If You Use Google Messages, You NEED To Read This

Sorry for the click-bait title, but it's true.

As many people found out during Hurricane Ida, Google Messages doesn't work well during a disaster, when there is no or limited cell network service. That's because of the base RCS protocol that it uses, instead of the older and data-thriftier SMS protocol.  

In the US in 2021, there’s no single agreed-upon way to keep in touch with people unless everyone you know has an iPhone. Some friends prefer Discord, others Facebook Messenger, and I can reach a select few with RCS — an up-and-coming replacement to SMS messaging being championed by Google. On Sunday, with Hurricane Ida only just having made landfall, I was using three different apps to check in on friends and family.

Come Monday morning, the storm having ravaged Louisiana overnight, the situation had changed. All across the state, cell towers were damaged, taking out some carrier networks and making an internet connection essentially impossible in most areas. Worse, there was no way to really know any of that until local news outlets reported it hours after the fact, leaving us worrying all morning about those who stayed behind.

Thankfully, we found that, in some cases, a simple text message could get through, assuming the cell towers functioned at all. Now, what does any of this have to do with RCS?

In trying to reach out to my dad, I opened Google Messages and tried to send him a quick text to make sure everyone was okay. A few minutes later, I realized that it was trying to send via RCS. Google’s current RCS system is built on the assumption that the internet will always be accessible, but thanks to the destruction caused by Ida, I knew internet access would be essentially non-existent.

Knowing my way around Google Messages, I was able to use the per-contact toggle to “Only send SMS and MMS messages” and try to send my message again.

As the article later points out, Google needs to update Messages to provide a general option to use SMS or to fall back to SMS if RCS messages can't be delivered.