The Short Messaging Service (SMS) technology has been one of the most reliable mode of mobile communication for decades. Straightforward and easy to use – everyone, old or young knows how to use SMS to send messages, which is why it is also a very popular communication tool in the workplace.
However, despite the recent advances made in mobile communication, SMS’s functionality has largely remained unchanged since it was introduced more than three decades ago. Massively popular contemporary platforms, like WhatsApp, allows users to send not only text, but also videos, images, audio files, and other media.
With such a popularity of real-time, multimedia mobile messaging among today’s consumers, more and more tech giants and mobile operators are taking initiatives to make text messaging more competitive with messaging apps, and to provide a more intuitive experience for the users – hence the birth of Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging.
So what is RCS messaging and how does it work? Here’s everything you need to know.
What is RCS Messaging?
RCS or rich communication services is an end-to-end messaging protocol and IP-based messaging service that is set to replace the traditional SMS anytime soon and would provide chat-like features across carriers and devices. Formed in 2007 by a group of industry innovators, it was taken over by the GSM Association (GSMA), the industry that represents mobile operators worldwide, in 2008.
In 2016, GSMA decided on a Universal Profile – a set of standards that mobile carriers, phone manufacturers, and software providers can use to implement RCS on devices. With Universal RCS, users will be able to send longer text messages through their native messaging apps in an extension of existing functionality, as well as take advantage of chat- and iMessage-like features such as:
- Sending SMS over Wi-Fi
- Typing indicators
- Branded design options along with Verified Sender feature
- Read receipts and suggest replies
- Enriched video calling
- Content sharing
- Location sharing
- Network-based blacklisting
- 1-to-1 and group chat and more.
How Does RCA Messaging Works?
In order to understand how RCS works, one must take a look on how the world’s leading tech giant is working on it – Google. By far, Google is the biggest supporter of RCS, as it wants to implement the technology in Android-powered devices. Currently, the tech giant is rolling out RCS features to their Android Messages app slowly, introducing it as “Chat”.
Aside from all the features that are typical on a messaging app, Google is also planning to roll out features to Chat, such as live updates about upcoming trips, boarding passes, and even allow the user to select their own seat within the Android Messages app.
Instead of using a cellular connection, Chat will utilize the user’s data connection. It will also work on multiple devices, even on iOS. Apple, however, has yet to announce if its phones will support the RCS protocol.
The only significant difference from Google’s Chat to the original RCS protocol is that the latter will allow for client-to-server encryption while the former will not provide end-to-end encryption.
All that said, the RCS protocol, in order to work, must be supported by the user’s carrier. The user and the recipient will also need to have a device and a messaging app that supports RCS in order to enjoy its features. Otherwise, RCS messages will revert to SMS.
Advantages of RCS vs Messaging Apps
While comparable, RCS have distinct advantages over consumer-grade messaging apps:
- Verified Identity – Businesses and customers will be able to ensure the identity of who they are messaging with as the number of the users will be tied to a passport or company account.
- SMS fallback – RCS messages can be sent as SMS when an internet connection is not available.
- Security – RCS is trusted by consumers just like SMS even though it may not have end-to-end encryption.
- Branding – Businesses will have more control over branding since RCS and SMS are not branded apps but rather are messaging protocols.
Who Currently Adopts and Supports RCS?
As stated earlier, Google is by far the largest supporter of RCS; in September they announced that they are collaborating with Samsung to roll-out RCS messaging-ready devices on Android in order to ensure that RCS apps can work together through Android Messages and Samsung Messages.
Aside from Google and Samsung, there are currently 48 mobile carriers, 11 phone manufacturers, and 2 OS providers – Google and Microsoft – worldwide that supports RCS. In the US, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T are now onboard with Universal Profile.
Conclusion
While RCS is yet to fully roll out, it promises a great opportunity for both consumers and business users to improve their messaging experience. For businesses, in particular, RCS can be a very popular tool especially among those who are already using SMS and they would definitely adopt this protocol as another important messaging channel.
Whether RCS will make text messaging archiving on Android difficult just like iMessage does is not clear yet. For the meantime, it is critical for companies planning to adopt this platform to have an enterprise-grade text message archiving platform that can deployed specifically via Android devices – where the RCS rollout is most prominent- or through a separate enterprise number where IP-based messages can be captured and retained. By doing so, they will be able to take advantage of the full potential of RCS messaging without the risk of non-compliance with various text message archiving regulations.
TeleMessage offers cross-carrier and international mobile text & calls archiving for corporate and BYOD phones. Contact us today to try our mobile archiving products.
