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Introduction
Since Q4 2024, the business messaging landscape has shifted considerably. What began as a technical upgrade to SMS has evolved into an intelligent, brand-led rich media channel for customer engagement that competes with OTT platform offerings. While Android devices already supported RCS for Business globally, Apple’s announcement of native RCS support in the iOS 18 update in September 2024 has been the catalyst for this acceleration, fundamentally expanding the channel’s reach and viability for enterprise deployment in the key markets of North America, Brazil and Europe.
Alongside this technical milestone, Google announced in September 2025 the strategic rebranding of RCS Business Messaging (RBM) to RCS for Business; a clarification of market positioning rather than a change in capability, but one that reflects the channel’s maturation and its evolving role within the broader business messaging ecosystem.
Together, these developments signal that RCS for Business is no longer a developing standard; it’s becoming an established channel for A2P and P2A mobile communications. The channel now offers the reliability and reach of carrier-based messaging combined with the rich interactivity of modern chat applications. The result is a verified, native messaging experience for consumers that requires no app downloads, no unverified external URL links, and no compromises on brand identity for enterprises – all of which promote consumer trust in the RCS for Business channel.
As global network coverage expands, Android continues to dominate mobile operating systems global market share, and RCS-enabled iOS devices accelerate, the question for brands is no longer if they will adopt RCS for Business, but how fast they can scale it and, more importantly, whether their organisation is strategically positioned to capture this business messaging channel’s value.
Reflecting on this business opportunity, this whitepaper explores how RCS for Business is advancing into a fully-fledged business messaging channel. We examine the channel’s role in the multi-channel mobile ecosystem, the growing influence of AI and conversational commerce, and the practical realities of RCS adoption, including insights from Kero’s own customer onboarding experience.
More than the Apple Effect
Apple’s announcement of native RCS support with iOS 18, released in September 2024, marked a significant turning point for the channel. The rollout was introduced in some countries across select mobile networks, bringing RCS messaging to both major mobile operating systems for the first time. This Android and iOS cross–platform availability addressed one of the key considerations that brands had been evaluating: device reach and expanding the channel’s addressable audience.
The impact was immediate and measurable. Within months of the iOS 18 rollout, a global messaging provider’s RCS traffic increased by 500% globally, according to the GMSA. Markets such as North America, Western Europe, and Oceania recorded the largest gains, positioning RCS as a serious contender to over–the–top (OTT) messaging channels, platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Viber, for branded business communication.
The data reveals a clear trend. Combined global RCS mobile users (Android and iOS) grew from 1.44 billion in September 2024 to 1.72 billion in June 2025, with projections of 1.95 billion by December 2025 and a 23.3% 12-month growth in the RCS business messaging user base (Mobilesquared, June 2025). This data shows that enterprises may recognise the expanded reach of the channel.
Yet, while the 500% surge is headline-worthy, it masks a more complex reality than just the Apple Effect. The traffic surge wasn’t simply a matter of switching on iOS support and watching messages flow. It reflected a multitude of factors: pent-up demand from brands that had been waiting for cross–platform compatibility, aggressive carrier promotion in key markets, and, critically, the exhaustion of alternatives, as brands faced both SMS and OTT messaging platforms grew costlier.
By late 2024, enterprises were grappling with rising costs on OTT platforms, tightening data privacy regulations, and growing consumer wariness of third-party apps. RCS offered something increasingly rare: a carrier–grade channel with native device integration and the verification of a sender’s brand which didn’t require users to trust yet another communication platform with their data. For brands operating in regulated industries like finance, healthcare, and insurance, this mattered more than any feature list.
The importance of the Appel Effect is that the iOS 18 release didn’t just expand reach in key markets: it legitimised RCS as a business messaging channel worth investing in. Marketing teams that had shelved RCS strategies due to fragmented adoption suddenly had executive approval to move forward. The technology hadn’t changed. The business case had.
