Rich Communication Services (RCS) is an advanced messaging protocol that enables interactive, media-rich communications. By pairing an RCS branded sender with an SMS sender, messages automatically route to SMS/MMS where RCS is not available. Plus, reporting shows exactly which messages sent as RCS and provides read receipt data you can’t get with SMS.

Key benefits

RCS branded sender solves recipient recognition challenges by presenting your messages in a meaningful way.

With an RCS branded sender, you get the following:

• Enhanced trust — Recipients immediately recognize your business as legitimate, leading to higher open and response rates.
• Read receipts — Track when recipients have seen your messages for better performance insights.
• A seamless user experience — RCS works within the same messaging apps people already use on their phones — no downloads, new accounts, or app switching required.
• More effective communication — Using an RCS branded sender is particularly useful for appointment reminders, delivery notifications, account alerts, and customer service messages.

How RCS works with Airship

Airship pairs your RCS branded sender with an SMS sender to provide fallback support.

• Automatic routing — When you send a message, Airship determines if the recipient can receive RCS.
• RCS delivery — If RCS is available, your message displays with full branding.
• SMS fallback — If RCS isn’t available, the message sends as SMS/MMS instead.
• No workflow changes — You create and send messages exactly as you do now.

Availability and support

For this initial release, RCS is available to US data center-hosted customers. RCS capability varies per carrier.

Device support:

• iOS 18.1 and later
• Android devices with RCS-capable messaging clients

Documentation

See RCS branded sender in our SMS platform documentation to learn more.

If you manage your own Twilio Subaccount, you can configure an RCS branded sender to use with Airship. See Bringing your own RCS branded sender in Twilio and SendGrid activation.