RCS verification

[Colisa]

Hey so i recently changed over to bell and they keep telling me ways to aet up my RCS but it won't validate its stuck in a samsara a loop of "setting up" "validating" google says contact bell, bell aays contact google, i followed all their stepa nothing works please someone help me so i can text my global friends without them getting charged insane tsxt fees 

[WelshTerrier · Accepted solution]

Good Day & Welcome to the Bell Community Forum.

Which model of device are you using?

When you are in the process of verifying your phone number, your RCS chats status displays “Setting up.” If the “Setting up” status remains for more than a day, it means Google Messages can’t verify your phone number.

To verify your phone number:

1. On your device, open the Messages app.
2. At the top right, tap your Profile picture or Initials.
3. Tap Messages settings and then RCS chats. 
4. Select Retry.
5. Confirm your phone number when requested.

If you don't find Retry in the app. Or if you tap Retry and it doesn't solve the problem:

1. On your device, open the Settings app.
2. Click on Apps.
3. Find and tap Google Messages app.
4. Clear storage and clear cache.

Tip: If you can't find "RCS chats," tap Chat features.

I did some further investigation & follow up on the Samsung support website & the problem you are experiencing is a well know device issue.

Please have a look at the following web links. There are a couple of suggested fixes mentioned in links 3 & 4 below.

1. Samsung S25 Ultra: RCS Messages, Unable to Receive Group Texts - Samsung Community
2. RCS not working on new S25 - Samsung Community
3. How to turn off RCS chats
4. Turn on RCS chats in Google Messages - Google Messages
5. Can't turn on RCS chats - Google Messages

Have you contacted Samsung Galay S25 Ultra tech support & reported the issue that you are experiencing?

 FYI Only. There has been a similar issue reported with the Samsung S24 Ultra. Please Go to the helpful replies

Take care.

[Colisa]

I have retried for days now it won't go through 

[dks · Accepted solution]

I have recently come across references in online forums that the there are serious problems with Google Messages, especially with Samsung phones, dating back to March 2025. While these issues have apparently been rectified and Bell does support the RCS protocol, this line about the nature of RCS struck me as interesting.

• SMS and MMS messages are delivered, no matter whether a smartphone is connected via cellular data (for example, using a carrier’s data plan), a Wi-Fi router (for Internet access), or merely a cellular signal (sufficient for voice calls). By contrast, RCS messages simply wait forever if a phone is connected only to a cellular signal. RCS packets don’t go through until both the sender — and then the recipient — connect to a Wi-Fi router or to a carrier’s data plan.

The issue may be the Google Messages app itself and not a Bell issue. I can't say this is your issue, but it certainly gives one pause. 

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[mrweeble]

Google Pixel 8 Pro device.

The problem only started once i ported my number from Rogers to Bell.
If Bell cant resolve this issue, i guess i go find a new carrier.

[BellKris]

Hi there, @mrweeble. Welcome to the Bell Community, and thanks for your post.

Please take the time to review the troubleshooting tips and advice earlier in this thread. In addition if the issue continues to persist, we encourage you to share any additional steps you may have taken that others might not have considered. 

Furthermore if you've reached out to Tech Support as well, that's great! With open tickets it's a good idea to regularly follow up; we'd welcome any updates as well so users in similar cases can know where to start.

Looking forward to hearing back from you. Best wishes.

[Pixel-don]

Ever since ive switched to bell and transferred my phone number over my rcs has not been working ive done every single troubleshooting there is to do and still nothing even deactivated my phone number on the google portal I'm using the same exact device I just transferred my number from I public Mobile to bell it's not a problem from public as my number and everything else is linked to bell now and I have data it's just my rcs isn't working which is a pain to try and just fix ive even contacted google and sent the issue to them and I haven't heard back 

[WelshTerrier]

Good Day & Welcome to the Bell Community Forum.

@Pixel-don Which model of device are you using?

When you are in the process of verifying your phone number, your RCS chats status displays “Setting up.” If the “Setting up” status remains for more than a day, it means Google Messages can’t verify your phone number.

To verify your phone number:

1. On your device, open the Messages app.
2. At the top right, tap your Profile picture or Initials.
3. Tap Messages settings and then RCS chats. 
4. Select Retry.
5. Confirm your phone number when requested.

If you don't find Retry in the app. Or if you tap Retry and it doesn't solve the problem:

1. On your device, open the Settings app.
2. Click on Apps.
3. Find and tap Google Messages app.
4. Clear storage and clear cache.

Tip: If you can't find "RCS chats," tap Chat features.

I did some further investigation on your behalf a few minutes ago with Google & Samsung support & the problem you are experiencing is a well know device issue. I could not provide them with model of your mobile phone.

They did not offer up any quick fix, other than to verify that the device is up to date and that the user has followed the instructions I have provided above.

Take care.

[Green Bean · Accepted solution]

I had the same issue after switching to Bell from Rogers and finally got mine working again. Found some Reddit threads about this issue but none of the seemed to work for me so I combined steps from multiple threads. (OnePlus 12 running the latest Android 15 October security update. Should work for any Android 15 phone)

First make sure your phone and the messages app are fully updated.

Turn off Wi-Fi and make sure you're connected to 5G

Open the message app go to settings and turn off RCS chats.

Open your browser and go to Google. Click on your Google account picture, at the bottom click more settings, then click Google account settings. Then go to the personal info tab and click on your phone number. Delete your number from your Google account and refresh the page. Make sure your number isn't there anymore and also make sure it's deleted at the bottom of the page if it's used for 2 step verification.