A Strategic Rebrand
Building on this mobile ecosystem momentum, Google announced in September 2025 an official rebranding of RCS Business Messaging (RBM) to RCS for Business. This was not a technical update but a strategic one, intended to clarify the channel’s positioning within the broader business messaging market.
In recent years, the interchangeable use of “RBM” and “RCS” had caused confusion between the underlying communication protocol and its commercial application as a rich business messaging channel. The simplified naming convention now reflects the channel’s role as a business–focused extension of the RCS standard, making it easier for brands, developers, and mobile network operators to align their messaging strategies under a unified identity.
But the rebrand also signals a shift in how Google wants the market to think about RCS. By dropping “messaging” from the name, the focus moves from message delivery to business outcomes. This is deliberate positioning – RCS for Business is being framed not as a pipe, but as a platform. This allows messaging providers to clearly differentiate RCS for Business from other business messaging channel solutions on offer.
Meeting Customers Where They Are
The Google rebrand arrives at a time when customer engagement strategies are increasingly multichannel by design. Businesses are expected to meet consumers wherever they are, whether through SMS, email, social media, or chat–based platforms such as WhatsApp or Instagram.
Within this context, RCS for Business offers a unique proposition: the reliability and ubiquity of carrier–based messaging combined with the interactivity of modern chat applications. Verified sender IDs, rich media, suggested replies, and embedded call–to–action buttons create a native, branded experience directly within the device’s default messaging client, no app downloads or external links required.
Yet this framing, “meeting customers where they are,” requires some explanation. RCS reaches customers in their default messaging app. But unlike WhatsApp or Instagram, users didn’t choose to be there for brand interactions. They’re there because it’s the SMS successor messaging app built into their phone. This is both RCS’s greatest strength and its most delicate challenge: delivering marketing experiences in a channel users associate with transactional messaging – utility and necessity rather than discovery and entertainment.
The key, as early adopters discovered is relevance over novelty. Overloading RCS messages with every interactive feature may demonstrate capability, but it rarely drives connection. The strongest results come from brands using RCS for purposeful, high–value exchanges like appointment reminders, delivery updates, or contextual cart nudges, where the experience adds clarity to a business’ customer engagement process.
As businesses seek to simplify their communication ecosystems, RCS for Business is emerging not as a replacement for other channels, but as a strategic complement. It integrates seamlessly into omnichannel marketing and transactional strategies, offering brands the ability to “add chat”– a dynamic, measurable, and highly engaging layer to their existing business messaging campaigns. A mobile channel that delivers value for customers in their interactions with a business.
And as brands continue to refine how they communicate, the next phase of this evolution is already unfolding: AI–powered personalisation and conversational commerce, where RCS for Business becomes the bridge between automation, engagement, and measurable conversion. More on that below, but first we need to map where RCS for Business fits within the mobile messaging ecosystem.
RCS for Business in a Multichannel World
Despite its progress, RCS for Business operates within a complex, multichannel communication environment. Businesses no longer rely on a single channel to engage customers; they navigate a mix of messaging apps, social platforms, email, and web–based interfaces. Each offers unique advantages, but few combine the reach, reliability, and interactivity that mobile messaging delivers.
The strength of RCS for Business lies not in replacing existing channels, but in reinforcing them by offering a verified, branded, and interactive experience that delivers reliability and engagement. Yet, as the MEF noted in an October 2025 mobile industry briefing, RCS still occupies a space between market innovation and mainstream adoption by businesses. The technology offers everything enterprises want – native integration, verified sender IDs, and rich conversational features – but faces a number of practical hurdles that market leaders are only now beginning to quantify.
- Fragmented coverage isn’t just a technical inconvenience; it’s a strategic liability. A multinational retailer launching a campaign across Europe must navigate a patchwork of carrier support for RCS for Business; RCS full available in some markets but not in others, with varying levels of feature support even where it exists. The result: campaign complexity multiplies, creative assets need multiple versions for fallback scenarios, and ROI becomes difficult to forecast with confidence.
