The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra are some of the most powerful smartphones you can buy right now. A culmination of the best flagship technologies, the Galaxy Note 20 flagships from Samsung feature top-of-the-line hardware. You can find Samsung’s Exynos 990 chip on the global units, while the U.S. models are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus SoC — although there is a caveat with the U.S. models.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Forums ||| Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Forums
The catch is that there is a further demarcation between the U.S. carrier (model number ended with U) and the U.S. carrier unlocked variants (model number ended with U1). Certain carrier baked features such as Video over LTE (ViLTE) and Rich Communication Services (RCS) can't be accessed on the unlocked Galaxy Note 20 model, even after putting in the carrier SIM. Interestingly, there are no internal hardware differences between these two variants, which means users who purchased the phone at full retail are at a disadvantage against users who opted for a carrier-based contract.
If you specifically bought the unlocked Note 20 for a carrier-bloat-free experience, then you would be glad to know that XDA Recognized Developer warriorvibhu has managed to activate native video calling over LTE, RCS, and other carrier features on this variant. The developer has also put together an elaborate guide that utilizes the Google Phone app to access the hidden IMS Settings and subsequently turn on the required parameters.
How to enable ViLTE and RCS on unlocked Samsung Galaxy Note 20
Warning: Do not mess with any settings here that you aren't familiar with, or that haven't been recommended in this guide. You may experience issues with connectivity if you fail to heed this warning.
- Download and install the Google Phone app.
- Open Google Phone and make it your default Phone app.
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Dial
*#*#467#*#*to open IMS Settings.
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Tap on "IMS Service Switch". Then make sure "MMTEL switch" and "RCS switch" are toggled on. Turn on every sub-option of MMTEL as well.
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Go back to main page and then tap on "RCS Configuration" settings. Make sure the underlying options are configured as "Always Connect".
- (Optional) You can now change the default phone app from Google Phone to Samsung's stock dialer.
- Enjoy ViLTE and RCS on your unlocked Samsung Galaxy Note 20!
Note that the default video calling option on the stock contacts app still points to Google Duo. You have to make a regular voice call to a contact and select the native video call icon to properly make use of ViLTE. Moreover, you may need to turn off Google Messages' chat features in order to get RCS working on Samsung Messages.