Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Anyone else having problems with RCS, iOS 26.5 and macOS 26.5?

U

urbanracer34

macrumors regular
Original poster
So I have discovered an interesting predicament.

I updated both my iPhone and my MacBook Pro to 26.5.

Today I tried to send a text from my laptop to a specific number. Wouldn't go through with my laptop but could message to this number with my iPhone. MacBook says "Message Send Failure"

Figuring that SMS is the cause, I disabled RCS.

I then texted one of my friends who has a Android device. It wouldn't go through on RCS at first, but would with SMS.

Third time's the charm, right? Got a hold of someone I know of with an Android device, never texted with them before and it went through on... You guessed it. SMS!

Is anyone else having issues?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: ivanwi11iams
Yup, same issue. No longer will send RCS to Android users let along encrypt it. It fails then I have to send as a text message. My sons 17 however works fine, same carrier, same plan (wife is on Android). He can send RCS and it shows the lock symbols showing it’s encrypted. Another buggy update. Thanks Apple.

There is a thread on here to turn off a setting that is working for some. I tried it but it didn’t work.
 
urbanracer34 said:
So I have discovered an interesting predicament.

I updated both my iPhone and my MacBook Pro to 26.5.

Today I tried to send a text from my laptop to a specific number. Wouldn't go through with my laptop but could message to this number with my iPhone. MacBook says "Message Send Failure"

Figuring that SMS is the cause, I disabled RCS.

I then texted one of my friends who has a Android device. It wouldn't go through on RCS at first, but would with SMS.

Third time's the charm, right? Got a hold of someone I know of with an Android device, never texted with them before and it went through on... You guessed it. SMS!

Is anyone else having issues?
Click to expand...
I was having the exact same problem. I couldn't send RCS messages from my Mac, iPad, or Apple Watch after updating to 26.5, but I could from my iPhone.

A workaround that I discovered:

If I go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options on my iPhone and TURN OFF 'Limit IP Address Tracking,' I can successfully send RCS texts again from my other devices (i.e., Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, etc.). I use T-Mobile, so the issue is more than likely on their end.

Go figure.

Hope this helps...
 
Greg_1984 said:
I was having the exact same problem. I couldn't send RCS messages from my Mac, iPad, or Apple Watch after updating to 26.5, but I could from my iPhone.

A workaround that I discovered:

If I go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options on my iPhone and TURN OFF 'Limit IP Address Tracking,' I can successfully send RCS texts again from my other devices (i.e., Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, etc.). I use T-Mobile, so the issue is more than likely on their end.

Go figure.

Hope this helps...
Click to expand...
Same issue. I can send and receive to Android users on iOS. I can receive on MacOS. I cannot send on MacOS - it times out after a few minutes.

unfortunately, this workaround didn't fix things for me. Also on T-Mobile (for now...)
 
Spytap said:
Same issue. I can send and receive to Android users on iOS. I can receive on MacOS. I cannot send on MacOS - it times out after a few minutes.

unfortunately, this workaround didn't fix things for me. Also on T-Mobile (for now...)
Click to expand...

Spytap:

The "workaround" stopped working for me today. I can no longer send out on my Mac. Extremely frustrating. It clearly is not device specific, because it is affecting my iPad and Watch as well. So, is it something with the communication between the other device and the iPhone? Or is it something on T-Mobile's end?

Plus, it's weird that there is no problem receiving RCS messages on my other devices.
 
Same here and I'm also on T-Mobile. Odds are it's on their end. I can't even send as and SMS when it fails on my Mac.
 
I have the same problem, but it's unrelated to carrier - as I see it on my 2 MacBook Pros on my home network. It's also not every Android contact; I discovered the bug with 2 contacts, but then yesterday a brand new person I met texted me (green bubble), and I was able to reply and text fine from my Mac. Also, I have turned off all RCS settings, so everything is strictly SMS - still fails. SMS to business shortcodes (FedEx) also works normally from the Macs.

Another clue: when a Mac-originated message is going to fail in 3 minutes, it never immediately appears on my other Apple devices. Successful sends sync almost instantly across devices.

I rebooted devices, reset Text Message Forwarding, deleted/recreated threads, and signed out/in of Messages on the Mac. No love. I discovered it yesterday, it's still broken today.
 
Spytap said:
Same issue. I can send and receive to Android users on iOS. I can receive on MacOS. I cannot send on MacOS - it times out after a few minutes.

unfortunately, this workaround didn't fix things for me. Also on T-Mobile (for now...)
Click to expand...
Came here to see if anyone else was having this exact issue. In Canada on Rogers for iPhone and home wifi for my MacBook, both 26.5.
 
Hello. Glad I've found this thread, I am not alone 😱 Same here in Europe. It works on the iPhone, and stopped working on Mac OS and my Apple Watch SE since the 26.5 update. Quite annoying 🙄 especially on the watch.
 
I literally just experience this! On my Mac Mini M4 OS 26.5, I had a message window open for someone that I chat with via RCS.

Anyway, I tried to send them a message, and it failed, well, "not delivered". I was able to copy the message and send it from my iPhone 17 Pro Max OS 26.5.
 
If it can help, I tried to reset the network on the iPhone, a few tricks that do not work ( https://macos-tahoe.com/blog/rcs-message-send-failure-macos-26-5-mac-ipad-watch-fix-2026/ ) - LOL - and finally I went to the Apple Watch App on the iPhone, unpaired the watch and paired it again. My settings were backuped, so it didn't took too long. And it resolved the bug on the Apple Watch.

It still does not work on the Mac.

Quite annoying this mess of an update. Especially when you don't use the rainbow magical background, and you work with your 4,000 buck computer... 😡
 
  • Like
Reactions: donawalt
I shouldn't have claimed victory too quickly.

Doing the unpair / pair worked somehow: now I can send SMS from the Apple Watch (Ultra 3) on an Android phone. It didn't work at all before. However, the watch still notifies that the message was not sent just after sending it... So it is better, as the watch is now more usable but still buggy.

And Messsages does not work at all on Mac OS (Mac Book Pro) while it's flawless on iOS (iPhone 17 Pro).

My hardware is pretty much brand new and worked perfectly from OS 26.0 to 26.4.x, so it is clearly the 26.5 update that messed everything up.

Did you guys try some tricks that worked more or less?
 
This started happening for me yesterday (May 17). I text almost exclusively from my MacBook Air so this is very annoying. I have resorted to using iphone mirroring but it is not convenient at all. I am in Canada and using public mobile which uses Bell towers so not sure if it is on their end.
 
My RCS messages go through with Verizon from my iPhone and my Mac, but they're not encrypted. Well, there's no indication they are, anyway.
 
Yep, good summary - annoying problem that I'm surprised made it through beta.

Also, side note: I switched away from T-Mobile, and the problem persists, so it's not just a T-mobile issue.
 
I spoke to several technicians, they tried to help but they are pretty much incompetent. No solution. Good job Apple. The "pride" update... Nothing to be proud at all with this failure of an update 😡
 
Yeah, confirmed its because of 26.5 becuase my VisionOS is still 26.4 and it still can send and receive SMS just fine, even if the relay is the 26.5 Iphone.

Here’s hoping 26.5.1 fixes this “gate” cause apple really screwed the poach on ths.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back