- Another complexity extends to customer onboarding. Updating privacy policies and coordinating across legal and compliance teams is often the first test of organisational readiness. For many enterprises, RCS for Business introduces new data-handling considerations: verified sender IDs that link to brand entities, and analytics pipelines that process engagement data. Each of these touches regulated information flows, requiring careful review of terms of use, personal data processing agreements, and consent management frameworks. The technology itself is not the challenge; aligning governance, approval chains, and compliance language across departments is required before the updated privacy policy is published to the corporate website. What might appear to be a simple policy update can extend RCS for Business onboarding timelines by weeks depending on an enterprise’s internal processes.
- Pricing disparities deepen the friction. RCS messaging costs vary significantly by market and carrier, some charging three to five times the SMS rate, others closer to parity. For brands accustomed to predictable SMS pricing, that inconsistency complicates budgeting and weakens the business case. The question isn’t just “Should we adopt RCS?” but “In which markets does the cost justify the investment?”
These aren’t reasons to avoid RCS for Business; they’re the current realities that separate successful deployments from stalled pilots. The brands making headway are those treating RCS for Business as a long-term capability build for customer engagement, not a channel swap.
RCS for Business in the Mobile Messaging Ecosystem
Meanwhile, OTT messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Viber dominate the conversational marketing landscape. Their near universal reach, low barriers to entry due to widespread consumer adoption, and strict business verification and content use rules make them indispensable to brands seeking a trusted channel for customer engagement. OTT platforms deliver reach and engagement and compete directly with RCS for Business.
The WhatsApp Business Platform, for instance, operates within a managed ecosystem. Brands gain access to billions of users but have limited visibility into delivery mechanisms, data handling, and long–term pricing stability. This Meta platform can, and has, adjusted its pricing structure, business policies, and feature availability with relatively short notice. For enterprises building critical customer communication workflows on these platforms, that creates planning complexity and channel dependency risk.
RCS for Business offers an alternative: carrier–based infrastructure, predictable routing, and built–in regulatory compliance. It may not yet match WhatsApp’s global footprint, but for use cases where message integrity and accountability matter – financial alerts, healthcare communications, legal notices – it’s a fundamentally more defensible business choice.
The result, however, is a fragmented mobile messaging ecosystem where reliability, cost, and control exist in constant tension. Smart brands aren’t choosing between RCS for Business and OTT channels; they’re mapping use cases to channels based on regulation, audience preferences, and acceptable risk levels.
Against this backdrop, RCS for Business brings structure to a market defined by fragmentation. It complements rather than competes with OTT channels, allowing enterprises to unify customer journeys across digital touchpoints while maintaining business message integrity and brand verification.
When integrated with CRM systems, automation platforms, and analytics frameworks, RCS for Business creates continuity across marketing, customer service, and transactional communications. It moves brands from isolated interactions to cohesive engagement experiences.
The payoff is tangible: unified customer profiles, cross–channel attribution, and the ability to trigger RCS messages based on behaviour in other channels. But that payoff takes time and significantly more operational investment.
Crucially, RCS for Business also strengthens interoperability. It can serve as fallback or companion to OTT platforms like WhatsApp, ensuring continuity when customers switch devices, networks, or preferred apps or due to regional messaging market considerations.
This synergy reflects a broader industry truth: the future of enterprise messaging isn’t about choosing one channel; it’s about orchestrating many, with RCS for Business positioned as the reliable connective tissue of a truly multichannel ecosystem.
AI–Powered RCS for Business and Conversational Commerce
Building on this multichannel foundation, automation and AI are transforming enterprise messaging into an intelligent, adaptive, and measurable engagement layer. Within this evolution, RCS for Business sits at the intersection of rich communication and artificial intelligence, enabling brands to design customer experiences that respond dynamically to user intent, behaviour, and context.
