What is RCS Messaging? Everything to Know

You might be familiar with SMS and MMS, but what does RCS message mean? These initialisms relate to the technology behind sending texts to other phones. RCS is a newer and more advanced option, offering features like read receipts, longer texts, high-resolution photos and videos, group chats, and more.

In this article, we break down this not-so-new technology to help you understand if it’s something you should use. If you encounter any issues with RCS, don’t worry—you can always disable RCS chats. Standard texts will still be available, so there’s no rush to make a decision anytime soon.

What is RCS messaging?

RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is like the cool cousin of regular text messaging. It’s an upgraded version that turns your plain old SMS (short message service) into a more feature-packed and interactive experience.

Imagine your usual texting, but with some extra features you’re probably already used to if you use modern texting apps like WhatsApp. With RCS, you can send high-resolution pictures and videos without losing quality, just like when you share them on social media. Plus, you can see when the other person is typing, so no more wondering if they got your message.

RCS upgrades group chats, too, into a sort of mini social network. RCS lets you add and remove people easily, see if they’ve read your messages, and even share your location in real-time. Additionally, RCS expands the limit of your text messages. Whether it’s a one-on-one conversation or a group message, RCS increases the old 160-character limit by a factor of 50, to a whopping 8,000 characters.

Emojis and stickers become more lively in RCS. Instead of static images, you can send animated stickers that express your feelings better.

The cool part? You don’t need a special app for RCS—it works right in your default messaging app on your smartphone. However, both you and your friend need to have RCS-compatible devices and be on a network that supports it.

An RCS-compatible device includes any Android device with operating system Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and later. iPhone has enabled it as an optional feature for their users too, so long as they have iOS 18 and a mobile carrier plan that supports RCS. Most carriers do, but if you’re not sure you can contact your provider. 

In a nutshell, RCS gives traditional texting a makeover. It’s faster, fancier, and way more fun.

What is RCS chat?

RCS chat is what Google calls its version of RCS. It supports all the typical RCS features, but with the inclusion of end-to-end encryption. This means RCS chats, at least Google’s version, is more secure than other forms. RCS chats are turned on by default in the Google Messages app. The app lets you disable certain features, like read receipts and typing indicators.

You can read more about Google’s implementation of RCS in their RCS chats by Google FAQ.

How to Turn off RCS Chat

You can disable RCS chats to revert to SMS at any time. Here’s how it works in the Google Messages app on Android:

1. Tap your profile image at the top right of the app.
2. Select Messages settings from the menu.
3. Choose RCS chats.
4. At the top, next to Turn on RCS chats, tap the toggle.
5. Pick Turn off from the prompt.

For iPhones, you can enable or disable RCS with these steps: 

1. Go to your iPhone’s settings.
2. Scroll down to Apps.
3. Go to Messages.
4. Tap RCS Messaging. You can toggle it on or off from here.

Advantages of RCS Messaging

RCS messaging offers several advantages over traditional Short Message Service (SMS), bringing a more dynamic and engaging communication experience. One key advantage is the ability to send multimedia content seamlessly. Unlike SMS, RCS lets you share high-quality photos, videos, and audio clips directly within the messaging app.

Another notable benefit of RCS is the read receipts feature, which informs you when messages have been seen by the recipient. SMS lacks this functionality, leaving senders in the dark about whether their messages have been viewed. This real-time feedback in RCS helps you stay informed and fosters more transparent communication.

Additionally, RCS supports typing indicators, indicating when the other person is composing a response. This feature adds a touch of immediacy to conversations, making them feel more like real-time exchanges.

RCS messaging improves upon SMS by enabling multimedia sharing, read receipts, and typing indicators. These enhancements make communication more vibrant, responsive, and enjoyable, offering a modernized and feature-rich alternative to traditional texting.

RCS vs SMS Message

As you’ve now learned, RCS is quite a bit different from SMS. In fact, there’s even more to the story than what we’ve discussed so far. Below is a look at all the differences between SMS and RCS.

What Does RCS Message Mean for Businesses?

While the average text message user will certainly appreciate all of the features that RCS brings to the table, businesses in particular should pay attention to these strengths. Most of us already get text messages from the occasional business or services we use, but this will make those texts a lot more meaningful from a marketing perspective. Here’s how: 

• Better engagement: High resolution videos and interactive questions and answers can be embedded within the actual text thread, instead of requiring links. This means it’s easier for the customer to watch or participate in content, which makes it more likely they’ll do so.
• Branding verification: Businesses can obtain verified colored themes, brand names, logos and icons, etc. This makes them more official looking and more identifiable to the person receiving their messages.
• More advanced interactions: Embedded maps, coupons that can be scanned, image carousels, unsubscribe/re-subscribe options are just some examples of interactive components that will further draw in customers
• Business analytics: One of the greatest strengths of RCS for businesses is the analytic data. For instance, the businesses sending the RCS message will get information on things like read rates, open rates and other real-time marketing data that can influence business strategies

So what does this mean for everyday users and customers? You can probably expect to see a lot more text-based marketing headed your way. The RCS marketing industry is projected to explode in the coming years, especially now that Apple has made this service available on iPhones, which has vastly expanded the user base. As of this writing, businesses are still only just beginning to implement this service, but it has the potential to be one of the biggest ways businesses reach their customers.

This may be good, or bad, for the everyday user who could get annoyed with the possible bombardment of marketing texts. Most of us get a bit irritated when bothered out of the blue for no reason. However, if there are services and products you’re genuinely interested in, it’s a great way to find out about sales, sign-up deals, and other communications that you could actually want to know. For everyone else, there’s still the unsubscribe or block option. You may need to be doing that a lot more before you know it.

Frequently Asked Questions