Rich Communication Services: What Developer Need to Know

Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a sophisticated evolution in messaging designed by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA). It was introduced in 2008 but gained significant traction after Google rolled it out in its Android ecosystem in 2019. RCS has more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, and this number is expected to reach 3.6 billion by 2026. The service aims to bring the robustness and features of Over-the-Top (OTT) messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger into the native messaging app on mobile devices. RCS supports multimedia content, enabling businesses to include rich media such as images, videos, and interactive elements directly within their messages. It also offers verified sender profiles, high throughput, built-in fallback options, competitive pricing, and comprehensive engagement tracking. Twilio provides resources for developers to explore and implement RCS using NodeJS.