Messaging has come a long way since the Short Message Service (SMS) days. You can do so much more than sending messages with limited character limit, like sharing images & videos, reacting to messages, and more. While apps like WhatsApp and iMessage are extremely popular, they’re exclusive, not universal. RCS or Rich Communication Service, a protocol, first developed in 2007, aims to solve this and make messaging universal. Google has been promoting RCS, making it synonymous with its Messages app. If you’re wondering what is RCS messaging, here’s everything you need to know about it.
What is RCS Messaging?
RCS or Rich Communication Services is a messaging protocol that was first developed in 2007 by a group of industry stakeholders and was later adopted by GSMA (GSM Association) to be replacement for SMS/MMS protocol. Unlike SMS/MMS which have character and media size limits and rely solely on carrier networks, RCS offers a much better texting experience with high quality media, no character limit, read receipts, typing indicators, and even group chats.
RCS was first commercially deployed in 2012 by a Spanish carrier, Telefónica, but the initial adoption was not good enough. People only really started taking the protocol seriously when Google added initial support in Android in 2019 and named the protocol “Chat.” Google used its own RCS backend called Jibe and initially rolled it out in the UK and France. It then gained further popularity, with Samsung adopting the same in Samsung Messages.
There are many reasons to use RCS instead of SMS and some of them are the ability to send high-quality text messages, read receipts, and all types of media using mobile data or Wi-Fi. Unlike iMessage which had end-to-end encryption right from when it was launched, RCS messages lacked the same until Google introduced “end-to-end encryption” or E2EE in 2021. Although, it’s worth noting that the E2EE is exclusive to Google Messages and not a native feature of the protocol.
Is RCS Messaging Supported on iPhones?
Yes, RCS support for iPhones was added in iOS 18. This was all thanks to the EU and Google pushing RCS by running the “Get the Message” campaign. Apple finally gave in and added RCS to iMessage in iOS 18.
However, it’s worth noting that RCS on iOS doesn’t support E2EE and still appears as a green bubble. Although, it sure is a big improvement from having just iMessage as it supports sending higher-quality photos and videos, typing indicators and read receipts, text reactions, and works over Wi-Fi and mobile data.
How Does RCS Messaging Work?
While RCS is now more synonymous to Google Messages, some carriers have dedicated apps that still use the protocol to send messages before most of them recently switched to Google’s Jibe. Still, RCS is much like WhatsApp or iMessage in many ways, except it’s tied to your carrier or device and isn’t exclusive to sending messages to other WhatsApp users or creating a bubble discrimination.
Therefore, carrier companies need to enable support for the protocol for you to be able to send text messages via Wi-Fi and mobile data. At first, Google wanted phone manufacturers to integrate it into their platforms, but since most of them didn’t want to do it, Google used Jibe, which is a cloud based RCS hosting platform that Google Messages uses. More carriers are switching to Jibe due to the ease and to escape from the hassle of maintaining their own servers.
It’s worth mentioning that RCS only works over mobile data or Wi-Fi if the opposite party is also using the protocol. Otherwise, the message will be sent as an SMS. The messaging app will let you know before sending the message if the opposite party is using an Android device with RCS enabled by the input placeholder in the text box displaying “RCS message”. However, in some cases like on the iPhone, you need to manually enable RCS before you can use it.
How to Enable RCS on Android and iPhone
Turning on RCS messaging is pretty simple as long as your carrier supports it. Besides that, all you need is an Android phone running Android 5.0 or an iPhone running iOS 18 or later.
On Android
Almost all Android phones come with Google Messages, which comes with RCS support enabled by default, if your carrier supports it. However, if you’re unable to send texts via this protocol, here’s how to enable RCS on Android:
- Launch the Google Messages app and tap your Profile at the top-right.
- Tap Messages settings and go to RCS chats.
- Enable the Turn on RCS chats option to enable RCS on your Android phone.
- Additionally, you can enable Send read receipts and Show typing indicators options if you prefer.
