If you’re an iPhone owner, you might be familiar with this experience. You’re having a back-and-forth conversation with your friend over iMessage, when suddenly there’s a lull and your blue bubbles are now green. Or perhaps you’re texting someone over RCS (which was introduced last year with iOS 18), but something happened, and now all your messages are regular SMS, you can’t see typing indicators, and your read receipts are gone.

Sure, you can continue the conversation over SMS, but iMessage and RCS have significant advantages. iMessages, which can only be done between Apple devices, are end-to-end encrypted, plus they have special features such as Tapbacks, Live Stickers, text effects and more. iMessages support links, high resolution images, delivery and read receipts plus typing indicators.

RCS messages aren’t end-to-end encrypted yet, but they otherwise provide a comparable texting experience between an iPhone and an Android phone. They also support delivery and read receipts, typing indicators, high-resolution photos, links and more. 

So what do you do if neither iMessage or RCS is working? Here are a few steps that might rectify the situation.

Make sure iMessage is turned on

If your iMessage is not working, try making sure your iMessage service is turned on. Go to your phone’s Settings, then select Apps. Scroll down to Messages and select it. On this page, make sure that iMessage is enabled. 

Make sure iMessage is set up with your phone number and Apple ID

iMessage works not just with your phone number but with your Apple ID as well as any email addresses that you have associated with your Apple ID. This way, you can send and receive iMessages across your Apple devices. If your iMessage isn’t working, try making sure it’s set up with your current number and Apple ID.  

To do so, go to Settings, then Apps, then Messages. Then select Send & Receive. There, you’ll see a list of numbers and email addresses under the heading “You can receive iMessages to and reply from.” You can then select which ones you want to use with iMessage. 

If your preferred email address or number isn’t listed, you’ll have to add them to your Apple account first. Here are the steps to do so: From Settings, select your Apple account name at the top, then select Sign-In & Security. Then you can select Add Email or Phone Number and follow the steps to add them to your Apple account. 

Make sure RCS chat is turned on

The benefit of RCS messaging is that it can be used with non-Apple devices as well as other Apple products with Text Message Forwarding enabled. To enable RCS, go to Settings, then Apps, then scroll down to Messages. Tap it, then tap RCS Messaging. From there, make sure that RCS Messaging is enabled. 

If you don’t have this option, it could be that you don’t have iOS 18 or newer. RCS messaging also requires a cellular plan that supports RCS messaging on iPhone. Most carriers in the US and Canada do support this feature, but some might not. You can refer to this Apple support page to see if your carrier supports RCS messaging. 

What if these don’t work?

Both iMessage and RCS require a data connection, whether it’s from Wi-Fi or cellular data. So if your iMessage and RCS connections aren’t working, you could have an issue with your data signal that leads to your iPhone falling back to SMS as a failsafe. 

Alternatively, perhaps the person you’re trying to reach has their iMessage or RCS abilities turned off. In which case, you can try instructing them how to make sure their iMessage or RCS messaging is enabled. For RCS chats with someone on an Android phone, that person will need to be using the Google Messages app for texting, and have RCS enabled from that app’s Messages settings section.

Sometimes, however, all you need to do is power off your phone and then turn it on again. That could be enough to reset any data connections and clear any potential glitches that are preventing your iMessages or RCS chat communications. 

Watch this: iOS 18 Brings New Tapback Features and Text Over Satellite

05:38