AI enhances RCS for Business through automated agents, predictive personalisation, and smart recommendations. These capabilities enable brands to guide customers from enquiry to conversion within a single native messaging interface. Automated agents can resolve support queries, present personalised offers, or deliver contextual information in real time, while machine learning continually refines delivery, timing, and tone to optimise customer engagement.
Although still a relatively new trend in the rich business messaging ecosystem, the integration of AI into RCS for Business deployments is rapidly gaining momentum. Juniper Research, in April 2025, projected revenue from generative AI to grow from $800 million in 2024 to over $3.9 billion by 2026, with mobile messaging identified as a key investment area.
As enterprises begin embedding these AI capabilities, RCS for Business is shifting from templates to adaptive conversational frameworks that deliver more relevant, outcome–driven digital experiences adaptive to a brands customer engagement journey.
Personalisation has become the defining metric of successful rich business messaging campaigns. Data–driven, context–aware conversations achieve higher open, engagement, and conversion rates, validating AI’s role not only in automation but in precision.
This evolution marks a clear shift from mass broadcast messaging to intelligent engagement. The brands seeing the strongest results are those using AI to enhance their RCS communication strategies, either through dynamic content personalisation, intelligent message timing, and/or automated system that routes complex queries to human agents when appropriate.
In parallel, the rise of conversational commerce is redefining how businesses interact with consumers. Through RCS for Business, brands can showcase products, share interactive catalogues, provide live assistance, and facilitate secure in–chat payments – all within a single, verified conversation thread. Customers can browse, compare, and purchase without leaving the messaging interface, reducing friction and improving conversion efficiency.
As RCS for Business continues to evolve, it is no longer just another messaging channel. It is becoming an intelligent customer engagement platform that can take advantage of AI capabilities. By uniting automation, personalisation, and commerce within a trusted, native messaging environment, it delivers the immediacy consumers expect and the reliability and trust enterprises require.
Kero’s Experience of Onboarding RCS for Business Customers
Adopting a new communication channel, no matter how advanced, is rarely without its challenges for a business. Kero’s experience of onboarding customers who selected RCS for Business as a business messaging channel captures both the excitement and the operational realities of integrating this next–generation channel into a brand’s messaging strategy.
From the outset, brands are drawn to RCS for Business for its feature depth; verified sender IDs that build trust, rich media that drives engagement, and analytics dashboards that bring measurable clarity to campaign performance. These elements transform traditional SMS messaging into a measurable, brand–enhancing experience, helping companies connect more deeply with their audiences.
The initial sales conversations with prospective clients follow a familiar arc. Decision-makers see the demo of the channel’s capabilities – rich cards, carousels, embedded video – and immediately grasp the visual upgrade of RCS for Business over SMS.
However, the onboarding process also surfaces the operational considerations that come with a modern messaging channel. Updating privacy policies, adjusting terms of use, and coordinating across compliance and marketing teams are essential first steps, not because RCS for Business is complex, but because it demands internal operational alignment with Google platform rules – which themselves are aligned to telecommunication law and messaging regulations. For many brands, that alignment with RCS for Business platform rules becomes the first hurdle, except if they already operated in highly regulated industries and compliance is baked into operations.
Adoption is also shaped by geography and reach. In South Africa, for instance, RCS for Business is currently supported only on Android devices, meaning that there is no full market penetration in the country. While SMS fallback ensures that all messages are still delivered to iOS devices, this partial market reach can be limiting for some brands eager to take full advantage of RCS’s rich capabilities.
But, with iOS commanding 18.43% of the local smartphone market in November 2025, according to StatCounter, Apple’s rollout of RCS in South Africa will be a turning point, potentially pushing overall market penetration to nearly 80% and unlocking the full potential of the channel in this mobile-first region. Similar RCS for Business readiness analyses can be done for other markets.
Yet, in this context, the current adoption rate is less a reflection of demand and more an ecosystem constraint. Brands are eager, consumers respond positively – but the infrastructure is still catching up.
No matter the market in which customers choice to deploy RCS for Business, managing expectations and clearly communicating these realities during onboarding has been crucial to maintaining momentum and confidence in the channel’s long–term potential.
