Wear OS May Soon Enable RCS Messaging (APK Drop)

Ryan Haines / Android Authority

TL;DR

Wear OS smartwatches cannot send RCS messages regardless of the phone connection.
A future update to Google Messages could enable standalone RCS on Wear OS smartwatches, allowing you to send and receive RCS messages on your smartwatch even without a phone.
This will allow RCS to behave similarly to how WhatsApp currently works on Wear OS smartwatches.

RCS is back in the spotlight thanks to Apple’s rollout of iOS 18, which allowed iPhone users to send and receive RCS messages. Android users have been able to send RCS messages via their phones for some time now thanks to Google’s efforts with Google Messages, but the same can’t be said for Wear OS smartwatches. If you leave your phone, you won’t be able to send any messages to other users via your smartwatch. This may change soon as Google is working to bring standalone RCS features to Wear OS smartwatches via an update to the Google News app.

Some APK Abandonment helps predict features that may appear in the service in the future, based on code in progress. However, it is possible that such anticipated features will not be made publicly available.

Google Messages v20240926 beta added several flags indicating that standalone RCS will be coming to Wear OS smartwatches.

Code

bugle.enable_wear_standalone_rcs
bugle.enable_wear_standalone_rcs_settings
bugle.enable_wear_standalone_voice_message

In the flags above, “bugle” is likely a codename for Google News, “wear” is likely a reference to Wear OS, and “standalone” means independent. Two of the flags are used to enable RCS and its settings, and one is to enable voice messages. So it’s quite easy to say that standalone RCS will appear in Wear OS smartwatches.

If this feature actually arrives, it will be a significant change from the current situation. While RCS on Android smartphones is highly regarded, RCS via smartwatches is understandably an afterthought due to the relatively smaller user base interested in this feature.

Currently, the Google News app on Wear OS smartwatches essentially mirrors the Google News app on your phone. RCS messages sent from the watch are routed through the phone, and losing connection to the phone means the smartwatch cannot send or receive RCS messages. This happens with both Wi-Fi and LTE smartwatches. You can’t send or receive RCS messages from a Wear OS smartwatch independently of your phone because the watch likely doesn’t maintain its own, independent connection to the RCS servers.

With this supposed change, your Wear OS smartwatch will be able to independently connect to RCS servers, allowing you to send RCS messages without having to have your phone nearby. We’re not entirely sure whether standalone RCS on Wear OS will be available for both Wi-Fi and LTE smartwatches, but it likely will be because you’ll only need an active data connection, not a phone line, to send RCS messages. Ultimately, we hope RCS will work closer to how instant messaging apps like WhatsApp work on Wear OS, giving you the flexibility to leave your phone behind.

Standalone RCS is not currently available on Wear OS smartwatches. We’ll let you know when the feature is available.

Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at [email protected]. You can remain anonymous or get credit for your information, it’s your choice.