eylenburg
IM Comparison: Add RCS
Hi there! First off, thank you for all the work you've done and shared! It's really useful and a pleasant read.
Since RCS is now available on iOS, I've started using it with family and friends. I do wonder, though, how it works and what possible concerns might be.
Best regards
Who can help me build an rcs protocol sending platform? Contact my telegram: @GL555gl
Hi,
I'm not sure if RCS is really cross-platform enough to be included. It only works on iOS and unrooted Android with Play Services, and the end-to-end encryption is not cross-platform but only works in the Google app. There are no alternative RCS apps for Android, the Google RCS app apparently doesn't work on AOSP-based systems like LineageOS and GrapheneOS, and there's nothing at all for desktop or Linux phones.
Still, as it should now work out of the box on 95%+ of phones (everything except Huawei and the few Linux phones?) I think it would be interesting to have it in the comparison, at least in the proprietary section. For now I will probably not work on it but happy to accept a pull request or some spreadsheet with all the rows filled out
Google Messages can be used on GrapheneOS via sandboxed Google Play. However, the app assumes Play services has access it doesn't have available with sandboxed Google Play. Instead of accessing device identifiers the default carrier text messaging app app is allowed to access, it assumes Play services can access it which it can't do. This means it doesn't work without granting the access to device identifiers given to the default carrier text messaging app to Play services via ADB shell which is not discoverable to regular users and therefore most people won't be able to use it. We're planning on coming up with a way to providing this as an option without needing ADB. Since setting Google Messages as the default carrier text messaging app grants it that access, it would likely make sense to grant it to Play services in that case, but we may still want to make it a toggle which only shows up when Google Messages is set as the default.
few Linux phones
Anything based on AOSP is a Linux phone. Linux doesn't mean systemd, GNOME, etc. GrapheneOS is a Linux distribution. In fact, why not update https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm to say Comparison of Android-based operating systems? T hey are not actually ROMs, although you could still mention that term in the paragraph explaining things so people still find it looking it up.
Good to know that it theoretically works on GrapheneOS. I checked the news about this again and it seems that RCS doesn't work on rooted or bootload unlocked devices (source) so perhaps it won't work on e.g. LineageOS but would work on GrapheneOS with the ADB workaround you mentioned. Still my opinion on RCS is that it's not as cross-platform or open as its proponents claim.
Good suggestion on the title, it's more meaningful than "ROM". I will change it.
@eylenburg It definitely works fine on GrapheneOS, it just requires granting an extra permission to Google Play services for sandboxed Google Play in some cases. Many users report it works fine without this change though. We aren't sure if it's still needed at all.