Despite these initial hurdles, the feedback from brands that have onboarded with Kero is overwhelmingly positive. In markets where RCS is enabled on both iOS and Android devices, such as France, the United Kingdom and other Western European countries, brands are seeing engagement rates that validate the channel’s strategic value for business communications. One customer, who runs sports events in the United Kingdom and Europe, achieved an 85% overall engagement rate across their 2025 campaigns, with RCS message volume growing over 460% year–on–year as iOS support expanded their addressable audience. Delivery rates remained consistently high at 98%, demonstrating the channel’s technical reliability at scale.
The business messaging metric pattern is clear: The strongest results come from brands that approach RCS for Business as a channel with growing capability rather than a one–off campaign. The most effective strategies evolve through learning and refinement, is a key takeaway from our customers’ implementation of RCS for Business for their marketing and transactional mobile communications.
The Global Future of RCS for Business
The trajectory of RCS for Business is clear: it’s no longer a question of if brands will adopt it, but how fast they can scale it. As network coverage expands and iOS integration accelerates across markets, RCS is shifting from a developing standard to a global marketing channel with enterprise–grade capabilities.
But “how fast” is less straightforward than it appears. Adoption velocity will be determined not by technology readiness, but by the organisational readiness of businesses; the ability to integrate the RCS channel into existing operations, justify its cost relative to alternatives, and design customer experiences that respect the channel’s unique constraints.
- North America as the Catalytic Market. In markets such as the United States, where all Tier 1 carriers launched RCS for Business in 2025, adoption is set to surge. In November 2025, according to StatCounter, iOS’s US market share was 58.91%, compared to Android’s 40.82%, thus showing that with iOS support and major operator alignment. Canada shows similar market trends to the US. North America may be positioned to become the catalyst for global adoption.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, is to add further momentum to the channel’s growth in North America. Mega-sporting events have historically accelerated adoption of new communication technologies; as brands are geared to reach massive, distributed audiences with real–time updates, ticketing, and location–based services through these sporting events that gain international attention. RCS for Business offers the ideal infrastructure for the soccer world cup: verified sender IDs that combat ticket scams, rich media for venue maps and schedules, and interactive elements for concessions and fan engagement. The FIFA World Cup will likely serve as a forcing function, pushing brands and carriers to ensure RCS infrastructure is robust, scalable, and ready for high–volume, high–stakes deployment in the United States.
However, where market growth projection models often assume linear scaling, they rarely reflect market reality. The ideal growth forecast is based on full ecosystem maturity: universal carrier support, seamless interoperability, predictable pricing, and widespread brand adoption. If any of those conditions lag, a channel’s growth curve flattens. And history suggests that channel adoption in enterprise environments is rarely as smooth despite what the forecasts predict. That said, with North America’s carrier consolidation, Apple’s participation, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup as a catalyst create conditions that don’t exist in more fragmented markets. The potential for RCS for Business in North America is real.
- A Strategic Shift in Mobile Messaging. The industry’s strategic focus is also evolving. Early efforts to drive RCS adoption by migrating Application–to–Person (A2P) SMS traffic, such as booking confirmations or delivery updates, have proven to be taking longer than market-makers expected, especially for use cases like one–time passwords (OTPs) and alerts that prioritise speed and reliability over experience. Adding rich media to a password reset doesn’t improve utility; it adds latency and complexity, but the value is in the verified branding accompanying the authentication message.
The emerging mobile messaging strategy is more pragmatic: retain SMS for utility–based messaging, and position RCS as an extension of digital marketing and richer customer engagements in other transactional messaging. Thus, RCS for Business is a channel that enhances customer engagement rather than replaces legacy messaging infrastructure.
This repositioning redefines RCS for Business as a marketing platform with transactional messaging capabilities, not merely a transport layer. As AI, personalisation, and conversational commerce mature, RCS’s role will expand from delivering information to facilitating interaction, purchase, and post–sale engagement; all within a single, verified chat interface.
