Learn how you can Unlock Limitless Customer Lifetime Value with CleverTap’s All-in-One Customer Engagement Platform.
For over 30 years, SMS has been a cornerstone of mobile communication, enabling businesses and individuals alike to exchange quick, reliable messages across the globe. However, as customer expectations and technology have evolved, so too has the need for messaging to offer more interactive and engaging experiences.
Enter Rich Communication Services (RCS)
Rich communication services (RCS) is an advanced messaging protocol that enhances traditional SMS by enabling multimedia sharing, read receipts, and interactive features provided through mobile network operators.
While SMS continues to play a critical role in transactional messaging and cost-effective mass communication, RCS messaging provides an enhanced platform for promotional use cases. With capabilities like multimedia sharing, read receipts, and interactive buttons, RCS is designed for more personalized customer engagement, making it ideal for marketing campaigns. Together, SMS and RCS fit into a broader cross-channel strategy, allowing businesses to reach large audiences affordably with SMS while leveraging RCS messages for targeted, high-impact interactions.
In fact, with Apple’s recent decision to support RCS chat across devices, the potential user base expands to over 2 billion, making RCS messaging a messaging channel with a lot of potential.
It is crucial now more than ever for businesses to adopt it so they can deliver rich interactive messaging experiences to a huge audience, regardless of device preferences.
In this article, you will learn:
If you want to keep your customers engaged and satisfied, now is the time to revamp your messaging strategy—starting with RCS messaging.
Rich communication services (RCS) is an IP-based messaging protocol that is an upgrade to traditional SMS that allows for more interactive and dynamic messaging experiences. Unlike SMS, which is limited to 160 characters and can only send basic text, RCS messaging enables users to share rich media such as images, videos, and audio files directly within their native messaging apps. It also brings features that users expect from chat apps, including read receipts, typing indicators, and group messaging.
Originally designed to be a successor to SMS and MMS, RCS messages transform the basic texting experience into something far more engaging, offering businesses a powerful tool to communicate more effectively with their audience.
Short message service (SMS) was introduced in the 1990s as a simple way to send text messages between mobile phones. It became the standard for mobile communication, offering reliability and global reach. However, SMS was limited to basic text, with no support for images, videos, or multimedia content. Later, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) was introduced, allowing the sending of multimedia files, but it struggled with inconsistencies across networks and devices, making it less dependable.
RCS messaging was a natural evolution to address these limitations.
First proposed in 2007, RCS messages aimed to merge the best of SMS and MMS while providing a much more advanced experience. It took years for mobile networks and device manufacturers to fully embrace Rich Communication Services (RCS), and while it hasn’t yet matched the global reach of SMS, the growing demand for more robust communication tools and Apple’s recent commitment to support it are driving its steady adoption. By enhancing SMS with rich content and real-time features, RCS turns the traditional SMS into a more powerful, versatile tool for businesses and consumers alike.
RCS messaging adoption has surged in recent years, with over 1 billion monthly active users and support from major mobile carriers and phone manufacturers worldwide. The push for universal standards in messaging, combined with consumer demand for more interactive features, has led to RCS messages being widely accepted as the next step in mobile communication.
Apple’s recent decision to support RCS chat across iOS devices marks a significant shift in the global messaging landscape. For years, RCS adoption was hindered by the lack of support from Apple, which limited its cross-platform usability. Now, with both Android and iOS on board, the SMS channel is reborn as a rich communication platform capable of delivering the multimedia and interactive features today’s consumers expect. It allows businesses to continue leveraging the widespread reach and cost-efficiency of SMS, while also competing head-to-head with newer, rich messaging channels.
As consumer expectations shift toward richer communication experiences, businesses need tools that go beyond basic text. RCS messaging offers precisely that, transforming SMS into a dynamic communication channel that can now deliver high-impact content.
| Feature | SMS | MMS | RCS |
| Character Limit | 160 | 160 | No limit |
| Rich Media Support | No | Yes | Yes |
| Read Receipts | No | No | Yes |
| Typing Indicators | No | No | Yes |
| Group Chat | No | No | Yes |
| Native to All Devices | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cross-Platform Support | Yes | Yes | Yes (iOS/Android) |
From removing character limits to adding multimedia and read receipts, RCS messaging gives users features that were previously only available in third-party apps like iMessage or WhatsApp.
Rich communication services (RCS) provides businesses with an innovative platform to engage customers in a more interactive and personalized way. By incorporating rich media and advanced messaging features, RCS allows companies to go beyond traditional text-based communication and deliver more engaging, customer-focused experiences. Here’s how businesses can harness the full potential of RCS:
With RCS, you can create more engaging and interactive customer experiences by utilizing Rich Card Stand-alone and Rich Card Carousel templates. These allow for visually rich content, multiple actions, and interactive carousels, providing a dynamic and compelling messaging experience.
One of the standout features of RCS messaging is its ability to integrate with chatbots, allowing businesses to offer automated customer service directly within the native messaging app. Chatbots can respond to customer inquiries, provide product recommendations, or guide users through a purchase journey without requiring them to leave the messaging app. The integration of rich media, such as images and clickable buttons, makes the experience more user-friendly and interactive.
RCS chat enables businesses to create group chats, making it easy to engage multiple customers at once in a more collaborative environment. Whether it’s for launching a product, hosting a Q&A session, or running a limited-time promotion, group messaging can be an effective way to build engagement. Unlike SMS, which has limited group messaging capabilities, RCS supports large groups, with added functionality like read receipts and typing indicators, which allow businesses to track customer interaction in real time.
RCS messages provide real-time metrics, giving businesses insights into message performance. Features like delivery receipts, read receipts, and interaction data allow companies to track how customers are engaging with their messages. These metrics enable businesses to optimize their campaigns on the go, adjusting their messaging strategy to better meet customer needs and improve ROI.
While RCS messaging presents enormous potential, it’s not without challenges. One major hurdle has been uneven carrier support, especially in regions where RCS messages aren’t universally available. Additionally, privacy concerns and potential regulation around data use in rich media messaging need to be carefully managed. However, as more carriers and platforms adopt RCS messaging, and with the possible future support from Apple, these challenges are expected to diminish.
Despite these challenges, the future looks promising. Having already crossed over a billion active users, RCS business messaging revenue is projected at $15 billion by 2028. This growth is expected to accelerate with Apple rolling out RCS with iOS 18, unlocking new opportunities for businesses to engage their customers.
As more carriers and manufacturers adopt the technology, RCS will move from being a niche solution to becoming a standard part of business communication strategies, helping brands deliver more dynamic, engaging experiences to their customers.
RCS messaging represents a significant, offering businesses a powerful tool to engage with customers through rich media, interactive features, and real-time communication.
The increasing global adoption of RCS, especially with Apple now supporting it, opens up new opportunities for deeper, more interactive customer engagement across platforms. As RCS continues to grow, its potential to reshape business communication will only increase.
At CleverTap, we’re excited about the opportunities RCS chat presents. We’re actively working on it, and you can expect updates from us soon as we continue to evolve and integrate this feature into our offerings.
Answer: To turn off RCS messaging, go to your messaging app settings, find the “Chat Features” section, and toggle off the RCS messaging option. This will revert your messages to SMS.
