RCS business messaging: how it works and how to get access

RCS business messaging lets a verified brand send branded, interactive messages (rich cards, carousels, suggested replies) to the phone's own messaging app, where an SMS would only show text. In most cases, a brand does not plug into it directly: it goes through a messaging provider registered with Google's RCS for Business program, which creates the brand's sender, has it verified and launches it carrier by carrier.

For transparency: Kanal is a WhatsApp marketing and sales app for Shopify stores, and it also sends SMS and RCS campaigns from the same app. This page describes RCS from Google's, Apple's and the GSMA's own documentation, read on October 7, 2026, and then shows where it stands next to WhatsApp Business. For a side-by-side of the two channels, read RCS vs SMS.

What is RCS business messaging?

RCS (Rich Communication Services) is the industry standard that modernizes SMS. The GSMA publishes it as the Universal Profile, which includes support for RCS business messaging and rich cards (GSMA). RCS business messaging is the part of the standard that lets a company, rather than a person, sit at the other end of the conversation.

Google provides the API that messaging providers connect to. Its documentation uses the name RCS for Business and still calls the interface the RCS Business Messaging (RBM) API (Google for Developers). On the customer's side, Google describes what changes compared with a text message (Google Messages Help):

• the conversation is branded with the company's name, its logo and a verification check mark;
• the header shows the business's name and description instead of a phone number;
• messages can contain photos, videos, cards and carousels, plus suggested reply and action buttons;
• the conversation is one-to-one: a business cannot be part of a group chat.

Every sender, called an agent, is created for one of four use cases defined by Google: one-time passwords, transactional, promotional or multi-use. An abandoned cart reminder, for example, falls under the promotional use case in Google's list. A conversation usually starts with a message from the agent. Google also documents links, buttons and QR codes that let a customer open the conversation first (deep links).

How does a brand get access to RCS for Business?

Usually not by signing up on its own. Google's documentation says that businesses typically work with messaging partners (aggregators, CPaaS providers, carriers and other RCS solution providers) that connect to Google's API and build and maintain the agent on the business's behalf (data security for RCS for Business). The path looks like this:

1. Pick a messaging partner. To send messages, a company must first be registered as a partner with RCS for Business, which starts with an interest form that Google reviews (register as a partner). Ask your SMS or messaging provider whether it is one.
2. Have your agent created. The partner creates the agent that represents your brand, with a name, a logo, a description, contact details, a billing category and a use case (create an agent).
3. Verify the brand. An authorized representative of your company confirms the agent's information and the partner's right to manage it for you. Google asks for an individual employee's email address, not a distribution list (brand verification).
4. Get launch approval, carrier by carrier. Google, carriers, or both approve the agent. Once approved, it can reach RCS-capable users on the approved carrier networks. Some carriers manage approval themselves and may require a direct agreement (verify and launch your agent).
5. Prepare what reviewers check. Before launch, Google lists a working website, privacy policy and terms of service links, an opt-out (STOP) flow and a video preview of the agent (launch approval).

What can an RCS business message show?

A single request can combine text, rich cards, media, suggested replies and suggested actions. The limits below come from Google's developer documentation.

For eight ready-to-adapt messages built from these elements, see our RCS messaging examples for e-commerce.

Sources: Google for Developers, rich cards (last updated on August 25, 2026), send messages (last updated on October 5, 2026) and brand verification (last updated on September 2, 2026), read on October 7, 2026.

Google adds a caveat: rich card support depends on device capabilities, so it advises testing the flow on the devices your audience uses. One example from the same documentation: suggestions that stay inside the message bubble are supported in recent versions of Google Messages, and not on iOS or in Samsung Messages. To see these formats applied to an online store (product card, carousel, action buttons), see our RCS marketing for Shopify page.

Who can receive it, and what happens when RCS is not available?

An agent only reaches people whose phone, app and carrier are ready for it:

• Carrier by carrier. Once approved, an agent reaches RCS-capable users on the carrier networks where it has been launched. If you message someone on a network where the agent is not launched, Google's platform returns an error and nothing is delivered.
• Device by device. If the phone does not support RCS or has it turned off, the platform also returns an error, and Google recommends reaching the user through the fallback you have defined, such as SMS. If the phone is only offline, the message is held and delivery is retried for 30 days, unless you set an earlier expiration (send messages, read on October 7, 2026).
• iPhone included, depending on the carrier. Apple's support page mentions that some businesses can send alerts and updates about orders and other transactions through RCS, and gives iPhone users a switch to turn these business messages off (Apple Support). RCS on iPhone itself depends on the carrier: Apple keeps a list by country.

Google's documentation therefore treats a fallback channel as part of the setup, for the customers RCS cannot reach. Our business SMS guide covers the text message side.

