RCS Agent Overview
How RCS changes the customer experience and what stays the same in your Avochato inbox.
RCS (Rich Communication Services) is the next generation of text messaging. On supported devices, your brand appears verified, messages can be longer and richer, and delivery runs over the internet instead of the cellular carrier network. Where RCS isn't available, messages fall back to standard SMS — you reach every contact either way.
What your customers see
On RCS-capable devices:
- Your brand name, logo, and banner at the top of the conversation, not a phone number
- A blue verified check next to your brand name
- Longer messages — the first 160 characters (including emoji and special characters) count as one segment; no more surprise multi-segment billing from punctuation
- Read receipts on your outbound messages
- Rich content as you configure it: images, videos, quick-reply buttons, carousels, content cards, and location sharing
On devices that don't support RCS, the same message arrives as a regular SMS from the fallback number on your inbox. The customer experience looks normal — they don't need to know which channel was used. Nothing about how your team works in Avochato changes on the day your RCS sender goes live. What changes is what your customers see: a verified, branded message instead of a raw phone number, plus room for richer content and higher engagement as you're ready to use it.
How it sits alongside SMS in Avochato
- RCS and SMS from the same contact stay in one conversation. There's no separate RCS inbox to manage.
- All existing Avochato features work: templates, keywords, Surveys, AgentAssist, AvoBots, AvoLinks, broadcasts, and campaigns.
- Opt-out handling is identical — STOP, START, and HELP work the same, and your existing opt-out list carries over. Keywords and responses can be configured in other languages for international audiences.
- Broadcasts send via RCS where available, SMS elsewhere, automatically. Delivery metrics reflect the actual channel used.
- Voice calls are unchanged — they continue to use the phone number on your inbox.
- Contacts pinned to a specific number stay pinned.
Device and regional coverage
- Android — RCS is on by default via Google Messages on modern devices
- Apple — supported on iOS 18.1+. Most major US carriers have agreements with Apple, some are still in progress, so iOS delivery can be inconsistent for now
- Countries — US, UK, Brazil, and most of Western Europe are live; Canada is in progress. Elsewhere, messages fall back to SMS
Approval timing
Registration takes about 4–6 weeks. Approval rolls out carrier by carrier, which means once any single carrier in a country approves your sender, you can start sending there — you don't have to wait for full coverage.
Content rules
Google and carriers still restrict the same high-risk categories as SMS (loans, cannabis, firearms, alcohol, tobacco, adult content). High opt-out rates can still flag your account. Treat RCS content with the same standards you apply to SMS.
Configuration requirements
- Mainline-level registration — a sender is tied to a brand's main line, not to individual reps or per-user numbers
- One RCS brand per inbox right now
- Multi-inbox sharing of a single brand works for outbound, but inbound replies route to one primary inbox
Ready to get started? See How to Register an RCS Agent for the full asset and info checklist.