Cannot disable MMS link sharing without creating Samsung account
The phone sending SMS messages with links instead of MMS messages was due to RCS (Rich Communication Services). It was turned on by default in my new phone.
Because it was not enabled or not available on the recipient's phone, the messaging app was sending web links instead of standard MMS messages.
But the setting to turn it off is not in the Messages app itself. It's under the general &quot;Settings&quot;, in
Connections &gt; More connection settings &gt; Rich Communications
It seems that the Samsung instructions about disabling link sharing and which required a Samsung account were about some other unrelated &quot;feature&quot;, irrelevant to my real problem.