Twilio has announced that Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging is now generally available through its platform globally.
Twilio’s RCS enables brands to send branded, verified messages with rich interactive features. Following the public beta launch last year, RCS is now available to the more than 349,000 active customer accounts through Twilio’s Programmable Messaging and Verify APIs. Existing customers are able to upgrade with no code changes and new customers can implement both SMS and RCS through a single integration via the Twilio platform.
“Building engagement with your customers should be as seamless and trusted as possible,” said Inbal Shani, chief product officer and head of R&D at Twilio. “RCS makes this a reality by delivering richer interactions, improved deliverability, increased trust in your brand. This represents a fundamental shift in how businesses can communicate with their customers through Twilio’s trusted, simple, and smart platform.”
Twilio users will have their platforms automatically upgraded SMS messages to RCS on capable devices at no additional cost for basic messages up to 160 characters, with business logos, taglines, and trusted sender verification by Google.
They’ll also have new call-to-action buttons, interactive carousels, location sharing, and rich media content that drive higher engagement and conversion rates and the platform will automatically detects when RCS is unavailable and seamlessly falls back to SMS, ensuring reliable message delivery without any additional configuration.
Existing Twilio Messaging customers can upgrade to RCS without code changes, adding an additional channel option alongside SMS, MMS, and WhatsApp, while new customers can implement both SMS and RCS messaging through a single API integration. Twilio manages registration and onboarding with carriers, device capability checks, and provides automatic fallback to SMS when RCS is not available, ensuring reliable message delivery for any business at any scale.
“The significance and potential of RCS goes beyond just uplift – the capability will help reshape business messaging into an interactive, trusted, and transaction-ready channel. What was once a one-way notification system is becoming a two-way enriched workflow – one where payments, authentication, and service requests can be completed without leaving a messaging app. For businesses, this means faster transactions, lower customer effort, and new opportunities to drive loyalty, revenue and better experiences. Zero-code setup and built-in SMS fallback capabilities are important in helping businesses overcome common adoption hurdles, including rollout and integration complexities, to ensuring messages can still be received even if RCS isn’t supported,” said Adam Holtby, Principal Analyst at Omdia.
Following Apple’s support for RCS on iPhones starting with iOS 18.2 in December 2024, Twilio’s RCS messaging is now available globally across 20+ countries and 55+ carriers. This expanded reach across both major mobile platforms positions RCS for widespread enterprise adoption, with customers like Nova Gestões in Latin America, and Fresha in Europe already leveraging RCS to enhance their customer communications.
Businesses ready to transform their customer engagement with branded, interactive messaging can get started with RCS through the Twilio Console today.
 
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