Is there any FOSS alternative messenger that handles SMS and RCS? Supposedly RCS is an open standard, but I am not aware of any FOSS messenger that has it. I’d like to move away from google messenger, but there doesn’t look like there is an option just yet.
No such thing.
Google has not, and probably never will, make it accessible to outside developers.
Since they decided to play host for rcs, they essentially own it now.
Yup. It’s an open standard, but that doesn’t mean they will let your client connect.
Even it wasn’t Google, you can’t self-host RCS backend. So it would have been carrier’s servers or someone else’s. Given that end-to-end encryption is not a part of the standard yet (and it won’t be mandated anyway), having an open source client would offer no privacy benefits.
I went through this same process recently. Since Apple was finally implementing RCS, I was looking forward to my iPhone friends complaining less, but unfortunately it seems like Google pretty much has an iron grip on RCS as even with Samsung Messaging or Beeper / Sunbird, I’m pretty sure you need a Google Account
If only.
honestly the lack of open source software for volte and RCS is frustrating and makes it almost impossible to run mainline Linux on a phone
To be honest RCS doesn’t bring anything useful, SMS are helpful because they don’t rely on wifi network, RCS will prevent you for receiving urgent message. Everything RCS does, other messaging apps like Signal do better
The main advantage is that not everyone has to have the same app (in theory). Users looking to replace Messages (Google), certainly need something that at minimum handles SMS/MMS - like Quik or Fossify Messages
Well, with RCS everyone already has a baked in app that supports the protocol, but still doesn’t do anything better other the alternatives (I mean other apps, not sms).
I’m slowly moving all my friends and family over to Signal
My only issue with Signal is that it does not seem to (or I cannot get it to) work over wifi in the absence of a cell signal.
To be fair, I don’t remember the last time I had mobile signal without any sort of internet. The coverage pretty much overlaps these days.