On iPhone
Considering you’re running iOS 18 or above and your carrier supports RCS, the process of enabling it on iPhone is pretty straightforward. You can check out our guide on how to enable RCS on iPhones, where we dig into the process. Here’s a quick rundown on how you can activate it on an iPhone.
- Launch the Settings app and go to Apps.
- Here, scroll down and tap on Messages.
- Finally, turn on the RCS Messaging toggle to enable it.
- Now, open the Messages app on your iPhone and text your friend who has an Android device to check if you see typing indicators, read receipts. You can also check if the messaging works over Wi-Fi by sending a text in Airplane Mode with Wi-Fi enabled.
It’s worth noting that you cannot use the protocol without a SIM card in your device. RCS might only rely on Wi-Fi and mobile data, but it still needs a SIM card to function.
How to Turn Off RCS Messaging
Just like you enabled it, turning off RCS is, again, a straightforward affair. When you do so, you’ll instantly switch to the old SMS standard. Here’s how to turn off RCS messaging on Android and iPhone.
On Android
If you’re on the Android side of things, you can follow these steps to disable RCS messaging on your phone.
- Launch Google Messages and tap on your Profile.
- Go to Messages settings and then go to RCS chats.
- Turn off the Turn on RCS chats toggle to disable it.
- Now, tap on the Turn off button one more time, and voila! You’ve turned off RCS messaging on Android.
On iPhone
You can follow these steps to turn off RCS messaging on an iPhone.
- Go to Settings > Apps.
- Find and tap on Messages to open Messages app’s settings.
- Tap to disable the RCS Messaging toggle to turn off the RCS.
RCS Messaging Apps
With more messaging apps switching to Google’s Jibe backend, standalone RCS messaging apps from carriers are a dying breed, if not dead already. However, Samsung’s Messages apps still exists. But due to Google’s guidelines prompting Android manufacturers to switch to the Google Phone and Messages apps, Samsung Messages may not be used by many.
Therefore, the only apps that support RCS messaging would be – Google Messages and Samsung Messages on Android and iMessage on iPhone.
Which Carriers Support RCS?
Here’s a list of network operators that support RCS:
- AIS
- Airtel
- America Móvil
- AT&T
- Axiata
- Beeline
- Bell Mobility
- China Mobile
- China Telecom
- China Unicom
- Claro
- Deutsche Telekom
- Etisalat
- Indosat Ooredoo
- Jio
- KPN
- MegaFon
- MTN
- MTS
- Optus
- Orange
- Personal
- Rogers
- Singtel
- Smart
- Sprint
- Tele2
- Telcel
- Telefonica
- Telia Company
- Telkomsel
- Telstra
- TELUS
- TIM
- Turkcell
- Telenor Group
- T-Mobile
- Verizon
- VimpelCom
- Vodafone
And that’s all you need to know about Rich Communication Services. While it’s still got a long way to go, Google keeps making improvements to enhance it. According to statistics, there are over 1.4 billion users world-wide, which is a huge number. Given that Apple added RCS to iOS, we wouldn’t be surprised if this number has grown close to 3 Billion, factoring in the Android users that have also been added since then.
What are your thoughts on RCS? Have you used the protocol yet? Let us know in the comments below.
RCS or Rich Communication Services is the latest messaging protocol being pushed by Google. It leverages Mobile Data or Wi-Fi and enables texting with higher resolution images, interactive messages, group chats, and more. Sending a message via RCS could be deemed as an RCS message.
RCS is better than SMS in every way. Some of its distinct features include sending and receiving media in high quality, group chats, message reactions, and more which the old SMS standard doesn’t have.
It’s safe to have RCS messaging turned on, and it’s convenient too. You get all the features and it’s completely free. That said, in countries like the subcontinent where users report RCS spam from businesses, you could turn RCS off from Messages settings.
Yes, RCS comes baked into Google Messages and Apple Messages, and it’s completely free to use.
