The State of RCS, 2026.

An adoption, market, and engagement report on Rich Communication Services

Published June 2026 · Updated August 2026

Executive summary

Rich Communication Services (RCS) crossed from promising standard to mainstream channel between 2024 and 2026. Apple's adoption of RCS on iPhone (iOS 18.1, late 2024) made the standard near-universal across modern smartphones, triggering a sharp surge in traffic and accelerating business adoption. By the end of 2026, RCS is projected to reach billions of users, business messaging volume has scaled into the tens of billions of messages annually, and the market is valued in the high single-digit billions of dollars and growing at double-digit rates. Fresh mid-2026 provider data shows the acceleration concentrating in the US, where RCS interactions grew 1,298.8% year over year in the first half of 2026 (Infobip, July 2026).

This report compiles the most credible published figures on RCS users and reach, the Apple inflection, business-messaging traffic and revenue, market size and growth, the geographic landscape, engagement performance, and the standards/ecosystem picture, each attributed and dated.

Key findings

• Users: RCS is projected to reach roughly 3.8 billion active users by the end of 2026, up from about 1.1 billion in 2024, close to 40% of global mobile subscribers (Juniper Research).
• US scale: Google reported more than 1 billion RCS messages sent per day in the US as of May 2025 (Google, May 2025); RCS reaches over 80% of smartphone users in markets like the US and France.
• 2026 US surge: US RCS interactions grew 1,298.8% year over year in the first half of 2026 (Infobip, July 2026). One provider, Infobip, delivered more than 1.5 billion US RCS messages in 2026 to date. Global RCS-for-Business traffic rose 169.3% year over year over the same period.
• The Apple effect: Apple's 2024 RCS support reportedly drove roughly a 500% surge in global RCS traffic that year and is widely credited as the adoption inflection point.
• Business traffic: RCS business-messaging volume reached about 50 billion messages globally in 2025, up from roughly 33 billion in 2024.
• Market: Estimates place the global RCS market around $9-$10 billion in 2026, with projections ranging from roughly $19 billion by 2028 to $28-$35 billion by 2035 depending on the report; CAGR estimates run from the mid-teens to mid-30s percent.
• Operator revenue: Juniper projects RCS-for-Business mobile-operator revenue rising from about $2 billion in 2026 to $6.5 billion by 2030.
• Brand adoption: over the first half of 2026 one provider processed RCS registration requests for more than 7,300 unique brands and completed roughly 14,000 RCS agent launches (Infobip, July 2026, vendor-reported), a measure of how many businesses are starting on RCS rather than how much existing senders send.
• Engagement: RCS click-through commonly runs 15-30%, well above typical SMS, with high read rates, supported by numerous vendor-reported brand case studies.

1. Users & reach

Adoption figures vary by source and by what is counted (active users vs monthly active users vs RCS-capable devices), so they should always be attributed. The direction is consistent across sources: steep growth, accelerated by Apple's 2024 support.

Takeaway: even where iPhone support is still expanding internationally, Android's ~79% global share means the reachable RCS audience is already very large.

2. The Apple inflection

Apple's entry is the single most important event in RCS adoption. Before it, RCS was effectively Android-only in practice; after it, the standard spans virtually all modern smartphones in markets like the US.

3. Business messaging: traffic & revenue

RCS Business Messaging (RBM) is where the commercial value concentrates. Both traffic and operator revenue are growing rapidly.

The 2026 US inflection (provider data)

Provider data from mid-2026 shows how fast US adoption is compounding. These figures are vendor-reported by Infobip and dated.

• US RCS interactions grew 1,298.8% year over year in the first half of 2026 (Infobip, July 2026).
• Infobip delivered more than 1.5 billion RCS messages in the US in 2026 to date (Infobip, July 2026, vendor-reported).
• Global RCS-for-Business traffic rose 169.3% year over year over the same period (Infobip, July 2026).
• Other fast-growing markets by RCS traffic growth: Spain +290%, the United Kingdom +282%, India +108%, and France +48% (Infobip, July 2026).
• Brand adoption, not just volume: over the same period one provider processed RCS registration requests for more than 7,300 unique brands and completed roughly 14,000 RCS agent launches (Infobip, July 2026, vendor-reported). Traffic growth shows existing senders sending more; agent launches show how many businesses are arriving for the first time.