Go into your phone's settings and click on apps then app management. Click the 3 dots in the top right corner and click show system. Scroll down and click carrier communications. Click force stop and confirm. Then click storage usage and clear the cache. Go back to the app management screen and do the same force stop and cache clear for carrier location services and the messages app.

Close all of your phones background apps then turn on airplane mode long enough to get the symbol then turn it back off to reconnect to 5G. (Not sure if this step does anything but including it anyway because I did it)

Restart your phone. Go back into Google settings in your browser and add your phone number back to your account. Verify your number there - you should receive a SMS text with a verification code within a minute or so. Finally go into messages and turn on RCS chats. Mine connected in about 10-20 seconds!

Hope this helps!

[Tonynogains]

Hi

I’ve been trying to get RCS (Chat Features) working on my Android device with Bell, but my phone is stuck in the “Verifying your number…” state indefinitely. I’ve already ruled out every user-side cause, so I believe the issue is on Bell’s end, related to how RCS provisioning is handled through the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) profile.

Here’s what I’ve confirmed:

The Messages app is up to date.

Carrier Services is installed and cleared.

Data and SMS are working normally.

I’ve tried multiple restarts, SIM reseating, and network resets.

The same device and SIM support full IMS registration (VoLTE and VoWiFi work fine).

The only service not registering is RCS, which depends on carrier-side provisioning. When a number is being “verified,” the Messages app sends a verification request through the carrier’s IMS and SMSC, and waits for a server-side response from either the carrier’s RCS server or Google’s Jibe backend. If Bell’s IMS profile does not properly flag RCS (via the UP / Universal Profile service entry), the request cannot complete — resulting in the endless verification loop I’m seeing.

So my question is:

Is Bell actually provisioning RCS on its IMS profile for Android devices?

If not, can Bell confirm that this verification issue is due to RCS not being enabled at the network level?

To be clear, Google can’t complete number verification unless Bell’s network authorizes and routes the RCS registration through IMS. This isn’t something the user or Google alone can fix.

Thanks

[WelshTerrier]

Good Day & Welcome to the Bell Community Forum.

Please reference my previous reply to your most recent RCS question.

Solved: Understanding RCS - Bell

May I suggest that you take the time to review the troubleshooting tips and advice provided earlier in this thread that are shown in green? Go to helpful replies in green with a checkmark ✅ 

 In addition, if the issue continues to persist, I encourage you to share any additional steps you may have taken that others might not have considered.

Thank you for posting your question. 

Take care.

[Tonynogains]

These are the steps I've already taken, additionally I reached out to bell and their representatives were unaware of what RCS was. Very disappointed to hear that from "tech support" anyway here's everything I've tried 

Things I’ve already tried:

Updated the Google Messages app to the latest version from the Play Store.

Updated Carrier Services to the latest version.

Cleared cache and storage for both Messages and Carrier Services.

Disabled and re-enabled Chat Features multiple times.

Waited 24+ hours between verification attempts.

Restarted the phone after each change.

Reseated the SIM card.

Tried the SIM in another RCS-supported Android device.

Tested another carrier’s SIM in the same phone — RCS verified instantly.

Reset network settings (Wi-Fi, mobile, and Bluetooth).

Manually reset APNs to Bell defaults.

Factory reset the device and set it up from scratch (no backups).

Confirmed SMS, MMS, and mobile data all work perfectly.

Verified VoLTE and VoWiFi registration (IMS is active).

Toggled Airplane Mode on and off multiple times.

Turned off and on mobile data, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

Attempted verification on Wi-Fi only, mobile data only, and Wi-Fi + data.

Disabled VPNs, private DNS, and ad blockers.

Disabled battery optimization for Messages and Carrier Services.

Removed Dual SIM / eSIM configurations to test only one active number.

Tested with a new SIM card issued by Bell.

Confirmed default SMS app is Google Messages.

Verified default SIM for SMS is the correct Bell line.

Checked that “Chat Features” is available in app settings (not greyed out).

Waited several days between attempts to rule out temporary lockouts.

Forced RCS connection reset via Messages’ internal debug menu (<Messages debug features>).

Ensured correct region and phone number format (+1 country code).

Verified Google Play Services is up to date.

Logged out and back into Google account.

Tried different Wi-Fi networks (home, public, hotspot).

Confirmed no firewall, router, or DNS-level blocking.

Verified no device admin or work profile restrictions.

Confirmed Messages Beta and Stable versions both fail the same way.

Verified no carrier restrictions or account blocks on the line.

Confirmed Message settings → “Advanced” → “Automatically resend as text (SMS/MMS)” is enabled.

Waited with the “Setting up…” screen for multiple hours to see if verification eventually completes.

[BellDRock · Accepted solution]

Hey everyone, wanted to jump in here to share that we have been investigating and have confirmed there is an issue with RCS verification at this time.  Thank you all for sharing the in-depth troubleshooting steps completed. 

We are currently working with the associated teams on a resolution and will update this thread when confirmed.

@BellDRock - Community Manager

[Tonynogains]

Is there a timeline on when this will be fixed? And if I were to reach out to bell support are they aware that this is a ongoing issue? As I had mentioned in another post, Bell support was unaware of what RCS was, so I don't have high hopes they'd be aware there's an ongoing issue, and as a result would probably be less than helpful

[Ilovepenguins]

Considering I spoke to Bell Technical Team, agent told me Bell no longer does RCS chat... 

I think they just wanted me off the phone quickly 

Can a Bell agent confirm???