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RCS for local businesses
Last updated: November 11, 2026
The short answer. RCS is the upgrade to text messaging that's built into the messaging app on Android phones and iPhones. A business on RCS shows up with its verified name and logo, and can answer with cards and buttons where a text has only words. Getting on it takes a verified sender and carrier approval, which is the part About.chat does for a local business.
What RCS is
RCS stands for Rich Communication Services. It's the successor to SMS and MMS, run by the mobile carriers and built into Google Messages on Android and Messages on iPhone. Between two people it adds things like typing indicators and better photos. Between a person and a business it does more, and that part is called RCS for Business (you'll also see it called RCS Business Messaging, or RBM).
In the United States, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all carry RCS for Business. iPhones support it from iOS 18.1.
What your customer sees
- Your name and logo, verified. The conversation is from “Copper Kettle Bistro”, with a verified mark, and not from a number they don't recognize.
- Buttons for the next step. Call us, Get directions, See the menu. One tap each.
- Cards. A photo, a title and a line of text, alone or in a row to swipe through: tonight's special, a service and its price, where to park.
- Their own messaging app. There's nothing to download and no account to make.
RCS, text messages and Apple Messages for Business
| Text message (SMS) | RCS for Business | Apple Messages for Business | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it's from | A phone number | Your business name and logo, verified | Your business name and logo, verified |
| What it can carry | Words, and photos by MMS | Words, photos, cards and buttons | Words, photos, lists and buttons |
| Which phones | Every mobile phone | Android phones, and iPhones on iOS 18.1 or later, on carriers that support it | Apple devices only |
| Customer's app | The built-in messaging app | The built-in messaging app | Messages, on Apple devices |
| Getting set up | A registered business number | A sender from a messaging provider, brand verification, and carrier approval | Registration with Apple, through an Apple-approved messaging provider |
How customers start a conversation
With About.chat, the customer always messages first. There are three ways in.
- Your Google listing. Google lets businesses on RCS add a Message button to their listings on Search and Maps, beside Call and Directions, where it offers it. More on that in messaging on your Google listing.
- A link. On your website, your social profiles and your email signature. It opens the conversation in the customer's messaging app.
- A QR code. On the door, the counter, the menu and receipts, for the question that comes up while they wait or after they've left.
What it takes to get on RCS
- A sender. The industry calls it an RCS agent: your name, logo, colors, phone number and policy links, set up through a messaging provider.
- Brand verification. Someone has to confirm the sender really is your business. That takes your legal business name, your tax ID, and a person at the business who answers a confirmation email.
- Carrier approval. Each mobile carrier approves a sender before its customers can message it. This is the slow part, and it's measured in days or weeks, not minutes.
- Something to answer. A verified sender with nobody behind it is worse than no sender. A customer who asks “are you open?” wants the answer now.
For a national brand, a messaging provider and an agency do this work. For one restaurant or one salon there has been nobody to do it, which is why you've seen RCS from airlines and banks and not from the shop down the street.
What About.chat does
About.chat is RCS for the shop down the street. Give us your website, and we build an AI assistant that knows your hours, menu, services, prices, directions and policies. You check what it learned and message it from your own phone. When you're happy, we take it through brand verification and carrier approval, and give you the link and QR code.
- It answers from your information only, and works out open or closed from your real hours.
- When it isn't sure, it says so and offers your phone number.
- Connect your Google Business Profile, and changes to your hours and holiday hours reach it from there.
- It replies to customers who message first. It doesn't send marketing.
Questions about RCS
Does RCS business messaging work on iPhone?
Yes. iPhones support RCS from iOS 18, and messages with businesses over RCS from iOS 18.1, on carriers that have turned it on. In the US that includes AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. On Android, RCS is built into Google Messages.
Do my customers need to download an app?
No. RCS runs in the messaging app that's already on the phone: Google Messages on Android and Messages on iPhone. Your customer taps Message, or scans a QR code, and the conversation opens there.
How is RCS different from texting my customers?
A text comes from a phone number and carries plain words. An RCS conversation comes from your business, with your verified name and logo at the top, and it can carry cards, photos and buttons, such as Call us or Get directions.
Is RCS the same as Apple Messages for Business?
No. Apple Messages for Business is Apple's own service. It works only on Apple devices, and a business sets it up through a messaging provider that Apple has approved. RCS is a carrier standard that reaches both Android phones and iPhones.
What does a small business need to get on RCS?
A sender, which the industry calls an RCS agent, set up through a messaging provider; brand verification, which confirms the sender really is your business; and approval from the mobile carriers. About.chat does all three for you.
What does RCS cost a small business?
With About.chat it's free during our pilot, with no contract. We'll tell you before that changes.
Can I send promotions over RCS?
RCS can carry marketing, but an About.chat assistant doesn't send any. It replies to customers who message your business first.
For carriers, messaging providers and platforms
About.chat's use of RCS is narrow on purpose. Each business gets its own verified sender. Every conversation is started by the customer, from the business's listing, link or QR code, and the assistant replies only inside that conversation. Answers come from the business's own published facts, and anything outside them is handed to the business's phone number. If you're working on RCS for local business and want to compare notes, write to hello@about.chat.
Sources
- Google, RCS for Business: Capture more customers with user-initiated conversations (April 13, 2026), on Message buttons for Search and Maps listings.
- Google for Developers: Brand verification for RCS for Business.
- Apple: Messages for Business documentation.
Next: messaging on your Google listing, or about us.