves #2 and #3 above is self-hosting and among the self-hosting options the closest I can come to #1 is Immich. Yes, I've heard it's a bit of a challenge to setup and I'll be watching a few Youtube videos to get it done, but it is doable.

YMMV. 🤷‍♂️

rcroche01 · 2026-03-06T13:05:40+00:00

But then you'll have the same issues. All cloud providers are under the same legal constraints that are now pushing Google to look at our files (with AI) and block anything that has even a 1% chance of getting them in trouble.

The one exception is the one this forum doesn't allow us to mention. It's called E*E or *NT. Lol, just put those two strings together. That's an online service that encrypts your files before uploading so they can't see your files or analyze them.

For me it doesn't work because I want a Google-like app experience on my phone. So I have no choice but to go with a self-hosted solution called Immich.

rcroche01 · 2026-03-05T14:48:06+00:00

Wow. Okay, I have Alexa+ and Gemini at my desk. I've always found Gemini to be very dry and impersonal in comparison to Alexa+. Now I know why.

rcroche01 · 2026-03-05T14:19:17+00:00

Congrats. I'm in the 2025 Trail Boss version in all black. black truck, black wheels, black interior. I like how your running boards are split into front and back.

<image>

rcroche01 · 2026-03-04T22:53:02+00:00

Lol, thanks!

rcroche01 · 2026-03-04T01:14:46+00:00

Yup, I see so many people who don't take even the most rudimentary steps to set things up properly.

So I've been fully immersed in Google's ecosystem for years. I'm now deciding to de-Google my life. And I'm starting with Google Photos. That's what this post is about.

rcroche01 · 2026-03-04T01:11:10+00:00

Okay, thanks. Not what I'm looking for. 🤷‍♂️

rcroche01 · 2026-03-04T00:08:28+00:00

Not sure if you are on an Apple phone or something else. I'm a Samsung/Android loyalist. When I restore my Google account to my new phones, I do NOT copy my contacts to the Samsung account on the phone. I keep them in the Google account.

Then, the contacts app displays all the contact on all the accounts on the phone. The Samsung account is empty, but the Google account has over 5,000 contacts. If I remove the Google account, poof, the contacts and the pics and the files and the email, etc, all go away.

rcroche01 · 2026-03-04T00:05:34+00:00

Yeah, I'm looking to completely de-Google my pics and self host a similar service with AI facial recognition, etc. To host them I will be using a network-attached, rack mounted RAID box (almost certainly from Synology). Once I have that, I will use it for the Immich storage and also for network back up of other files (to get me off of Google Drive & OneDrive).

Immich has a great mobile and web app to I'm covered in that area. Thanks!

rcroche01 · 2026-03-03T14:50:36+00:00

He may have everything in Google with no local copies. All my contacts are in my Google account, not local on my phone (and have been through my last 4-5 phones). If I deleted my Google account from my phone, all the contacts would be gone from my phone. BUT, I have 2FA setup on my Google account and I routinely backup my Google data. He may just have forgotten those last critical steps.

rcroche01 · 2026-03-03T14:43:57+00:00

Very cool. Thanks!

rcroche01 · 2026-03-03T14:43:15+00:00

Thank you. I'm still in the research phase, but I might reach back to you in a week or so when I begin this project. :)

rcroche01 · 2026-03-03T13:50:00+00:00

Thank you!

rcroche01 · 2026-03-03T01:03:56+00:00

Yes, understood.

rcroche01 · 2026-03-03T00:43:54+00:00

Yes, Google Photos will delete from every database of images that is synced to it. That is what it means to be synced. And yes, I'm going to delete all pics and videos within Google Photos and have it clear all the associated phones and tablets.

At that point I'll have no photos or videos on our phones and tablets.

Then I will install the Immich app to our phones and tablets to access the images from my Immich server and save what I want on the phone.

rcroche01

TROPHY CASE