iOS 18 and RCS: a gamechanger for brands and marketers 

Is RCS a new technology? 

Although RCS has been around for years, it has never gained the broad adoption it deserves. Google developed RCS as a protocol to modernise traditional SMS messages and enhance them with a range of advanced features such as multimedia messages, delivery receipts, and read reports. Google has consistently worked on improving RCS to keep pace with modern communication systems and optimise the user experience. 

Since 2016, RCS has been a standard feature in Android devices. With the launch of iOS 18, both Android and iOS users now have access to this technology. 

RCS messages are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be read by Google. Google primarily acts as a facilitator of the protocol and will not use metadata from the messages for commercial purposes, according to their privacy statement. 

Brand and security first 

Identification within RCS gives the recipient certainty. With RCS, the recipient immediately knows who sent the message: the brand's name and logo appear at the top of the message. Additionally, the recipient can click through mini-profile of the brand. 

The operators, in turn, ensure authenticity and security through a verified sender. Someone with bad intentions can never send RCS messages under the name of iO. 

If the RCS cannot be delivered, a classic SMS fallback can be provided, ensuring the sender that the user has received the message. 

Data and bots: increased integration capability thanks to the API structure

RCS messages are sent and received via an API-based platform. 

If you've already chosen a composable architecture for your digital ecosystem, you'll now reap extra benefits because linking company data with RCS messages will be smoother. 

Are you already experimenting with an AI chatbot on your website? Now it can be seamlessly integrated with your brand's RCS channel. 

RCS Provides a Range of New Possibilities 

There are a number of obvious scenarios where RCS will quickly gain ground: 

• Delivery Notifications: Track packages and provide delivery notifications. 

• Appointment Reminders: Remind you of your appointment with healthcare professionals, hairdressers, restaurants, and other appointments. 

• Weather Alerts and Emergency Notifications. 

• Marketing Messages: Show promotional offers, discounts, and newsletters. 

• E-commerce Notifications: Send order confirmations, shipping updates, and receipts. 

But due to the many interaction possibilities, RCS is much more powerful than just notifications. Consider, for example: 

• Banking via RCS: Send transaction alerts and balance updates. 

• Simple E-commerce: Navigate through a simple offer, order, and pay via RCS, for example, in sandwich bars or local shops. 

• Customer Support: Follow customer support via RCS through a chatbot or human interaction. 

• Ticketing: For trains, trams, buses, or even event tickets. 

• Entertainment: For example, quizzes and interactive content in the context of radio and TV programmes.

Finally, a Breakthrough for PWAs? 

RCS has the potential to accelerate the adoption of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). Since RCS supports push notifications without an app, users can receive updates without having to download a specific app, reducing the barrier to PWA use. 

As a refresher, by adding PWAs to websites, they can behave like an app, and they can also be installed as an app, without the complexity of app stores and native development. 

At iO, we see PWAs as a technology with a lot of potential, especially to transform the efficiency and accessibility of web applications. The economic benefits also give this technology an edge: organisations no longer need to develop and maintain a separate app. 

iOS has supported push notifications for PWAs for more than a year. However, due to Apple's prolonged reluctance to implement some essential success factors in iOS, the major breakthrough has remained elusive until today. 

The arrival of RCS could give the adoption of PWA applications a new boost.