How PhoneLeash Works with RCS

PhoneLeash forwards RCS messages. Starting with PhoneLeash version 6.76, incoming RCS conversations are forwarded to your email or your second phone the same way SMS and MMS are — with sender, message body, attachments, and group participants included. If you have read older help articles saying RCS does not work, this page replaces them.

What is RCS?

RCS (Rich Communication Services) is the modern successor to SMS and MMS on Android. It enables typing indicators, delivery and read receipts, higher-resolution attachments, and group chats with named participants. RCS is now the default on most Android phones, and Apple added RCS support in iOS 18, so RCS conversations are increasingly common between Android and iPhone users too.

Use Google Messages

PhoneLeash's RCS support is built around Google Messages. If you are using Samsung Messages (the app that ships pre-installed on older Galaxy phones), please install Google Messages from the Play Store and set it as your default messaging app.

Samsung itself is moving in this direction. Samsung has announced that the Samsung Messages app will be discontinued in July 2026 in the United States, with users directed to Google Messages as the replacement. Galaxy S25 and newer devices already ship with Google Messages as the default. See Samsung's announcement for details.

Switching to Google Messages now means RCS forwarding will work today, and you avoid the messaging-app transition Samsung is requiring next year either way.

What gets forwarded

• Incoming one-on-one RCS messages — text, attachments (photos, videos, audio), and the sender's name or number.
• Incoming group RCS messages — the group name (or participant list) and the individual sender are included.
• Outgoing RCS messages you send are forwarded too, including attachments, so your destination inbox shows a complete conversation thread.
• Replies from email or your second phone work the same way they do for SMS — your reply goes back through your normal messaging app.

Make sure you are on the latest version

Full RCS support landed in PhoneLeash 6.76 (May 2026). Earlier versions either did not forward RCS at all or forwarded it with reduced fidelity. Open the Play Store and check for updates if you are unsure which version you are on.