4. Market size & growth

Market-sizing reports differ widely on scope (consumer plus business, business only, operator revenue vs total spend), so the honest presentation is a range with sources, not a single figure. The consistent finding is double-digit annual growth.

Because of the wide variance, cite a specific number only with its source and date, and prefer the range when summarizing.

5. Geographic landscape

• Consumer RCS: available via Google Messages in most countries, near-worldwide reach for person-to-person RCS.
• Business RCS: a growing subset of countries, carrier- and provider-dependent. As a 2026 reference point, AWS End User Messaging RCS for Business reached 22 countries (the US, Canada, and 20 others across Europe and Latin America plus Singapore).
• Strong markets: the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico, and India.
• Leaders in business adoption: India and the wider Asia-Pacific region report the highest rates of consumers interacting with brands via RCS; one study put India's brand-RCS interaction notably ahead of other markets (MEF, 2024-25).

6. Engagement performance

RCS consistently outperforms SMS on engagement, with click-through commonly cited at 15-30% and high read rates. Brand results below are vendor- or provider-reported case studies, strong directional evidence, but not independently audited, and labeled as such.

7. Standards & ecosystem

• Standard: RCS is a GSMA Universal Profile standard. UP 3.0 (March 2025) added end-to-end encryption via MLS; UP 4.0 (finalized March 2026) adds Messaging-Initiated Video Calls, rich-text formatting, and streaming video in rich cards, with device/carrier rollout pending.
• Backend: Google's Jibe platform powers RCS for most carriers, and Google Messages is the primary Android client.
• US consolidation: carriers have standardized Android RCS on Google Messages, Verizon ended Samsung Messages RCS (Jan 2025), AT&T retires Advanced Messaging RCS (July 2026), and Samsung discontinues its Messages app (July 2026).
• Encryption nuance: personal RCS is end-to-end encrypted; business RCS is encrypted in transit but platform-processed, an important distinction for compliance content.

8. Outlook

The trajectory points to RCS becoming the default for business messaging in supported markets, with SMS as universal fallback. Expected developments: wider end-to-end encryption, rollout of Universal Profile 4.0 features (video, rich text), deeper convergence with AI agents and conversational commerce, and continued double-digit market growth. These are forward-looking projections grounded in current trajectory; rollout timing depends on carriers and device makers.

Methodology & sources

This report synthesizes published third-party data. It does not present first-party SimplyRCS data; figures are attributed to their originating sources and dated. Where sources conflict, ranges are shown. Vendor-reported brand results are labeled as such and are not independently audited.

Primary sources referenced

• Juniper Research, RCS user projections (~1.1B 2024 → ~3.8B end 2026); business traffic (33B 2024); RCS-for-Business operator revenue ($2B 2026 → $6.5B 2030).
• Google, >1 billion US RCS messages/day (May 2025); Jibe platform; Google Messages.
• Apple, RCS on iPhone since iOS 18.1 (2024); iOS 26.5 default cross-platform E2EE (May 2026).
• Infobip (Business Wire, July 28 2026), global RCS-for-Business traffic +169.3%, US interactions +1,298.8% year over year, 1.5B+ US messages in 2026 to date (vendor-reported).
• GSMA, Universal Profile 3.0 (E2EE/MLS, March 2025) and 4.0 (March 2026).
• Sinch / industry reporting, Android ~79% of global smartphones; >80% smartphone reach US/France; ~50B business messages 2025; ~500% 2024 traffic surge.
• MEF (Mobile Ecosystem Forum), country-level RCS business-interaction growth; India/APAC leadership.
• AWS, End User Messaging RCS for Business reached 22 countries (May 2026).
• Market reports (various), RCS market size ~$9-$10B (2026) to ~$28-$35B (2035); CAGR ~15-35%.
• Vendor case studies, Infobip, 8x8, Sinch, Webex, Master of Code, Vibes, and others (brand results, vendor-reported).