The future of RCS is therefore not necessarily about competing with OTT channels, but about earning its place as a trusted, data-rich companion within the broader business messaging ecosystem. It’s a more modest framing than the early “RCS will replace SMS” narrative, but it’s also more defensible and more likely to drive sustained RCS for Business adoption while still recognising the enduring value of SMS for business communications.
Messaging in Emerging Markets
For emerging markets, the path forward is one of readiness and reinforcement. With Android adoption strong and iOS support on the horizon, these local ecosystems are well positioned for growth in RCS for Business – and the data reinforces this momentum.
A June 2024 MEF consumer trust study revealed emerging markets outpacing developed economies in RCS commercial messaging adoption. India led with 27% of smartphone users receiving RCS business messages (a 7% YoY increase), followed by South Africa at 13% with 3% growth, while Mexico and Spain reported similar trajectories. Even France – a developed market – reflected this momentum with 2% growth and has since become one of the leading adopters of RCS. Across these high-growth regions, an average of 15% of smartphone users engaged with brands via RCS, signalling a shift from experimentation to meaningful commercial traction. The pattern is clear: emerging markets demonstrate a willingness to rapidly deploy and adopt next-generation messaging.
Beyond adoption rates, device readiness and operator infrastructure are aligning in some emerging markets so that technical RCS-readiness outpaces current brand deployment in a region. In these environments, early movers face less channel saturation and greater opportunity to establish RCS as a core engagement layer before competition intensifies.
For brands operating across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, the window to lead, not follow, is measurably open. As these regions continue prioritising measurable engagement and customer-centred communication, RCS for Business is set to become a central intersection in the multichannel mix, combining reach, interactivity, and intelligence in ways traditional messaging simply cannot.
How Brands Can Take Advantage of RCS for Business
For businesses evaluating RCS for Business, the opportunity is clear – but so is the need for strategic discipline. Those brands succeeding are those entering with realistic expectations, defined use cases, and a long–term commitment to capability building.
- Design for Fallback from Day One. Even in markets with strong RCS penetration, a portion of your audience will still need to receive SMS fallback as not all mobile devices may be RCS-enabled. Treat this as a design constraint, not an edge case. Every RCS campaign should have a parallel SMS version that delivers the core message and call–to–action, even if the experience is less rich.
- Prepare for iOS Expansion – But Don’t Wait for It. With iOS support rolling out globally, RCS reach will expand significantly in over the next few years. But brands that delay adoption until iOS support is universal will cede early–mover advantage to competitors already optimising their RCS strategies in Android ready markets.
The smart move for brands is to launch now in markets with sufficient Android penetration, build internal competency, and refine your creative approach to messaging content. By the time iOS expands to your audience, you’ll have months of performance data and operational experience that late entrants won’t have for RCS for Business campaigns. Plan now for increased adoption rates, updated creative assets, and scaled campaign volumes. Brands that act early will gain a competitive advantage as the ecosystem matures, not because they were first, but because they were deliberate.
Conclusion: The RCS for Business Channel is Ready
The future of business messaging is intelligent, interactive, and unified. RCS for Business is ready – the technology works, the ecosystem is maturing, and the use cases are proven.
But readiness is mutual. The channel can only deliver value to brands and businesses that are prepared to integrate it strategically within their communications matrix and resource it appropriately.
The brands that will lead in this next era are those that see RCS not as a replacement for existing business messaging channels, but as a strategic complement – one that strengthens customer relationships, enhances multichannel orchestration, and unlocks new forms of engagement where rich interactivity genuinely matters.
The question isn’t whether RCS for Business will scale. The question is whether your organisation is ready to scale with it.
About Kero
Kero is a rich business messaging provider that helps businesses spark meaningful connections with interactive, media-rich mobile messages. Backed by the Celerity Group (est. 2000), we combine innovation, security, and compliance to drive customer engagement and real business results.
