What is RCS?

Rich Communication Services (RCS) is the next generation of business messaging. It is designed to create a more trustworthy, engaging, and measurable communication experience compared to traditional SMS.

With RCS, your business can send messages from a verified, branded sender profile and receive read receipts. This helps your customers feel confident that your messages are legitimate and allows you to better understand their engagement.

If you want to get RCS via API please reach out to our friendly sales team who can help qualify you and guide you through the set-up process (sales@clicksend.com).

Why RCS is Powerful

RCS offers two significant advantages over standard SMS:

Verified & Trusted Sender Identity

RCS messages come from a branded profile that immediately tells customers who you are:

The verification tick is issued by Google and un-fakeable. This means that your customers can trust your messages and that there is a reduced chance of your messages being mistaken as spam.

Your branded RCS Sender ID will include:

Verified Sender Badge A checkmark indicating your business is verified by Google, Sinch ClickSend and the participating carriers.
Company Name Your business name is displayed as the Sender ID.
Company Logo Your logo appears next to your business name.
Business Details A brief summary of what your business does, as well as your website and business contact details

Read Receipts & Engagement Visibility

RCS supports READ receipts, so you can see when your messages have been opened:

This delivers:

Better engagement measurement: Understand what content works.
More accurate timing for follow-up messages: Fine-tune your strategy.
Stronger performance insights than SMS alone: Make date-driven decisions.

Available Features at ClickSend

Our current RCS solution focuses on providing a trusted sender identity and enhanced reporting via READ receipts for API customers.

What's available now:

API access for integration.
A simple, no-code setup process: Send through your usual SMS API endpoints (successful RCS application required).
Verified sender profile with your brand name and logo.
Read receipts to track engagement.
Two-way messaging capabilities.
Automatic SMS fallback for devices that do not support RCS.

Coming soon:

RCS messaging in the public dashboard
RCS registration via self-service

If you want to try RCS via API please reach out to our friendly sales team who can help qualify you and guide you through the set-up process (sales@clicksend.com).

Best Use Cases for RCS

RCS is most effective in scenarios where trust and delivery confirmation are critical.

Use Case	Description
OTP & Verifications	Securely send one-time passcodes and verification messages from a trusted source.
Appointment Reminders	Reduce no-shows with branded reminders that customers can trust.
Confirmations & Alerts	Send order confirmations, shipping alerts, and other important notifications.
Critical Customer Updates	Ensure your most important messages are seen and acknowledged.
High-Trust Marketing	Build confidence in your marketing campaigns with a verified sender profile.

RCS Availability & Requirements

RCS availability is dependent on the recipient's country, mobile carrier, and handset. Note that Android phone operating systems have wider coverage than iOS. The mobile handset must be RCS capable to receive RCS messages.

Support Level	Support definition	Regions
Fully Supported	All carriers and phone operating systems supported	France, Germany, United Kingdom, United States
Partially Supported	Not all carriers support RCS and/or Not all phone operating systems are supported (often Android only)	Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden
Not Currently Supported	RCS not support for A2P (application to person, i.e. business messaging)	Australia and most other regions

FAQs

Can my phone receive RCS messages?

If the following conditions apply, yes:

You must be in an RCS approved country
On an RCS approved carriers
With an RCS approved operating system (Android or iOS)
Your handset must be RCS capable

My phone is RCS capable but I can’t see RCS, what do I do?

Please check that you turned on RCS in your native messaging app:

Android: Google Messages
iOS: Messages

Why aren’t URLs hyperlinked in the RCS messages I receive?

This is usually related to the handset or third-party apps/VPNs. Certain apps, especially VPNs, can interfere with RCS functionality. An example for impacted handset is the iPhone 13 mini (2022). To correctly display URLs on impacted devices please try the steps below:

Restart Your iPhone: A simple restart can fix stuck features, including RCS.
Toggle RCS Off/On: Go to Settings > Apps > Messages > RCS Messaging and toggle it off, wait a few seconds, and turn it back on.
Force Restart: If the above doesn't work, perform a forced restart (press and release Volume Up, press and release Volume Down, then hold the side button).
Long-Press/Trust Sender: If the link is not clickable, long-press the message and interact with it (like reacting with a thumbs up) to signal to iOS that the sender is trusted, which can activate the link.

Can I continue to send messages while my RCS application is being processed?

Yes. You can continue to send messages from Alpha Tags, Dedicated Numbers and shared numbers (if available for your country) while your RCS application is being processed.

What is my SMS fallback number?

This is the default Sender ID you specified via Smart Senders (e.g. a shared number, dedicated number or alpha tag). When RCS is not deliverable due to your recipient’s handset or carrier network, we will deliver your message as an SMS from your Smart Sender fallback Sender ID.

Can I send RCS messages via the dashboard?

RCS is an API product only for now, but we will support the functionality in the dashboard in the future.

RCS at ClickSend