How to enable read receipts for texts on Android
How many times have you wondered if someone has seen your text? Luckily, there’s a feature on Android that helps answer that question. It’s called Rich Communication Service (RCS).
RCS adds additional features to the Messages by Google app, including high-resolution media sharing, location sharing, input indicators, end-to-end encryption, and read receipts. The caveat is double. First, you need to enable RCS on your Messages app. You should also ask the person you are communicating with to turn on RCS. Also, if you’re texting someone with an iPhone, it doesn’t make any sense since Apple refuses to adopt the RCS standard.
The big question for me (for a while) was “Why isn’t RCS enabled by default?” I have tried to find out why, but there is very little information on the issue. The only conclusion I can draw is that since not every country in the world (nor Apple) adopts RCS, Google has left the responsibility of enabling it on the consumer. Another possibility is that there are still quite a few used Android phones with outdated operating systems that don’t support RCS. Enabling RCS by default can cause problems with these older devices.
However, if Google does eventually enable RCS by default, you won’t have to contact your contacts and say, “If you’re on Android, please enable RCS on your device.” Then doing this opens Pandora’s box, where you suddenly become the tech support for that person to guide them to enable the feature.
If you find yourself in such a situation, let me show you how, so you can simply direct your contacts to this article to avoid having to explain yourself.
How to turn on read receipts on Android
What you’ll need: The only thing you’ll need is an Android device with an updated operating system.
1. Open Messages settings
The first thing to do is open Messages by Google. Once open, tap your profile picture in the upper right corner. From the resulting menu, tap Messages settings.
2. Open RCS chats
In the Settings window, tap RCS chats at the top of the page.
3. Enable RCS Chats
At the top of this page, tap the On/Off slider to turn on RCS chats to enable the feature. Once you’ve done that, all of the options will become available to you.
Make sure the On/Off slider for Send read receipts is in the On position. You can also enable any other features you might want to add.
Once you’ve enabled RCS chats (and read receipts), back out of the Settings window and you’re good to go. You’ll then want to make sure anyone you chat with (either individuals or groups) has RCS chats enabled as well (otherwise, the features won’t work for you).
And that’s all there is to make sure you know when your fellow Android users have received and read your SMS messages. Hopefully, someday in the near future, RCS will be enabled by default on all new Android devices, so you don’t have to call out your friends and family who haven’t enabled the feature.
