Google is taking tough measures against Android devices with ROOT access – it has started blocking the RCS function. Over the past few months, users with such smartphones have been faced with the problem of sending and receiving messages through the standard Google Messages app using the RCS protocol. The problem also affected devices with an unlocked bootloader.
One user on Reddit writes that RCS messages simply disappear after clicking the “Send” button. Another example is that a phone number in Google Messages is verified, but the RCS feature is not working. When asked by The Verge about this, Google representatives actually confirmed blocking RCS to prevent spam and abuse of the Google Messages application.
“The company must ensure that devices for sending/receiving messages comply with the measures defined by the RCS standard. Google is changing its mind and ensuring that Android users can communicate fully, and that devices that don’t have access to one communication protocol will always have access to another. In this case, when RCS is not an option, they can still use SMS and MMS,” said Google communications manager Ivy Hunt.
By the way, RCS is not the only feature on Android that Google disables when it detects the presence of ROOT. Payment and banking applications, including Google Pay, work on this principle. These are some kind of security measures, but usually before blocking, users see a warning that explains why a particular application cannot work. In this case there are no warnings.
