RCS messaging hits ten billion messages on Infobip alone

As RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging gains popularity, Infobip, the Croatian IT and communications platform, claims it’s sent 10 billion RCS business messages via its platform.

Apple adopted RCS in late 2024 through the iOS 18 update, and RCS traffic on Infobip’s platform has soared, with North American message numbers increasing by more than 1,400%, the company says.

RCS is a communication protocol standard used for instant messaging, an upgrade to SMS and MMS formats. It provides updated features including read receipts, high-resolution media sharing, and chats for larger group numbers. Similar to internet-based apps, messages are sent over mobile data or wi-fi and are supported on Android and iOS. RCS has been embraced by businesses, and according to Infobip, use has grown 500% year-on-year as brands use it alongside SMS to send personalised messages to customers. Brands can connect with their customers via text, videos, images, or files in their regular messaging app.

HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency), part of Jisc, used Infobip-powered RCS to improve responses to its Graduate Outcomes survey, the largest social survey in the UK annually.

Dr Gosia Turner, Head of Surveys at Jisc, said, “RCS enables us to provide rich, engaging and trusted messages to graduates, which has helped encourage them to complete the survey when they are invited. With improved completion rates compared to SMS, we can deliver the high-quality data the sector needs to make informed decisions about the experiences of recent graduates.”

Using RCS, twice as many people completed the survey compared to SMS, and RCS adoption continues to rise. That’s something Craig Selby, RCS Business Unit Director at Infobip, has noted. “We’re witnessing record adoption as RCS becomes the channel of choice for businesses aiming to offer trusted, personalised messaging. [I expect] RCS growth to accelerate as more consumers and brands embrace these capabilities.”

Infobip was the first company to make RCS messaging available on major mobile carriers in the US, and Juniper Research names Infobip as a leader in RCS business messaging.

Apple and RCS

With the release of iOS 18, Apple introduced support for RCS in its Messages app in September 2024. The update enabled iPhone users to send photos and videos, share links, view read receipts and typing indicators, and enjoy more interactive conversations with RCS app users, including Android users.

As a carrier-provided service, RCS messaging can be sent over wi-fi or cellular-data networks when iMessage is not being used. iPhone users can send RCS text messages to non-Apple devices and other iPhones and Apple devices when Text Message Forwarding is turned on.

Unlike Apple’s proprietary iMessage system, iOS 18 does not currently support end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages sent between iPhone and Android devices. Nevertheless, Apple spokesperson Shane Bauer announced plans to implement E2EE for RCS in future software updates, saying, “We will add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future software updates.”

Google messages, however, enabled E2EE by default for RCS text messages, but only for conversations between Google Message users – exchanges with iMessage users or RCS Android clients does not invoke E2EE.

Android and RCS

Unlike Apple devices, Android has supported RCS messaging for several years, with Google Messages as the primary app.

Released in July 2025, the latest update to RCS, Universal Profile v3.1, introduced support for the xHE-AAC audio codec, with its better compression and decompression algorithms. New mechanisms in the protocol also improve connections between RCS users and operator services, particularly in areas with poor network coverage.

(Image source: “Message in a bottle.” by elvis_payne is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

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Tags: android, ios, mms, rcs, sms