Quick answer. RCS adoption has scaled rapidly, especially since Apple added support in late 2024. Juniper Research put RCS at roughly 1.1 billion active users in 2024 and projects about 3.8 billion by the end of 2026 — roughly 40% of global mobile subscribers. Google reported more than 1 billion RCS messages sent per day in the US as of May 2025, RCS reaches over 80% of smartphone users in major markets like the US and France, and RCS business-messaging traffic reached about 50 billion messages globally in 2025, up from 33 billion in 2024.
Adoption figures vary by source and by what's being counted (active users vs monthly active users vs RCS-capable devices), so they should always be attributed. The direction, however, is unambiguous: every credible source shows steep growth, accelerated by Apple's 2024 support, which reportedly drove a ~500% surge in global RCS traffic that year.
Key facts
- ~1.1B active users in 2024 → ~3.8B projected by end of 2026 (~40% of mobile subscribers) — Juniper Research.
1 billion RCS messages/day in the US as of May 2025 (Google); >80% smartphone reach in US/France.
- Business RCS traffic ~50B messages globally in 2025 (up from ~33B in 2024); ~500% global traffic surge in 2024 after Apple support.