Texting basics: RCS, SMS and iMessage

Changes to text messaging are ramping up lately, and we're here to explain. 

The basic text messaging format, around since the days of the flip phone, is SMS (if it includes a photo or video, it's called MMS). Virtually any phone connected to a cellular carrier can send texts via SMS, and low-quality (sometimes blurry) photos & videos can be sent via MMS. 

Because of the limitations of SMS/MMS, several years ago Apple created iMessage (iPhone users, you know you are sending iMessages when the messages are colored blue).

In the years since, a competing format used by Android smartphone users was created called RCS.

Both RCS and iMessage have benefits including indication of whether the message was received by the recipient, whether the other person is currently typing, and the ability to send/receive higher-quality (less likely to be blurry) images & videos, along with files such as PDF or Word documents.

RCS used to be an Android-only affair, but iPhones & Androids can now communicate via RCS if the carriers of both phones support it. Yes, it can be a confusing mishmash, but the upshot is that manysmartphone users can now communicate more easefully regardless of whether they are on Android or iPhone.

However, some of our clients have seen reliability issues with sending and receiving SMS messages since the cell phone carriers shifted their focus to RCS. If you have any problems sending or receiving SMS or RCS messages, the first troubleshooting step is to contact your cellular carrier.