If you buy a high-end Samsung or iPhone device, there’s little to choose between them. It’s the Android OS that has always been the catch. But now Google is slowly changing that as well—and it’s causing serious anger amongst users…
Android is changing—this year we have seen an exciting focus on AI upgrades to existing apps, as well as security crackdowns on dangerous apps and the third-party app store ecosystem. And later this year, we will finally see an update to texting between Android and iPhone, with Apple’s reluctant RCS concession.
One of the themes here is control. Apple exercises it to a high degree over its ecosystem and Google, through Android, traditionally has not. But that’s changing. Google is heavily focused on the walled garden elements of its “Play” ecosystem, including the additional protections available to its huge user base.
Now we have just seen the latest examples of Google’s “Play” style of Android becoming ever more like iPhone. According to reports, users with rooted devices—taken outside the semi-walled garden—can no longer use RCS.
As explained on a Reddit thread that has highlighted the issue: “As of 2024, Google is now quietly blocking RCS messages on rooted Android devices. Even if your device only has its bootloader unlocked, it is now at risk of being quietly shadowbanned from sending RCS text messages.”
As reported by 9to5Google, “Google confirmed to us today that some of those phones are prevented from using RCS, and cited the need to prevent spam and abuse by making sure devices abide by the RCS standard’s ‘operating measures’.”
Not a popular move for those impacted. “Shadowbanning is one of the most classic, Orwellian tools in the censorship toolbox,” complained the original poster on Reddit, “and it is being used against people who paid full price for a device and pay monthly for cellular service. Google is now full-on denying your communications.”
The issues can be difficult to work around. According to another Reddit poster, “I have a rooted Pixel 7 Pro and RCS broke (again) this morning. Even worse, there’s the potential that things don’t just magically switch to SMS on other people’s phones because your RCS is broken. You just won’t receive texts from people.”
That poster described the update as “the Applefication of Google,” and that perfectly sums up what we’re seeing here. The user-first, buyer beware philosophy of old is changing quickly, and those latest AI upgrades will bring ever more control Google’s way. This has implications for users, and for Android OEMs—including Samsung, who have to navigate the Google tightrope when they push original innovation.
There is a workaround that does seem to work—at least for now. According to 9to5Google, “those who are savvy enough to root have found a straightforward enough fix that involves bypassing the safety feature (Play Integrity API) that looks to be responsible for preventing RCS access.”
Difficult to tell if any workarounds will persist, though. Another Reddit poster suggests there may be a cat and mouse game behind the scenes as Google tightens up. “People have been fighting the play integrity API/device integrity hard for the past few weeks now. For the past few years, it was relatively easy to bypass. Now, all of a sudden, things are breaking much more rapidly, and are resistant to the same workarounds that have functioned for years.”
And while that poster, and others, refer to this as Orwellian, the spin side is that most Android users within Google’s ecosystem want broadly the same level of security and protection enjoyed by their iPhone counterparts. As such, I don’t see this kind of tightening changing back anytime soon.
While blocking banking apps and wallet functionality makes some sense, blocking RCS will be much more unpopular. “This is unethical [and] despicable,” complains the original Reddit poster. “I am willing to concede the banking apps, but preventing me from communicating is absolutely beyond the pale.”
I have approached Google for any comments on this story.
