Rich Communication Services

rcs messaging

SMS is the most basic of mobile messaging systems. There have been enhancements to allow long messages (over 160 characters), MMS (to allow audio or images to be attached) and there are delivery receipts, but it is still seen as an old technology; useful for basic simple text but not as good as the commercial messaging systems, iMessage, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

RCS or Rich Communication Services is a standard and modern messaging protocol that is available to all - to all phone manufacturers and all networks. RCS tends to be labeled chat within the phone messaging app and allows for messaging with a variety of file types attached for video, image and audio. It allows for group chats as well as video and audio calls.

In the UK how do I get RCS messaging? - the good news is that all 4 mobile carriers support RCS - the bad news is that RCS is not (yet!) supported on Apple phones. Apple have iMessage as the Apple to Apple messaging system that has similar features as RCS but restricted to Apple phones. The obvious solution for groups with both Android and Apple phones, is to use WhatsApp (or a similar App). But these are controlled by a single commercial organisation - Facebook in the case of WhatsApp. Also all parties need to be on WhatsApp whereas RCS being a protocol does not define a specific App.

The RCS protocol allows text messages to be sent 1 to 1 or to groups of people. Additionally picture messages, videos and many more file types are supported. Live chat with typing indication is available, as are audio and video calls. And many more features - similar to those available on iMessage or WhatsApp. The good news is that RCS is backwards compatible and if a participant in the chat does not have an RCS messaging system available or switched on then RCS will rollback and send the message as SMS or MMS as appropriate. RCS works between different RCS apps over any carrier that supports RCS.

A second important part of RCS is Business RCS where businesses can interact with customers, so called B2C communication. This can be used by businesses to deliver electronic artefacts, sending tickets, item delivery notifications, or indeed any other electronic notification.

RCS has been slow to grow but with the backing of Google and the carriers in the UK it is set to take off. But is it secure. Well it does NOT support end to end encryption but does retain the same legal intercept standards as does SMS currently.

Even with RCS available simple SMS messages still have a place. SMS do not need 4G or WiFi but only a weak 2G signal to work.