Setting Up RCS Capture for Fully Managed Android Devices

Rich Communication Services (RCS) is the next-generation messaging protocol that enhances traditional SMS and MMS by supporting advanced features such as read receipts, typing indicators, group chats, high-quality media sharing, and verified sender identities.

The RCS Message Capture capability extends Smarsh Android Capture to record and archive RCS messages sent and received from supported Android devices. This ensures that all rich communication messages are captured and archived in compliance with regulatory requirements, alongside SMS and MMS data.

This feature is available as an add-on to Android Capture and is supported on fully managed Android devices. Captured RCS messages are archived to all supported destinations such as, Enterprise Archive (EA), Professional Archive (PA), SMTP, and SFTP. To enable RCS Capture, contact your Smarsh representative.

This capability has been developed in collaboration with Google and mobile carriers to ensure secure and compliant capture of RCS messages across supported Android devices.

Note

You can set up the configuration using any MDM solution. However, in this document, Microsoft Intune is used as an example.

Prerequisites

• The device must be fully managed (Android Enterprise) to support RCS capture.

• The device must be running Android 10 or higher.

• Google Messages must be set as the default messaging app on the device.

• RCS must be enabled on the device.

Setting Up RCS Capture

To set up MDM for fully managed devices:

• Enrolling Google Messages as Fully Managed Device

• Creating App Configuration Policy for Google Messages

• Enrolling Android as Fully Managed Device

• Creating App Configuration Policy for Google Messages

Enrolling Google Messages as Fully Managed Device

To enroll Google Messages as fully managed device:

1. Log in to Microsoft Intune with your Microsoft 365 admin credentials.

2. Click Apps > Android apps > Create.

   

3. On the Select app type page, select Managed Google Play app from the App type drop-down list, and click Select.

   

4. On the Managed Google Play page, search and click Google Messages.

5. Click Select, and then click Sync.
   

6. On the Android apps page, click Google Messages.
   

7. On the Google Messages page, click Properties.

8. Click Edit corresponding to Assignments.
   

9. On the Edit application page, click Add group.

10. On the Add group page, select the required group and click Select.
    The selected group is added.

11. Click Review + save.
    

Creating App Configuration Policy for Google Messages

To configure app configuration policy for Google Messages:

1. On the Android apps page, click Configuration.

2. On the Configuration page, click Create > Managed apps.
   

3. On the Create app configuration policy page, enter the name for the policy and click + Select custom apps
   

4. On the Select apps to target apps page, in the Search by Bundle or Package ID box, enter the following:
   com.google.android.apps.messaging

5. Click the displayed bundle ID such that the selected bundle ID is displayed under Selected Apps and click Select.
   

   The selected bundle ID is displayed under Custom apps.

6. Click Next.

7. On the Settings tab, under General configuration settings, add the following key-value pairs and click Next:

   Name	Value
   messages_archival	com.tm.androidcopy.beta
   disable_rcs	false

   

8. On the Scope tags tab, click Next.

9. On the Assignments tab, under Included groups, click Add groups, select the required group, and then click Select and Next.

10. On the Review + create tab, click Create.

Enrolling Android Capture as Fully Managed Device

To enroll Android Capture as fully managed device:

1. Log in to Microsoft Intune with your Microsoft 365 admin credentials.

2. Click Apps > Android apps > Create.
   

3. On the Select app type page, select Managed Google Play app from the App type drop-down list, and click Select.
   

4. On the Managed Google Play page, search and select Android Capture.
   

5. On the Managed Google Play page, click Select, and then click Sync.
   

6. On the Android apps page, click Android Capture.

7. On the Android Capture page, click Properties.

8. Click Edit corresponding to Assignments.
   

9. On the Edit application page, click Add group.

10. On the Add group page, select the required group and click Select.
    The selected group is added.

    Note

    Ensure that you select the same groups that were assigned while enrolling Google Messages as a fully managed device.

11. On the Review + save tab, click Save.

    
    

Creating App Configuration Policy for Android Capture

To create an app configuration policy for Android Capture:

1. On the Android apps page, click Configuration.

2. On the Configuration page, click Create > Managed devices.

3. On the Create app configuration policy page, under the Basics tab, perform the following:

   1. In the Name box, enter the name for the configuration policy.

   2. From the Platform drop-down list, select Android Enterprise.

   3. From the Profile Type drop-down list, select Fully Managed, Dedicated, Corporate-Owned Work Profile Only.

   4. Click Select app corresponding to Target App.

   5. On the Associated app page, click Android Capture and click OK.

   6. Click Next.

      

4. On the Settings tab, add the required permissions:

   1. Click Add.

   2. On the Add permissions page, click the required permissions and click OK.

   3. Click Next.

       

5. On the Scope tags tab, select the required scope tags and click Next.

6. On the Assignments tab, perform the following:

   1. Under the Included groups, click Add groups.

   2. On the Select groups to include page, select required groups and click Select.

   3. Click Next.

   4. On the Review + create tab, click Create.

   The app is created successfully.