October 10, 2025
Airship Adds RCS Messaging to Strengthen Customer Communication
Airship has added Rich Communication Services (RCS) to its platform, giving brands a more secure and interactive way to reach customers through their mobile messaging apps. Messages now display verified brand names, logos, and verification badges, helping customers distinguish authentic communications from scams.
The update comes at a time when text-based fraud caused over $450 million in losses for consumers, mainly through malicious links via SMS. Simultaneously, engagement with standard SMS messages is declining as users grow wary of generic or misleading texts.
Introduced in 2007, RCS addresses these issues by providing richer messaging experiences. Brands can include images, carousels, and actionable buttons that let recipients respond, make purchases, or follow next steps directly from the message. Apple’s RCS support in iOS 18 has expanded access to millions of users worldwide, making the channel widely available.
Richer Messaging Experience
Airship has built RCS directly into its platform, allowing marketers to continue using existing SMS workflows while the system automatically determines if a recipient’s device supports RCS. If it doesn’t, messages fall back to SMS or MMS, ensuring delivery without extra technical work. The platform also allows companies to coordinate RCS with push notifications, email, in-app messaging, and mobile wallets, creating seamless, multi-channel experiences.
RCS provides analytics that were not previously available with SMS. Companies can track when messages are read and see which interactive options recipients engage with. This data helps teams evaluate campaign performance and adjust messaging strategies over time.
Industries across retail, travel, financial services, and loyalty programs can use RCS in different ways. Retailers can announce product launches or send order updates with interactive links. Travel brands can deliver appointment reminders or flight updates with actionable buttons. Financial institutions can send verified transaction alerts or payment reminders. Loyalty programmes can share points balances or welcome kits digitally.
Global usage of RCS has increased fivefold since Apple’s rollout, with more than one billion monthly users. Surveys also show that 75% of consumers prefer RCS over traditional SMS when interacting with brands.
Airship’s RCS launch comes alongside the company’s first appearance in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Marketing Hubs, reflecting the platform’s focus on unified, secure, and interactive messaging for businesses.
