Apple’s big announcement that it would begin supporting RCS with the iOS 18 rollout sent a wave of excitement through the messaging world recently. Finally, an end to the green bubble vs. blue bubble division!
As exciting as this news is, however, it does stir up questions for platforms and their customers.
- How does this new support from Apple impact current—and future—messaging plans?
- Should organizations move away from SMS to focus on RCS?
- Can companies expect higher engagement from RCS and RBM?
- What about WhatsApp as an over-the-top option?
We’ve put together a quick guide to help explain some of the basics and help you choose the right messaging options for the best ROI.
What does RCS Messaging mean?
RCS simply stands for Rich Communication Services. With RCS, users can send messages with multimedia content and other advanced functions. Its companion acronym, RBM, stands for RCS Business Messaging or Rich Business Messaging; it is essentially the same functionality but in a business context for A2P communications.
RCS is native to individual handsets, whereas WhatsApp is an OTT (over-the-top) messaging app that must be downloaded. Both have their place, but one requires an extra step.
RCS vs. WhatsApp
There are a few differences between RCS and WhatsApp:
- Open vs. closed systems: RCS is an open ecosystem, meaning that it will work on any phone that has an Android operating system or Apple iOS 18 or above. WhatsApp, however, is a closed system—it only operates on the app, so consumers must have the app to receive messages.
- Support: RCS is a messaging protocol designed to go through wireless carriers, and now that Apple has expanded RCS’ reach, most major US carriers are planning to support it. Carriers do not need to support WhatsApp.
- Geographies: Both WhatsApp and RCS have seen high adoption and growth in countries outside the US and Canada. Thus far, neither RCS nor Whatsapp have seen sizeable growth in the US market, because it’s not as common since iPhones (and therefore iMessage) have dominated market share. The ability to reach iPhones via RCS opens up the US market in a new way.
Consumer Experience: RCS is designed to give a richer messaging experience within the native messaging application on a mobile user’s handset. This experience includes large media files, read receipts, typing indicators, and functionality that was previously limited to messages between iPhone or Android users, separately. Because it relies on the carriers to deliver these messages, the internet is not required to send and receive them. The WhatsApp experience enjoys many of these features as well, and as an over-the-top messaging system, it requires users to download an app to receive messages. Because it is a closed messaging platform, it does require the use of the internet, or data, to send and receive messages.
An example of an RCS message on the left, and a WhatsApp message on the right.
SMS vs. RCS for Business
The RCS announcement from Apple has led some to speculate that SMS is now on its way out, due to RCS’ wider feature range. There are also reasons to believe that consumer engagement via RCS is greater than that of traditional SMS.
Multimedia capabilities tend to correlate with better results. For example, there is evidence that using MMS to connect with customers leads to bigger ROI than plain text SMS. Bandwidth’s State of Messaging report cited one large CRM company that saw a 45x ROI on MMS messages vs. a 37x ROI on SMS.
RBM (RCS Business Messaging) also allows for in-message buttons and suggested replies, creating a more streamlined UX. And these features are also well-suited to two-way customer conversations.
Perhaps most importantly for business messaging, RCS offers verified branding, which allows mobile users to see that the message they are receiving is from a verified brand. No more seeing an unidentified number and trying to figure out if your text message is legit—RBM allows brands to send a message simply from their brand name, with a blue check mark to go along with it!
But does that mean SMS is dead? Consider RCS as a facelift for SMS, rather than a replacement. Bandwidth estimates that 2025 is an inflection year where most businesses will turn to rich messaging for many of the exciting features mentioned above. However, for those businesses not ready to jump into the great unknown, SMS will continue to provide the connective tissue between end users for the foreseeable future.
It’s important to note that while they are on the path to do so, not all U.S. carriers yet support RCS at the time of this publishing. That means that when you send an RCS message today, there’s a good chance it’ll actually be delivered as an old-fashioned SMS or MMS message.
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WhatsApp for Business
Even with RCS available on a wider scale after the new iOS rollout, some businesses will still prefer to use WhatsApp for Business. For those companies, the WhatsApp for Business API offers the widest range of features and functionality that can drive better connection and ROI.
Businesses will need to work with a messaging partner to access the WhatsApp for Business Platform, as it is poised to remain a strong business messaging channel outside the US and Canada.
Apple’s announcement means big things for the world of messaging. Platforms and their customers now have more options than ever to reach customers and improve engagement and ROI. To learn more about the recent RCS announcement, listen to our recent State of Messaging Podcast.
When you’re ready to chart your messaging course, Bandwidth is here to help! Whether you’re a platform navigating these changes and wondering how best to serve your customers or a company looking to work directly with a carrier, we have the solutions to meet your needs. Contact us to learn more about our current—and future—messaging solutions.