What the customer sees, on Android and iPhone

A business message arrives in the same app as the customer's texts, so it helps to know how that app shows RCS:

• On Android, in Google Messages. The box where the customer types reads RCS message when the conversation uses RCS and Text message when it falls back to SMS or MMS. RCS bubbles are dark blue, SMS and MMS bubbles light blue, and the sent, delivered and read icons only appear on RCS (Google Messages Help on RCS chats and message delivery, read on October 7, 2026).
• On iPhone, in Messages. RCS messages appear in green bubbles, like SMS and MMS; only iMessage is blue. Apple asks for iOS 18 and a text-messaging plan from a carrier that supports RCS, notes that activation can take a few hours, and publishes a list of supporting carriers by country (Apple Support, read on October 19, 2026).

Why a message goes out as SMS instead. From Google's and Apple's help pages, the usual causes on the customer's side are: RCS is turned off or not supported by the customer's carrier or app, the phone number is still being verified, the phone runs an older system (Google asks for Android 5.0 or higher and the latest Google Messages, Apple for iOS 18), or there is no data or Wi-Fi. When that happens to a business message, Google's platform returns an error and the brand uses its fallback, usually an SMS. Our RCS vs SMS comparison sets the two formats side by side, with US prices per message.

How customers switch business messages off. On iPhone: Settings, Apps, Messages, RCS Messaging, then turn off RCS Business Messages; a message can also be reported as junk from the conversation (Apple Support, read on October 19, 2026). In Google Messages, Unsubscribe in the conversation menu sends a STOP message to the business (see the consent section below).

Do you need the customer's consent?

Yes. Google's Acceptable Use Policy for RCS for Business requires senders to give people notice and obtain their consent before soliciting them, to make withdrawal simple (replying STOP, for example) and to honor it across all of the brand's promotional agents. The policy adds that local laws can set further requirements and that complying with them is the sender's responsibility (Acceptable Use Policy, last updated on October 3, 2025, read on October 7, 2026).

Customers also have their own controls. In Google Messages, an Unsubscribe option sends a STOP message to the business, in a list of countries that includes the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom (Google Messages Help). Honoring that request is the sender's job: Google says its platform does not manage opt-out lists for you, so you keep your own (best practices).

Is RCS business messaging encrypted?

Not end to end. Google's data security page says RCS for Business does not offer end-to-end encryption, which is why no lock icon appears in these conversations. Messages are encrypted between the user's device and Google's servers, and between Google's servers and the messaging partner, and Google scans messages sent by businesses to detect spam and malicious content (data security for RCS for Business).

How is RCS for Business billed?

There is no single public price list. According to Google's billing overview, RCS for Business traffic is billable under a standard model, or under a separate model for US phone numbers, and according to each carrier's rate card (billing overview). So the price depends on the carrier, and you will get it from your messaging provider, not from Google's documentation.

What Google does define is what counts as a billable event. An agent is set up in one of two billing categories (standard billing FAQ, read on October 7, 2026):

Google also separates a basic message (text only, 160 characters or fewer) from a single message (rich content, or text over 160 characters). Ask your provider for its rate for each of these events in each country you sell to. We found no primary source that publishes one price for all carriers, so this page quotes none; our RCS pricing guide shows how the US model differs and what a public provider rate card looks like.

RCS vs WhatsApp Business for a Shopify brand

Both channels put a branded, interactive message in front of a customer who agreed to receive it. They differ in where the message lands, how you get access and who sets the price.

Sources: Google for Developers (pages linked above), WhatsApp, the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy (last updated on September 23, 2026) and Meta's documentation on pricing and media card carousel templates, read on October 7, 2026.

How to read this table for a Shopify store:

• Start from where your customers are. RCS reach depends on the carrier and the phone, country by country. WhatsApp reach depends on how many of your customers use the app. Your own data (the countries you ship to, the phones your visitors use) says more than any average.
• Look at what you already run. RCS is sold by messaging partners such as aggregators, CPaaS providers and carriers. If you already send SMS through one of them, ask whether it is a registered RCS for Business partner and on which carriers it can launch your agent.
• Compare the full cost. Neither channel has a flat price: RCS follows carrier rate cards, WhatsApp follows Meta's rate card by category and country. Our WhatsApp Business pricing guide explains the Meta side.
• Check consent for each channel. Both require the customer's agreement first, so plan how you will collect it for each one. Our WhatsApp opt-in guide shows how stores collect it for WhatsApp.

The two can run side by side: RCS with your messaging provider, WhatsApp with a WhatsApp app. For a broader, channel-by-channel view, see our SMS vs MMS vs RCS vs WhatsApp comparison.

What Kanal does, and what it does not

Kanal is a WhatsApp marketing and sales app for Shopify stores. It sends WhatsApp messages, and SMS and RCS campaigns from the same app (SMS campaigns, SMS automation, RCS marketing): no email.

On the WhatsApp side, Kanal covers campaigns and broadcasts, abandoned cart recovery, order notifications, post-purchase upsell, back-in-stock alerts, review collection, an AI chatbot, a team inbox, segments and automations. If your email and SMS live in Klaviyo, your Klaviyo segments sync to Kanal and WhatsApp messages can be triggered from Klaviyo flows, while email and SMS stay in Klaviyo.

To see how it fits your store, start with the WhatsApp for Shopify overview.