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Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a new kind of text messaging experience that makes texting and chatting on your phone better. It’s an upgrade from traditional Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), but it let's you do more like send clear photos and videos, see when someone is typing, and more. It feels more like using WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, but it's built in your phone’s regular texting app, like TextNow.
Key Features of RCS Messaging
High-Resolution Media Sharing: Send high-quality photos, videos and audio; media files can be up to 100MB.
Real-Time Interaction: Read receipts and typing indicators let you know when your message has been seen and when someone’s working on a reply.
Emoji Reactions: Respond to a message quickly, you can do a “tapback response” to react with an emoji.
Enhanced Group Chats Experience: Support for group chats with up to 100 participants.
Business Messaging Tools: Business-friendly options include custom branding, analytics, and the ability to include files like maps or tickets.
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What is RCS messaging vs. SMS?
Texting has come a long way since its invention more than 30 years ago. It started with SMS messages, which are short and can only include text, then evolved with Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), which added the ability to send emoji, images and multimedia files.
RCS adds more features and by late 2019 was the default Android messaging platform. In late 2024, Apple joined the party by adding RCS support to iOS 18.
How does RCS messaging work?
RCS messages depend on an internet connection, so you need to be on Wi-Fi or have a phone plan with data. To carry on a conversation with RCS, you need these elements:
Your phone must support RCS: Androids on 5.0 or later and iPhones on iOS 18 or later are RCS compatible, as are most Pixel phones.
Your phone carrier may need to support it, too, unless you’re using Google Message. The Big 3 networks (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon) all do, as do many of the MVNOs.
You need to be somewhere RCS is available. It's not yet in all regions of the U.S.
You may need to enable RCS messaging on your phone. The recipient or recipients (everyone in the chat) need to have RCS messaging enabled on their phones, too. To enable RCS texting:
On an Android: Go to Google Messages, tap your profile picture, then tap Message settings. Select RCS chats and enable.
On an iPhone: Open Settings -> Apps -> Messages. Under Text Messaging, tap on RCS Messaging and toggle it on.
If a recipient doesn’t have RCS or there are connectivity issues, messages will simply revert to SMS or MMS.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of RCS messaging?
RCS chatting adds a lot of functionality but also brings some considerations. The most notable one is encryption. RCS messages between Google Message users are end-to-end encrypted but iPhone RCS messages are not; instead, iPhone users must use iMessage to get that level of encryption. And messages between iPhones and Androids are not encrypted.
Pros of RCS messaging
Cons of RCS messaging
- High-quality sharing of images, video and audio.
- File size up to 100MB.
- Interactivity (typing indicator, quick tapback response, read receipts).
- Enhanced group chatting and larger groups.
- End-to-end encrypted between Google Message users.
- Only works if both/all users have it enabled.
- Your carrier or region might not yet support it.
- Uses an internet connection, so you need to be on Wi-Fi or have a plan with mobile data.
- May transmit sensitive data like your number, IP address and device info.
- Not end-to-end encrypted for conversations between iPhones or mixed iPhone/Android chat.
Read more: What is a GB, and how many MB in a GB?
Is RCS messaging safe?
As mentioned above, the contents of RCS messages may or may not be end-to-end encrypted, depending on what platform and devices are being used. Best practices if you’re worried about privacy of your messages include:
Avoid sharing sensitive material, like financial info, over RCS.
To ensure encryption, Android users could limit themselves to communicating with other Google Message users, and iPhone users could stick to iMessage.
Consider using a platform that emphasizes security instead, such as Signal or WhatsApp.
In addition, RCS can transmit sensitive metadata you’d rather not share: IP address, phone number, device info. That’s true even when the message content is end-to-end encrypted: RCS uses carrier networks, so it needs to identify you and your device to allow access. Again, if this gives you pause, you might want to use an alternative texting app like Signal, which has metadata protection software called Sealed Sender.
How do I change from RCS to SMS?
If you decide you’d rather not use RCS, you can toggle it off using the path you used to enable it. A few things happen if you turn off RCS messaging:
You’ll be removed from group RCS chats.
Media you send via text (photos, videos, audio) may have lower quality for the recipient, and the maximum file size drops from 100MB to 5MB.
Messages will not be encrypted unless you use an app like Signal or WhatsApp or stick with iMessage.
Android users should turn off RCS before switching to a new phone to avoid verification difficulties.
