Rich Communication Services

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Rich Communication Services ( RCS ) is a standard for mobile messaging services in the mobile communications industry, developed by the Network 2020 program of the GSMA, the industry association of international mobile communications providers . The development of the standard was mainly driven by mobile network operators, system technology providers, end device manufacturers and industry solution providers. RCS is not a chat app, but an infrastructure-based service.

Up until 2015, RCS services were only offered by a few network operators, in German-speaking countries by Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone . Since the takeover of Jibe Mobile by Google, the spread of RCS has increased worldwide. Google ended its development of messaging services (Allo, Hangouts, Google Talk) based on XMPP and proprietary technology in favor of RCS and offers an implementation of the RCS Universal Profile under the label Chat with Android Messages . This was announced by Google and Samsung, who are contributing their own implementation as Samsung Messages , in September 2018. Even if RCS (and Google's chat initiative) remains a service of the network providers, and has been criticized for the lack of end-to-end encryption, with the increased support of large platform providers it now offers a serious alternative to proprietary messaging services such as WhatsApp and iMessage with similar possibilities.

Among other things, the standard enables short messages, chat, group chat, video to be added and the transmission of location information, language and files. Not all functions that are defined in the standard are offered by every network and every RCS client; only the services that are available to two communication partners are also offered in the client. As with SMS, MMS and telephony, the costs for using RCS depend on the provider. RCS is intended to offer an alternative to mobile instant messenger services such as WhatsApp , Line , Signal (Messenger) , Apple iMessage and Facebook Messenger .

The European networks originally used the common brand name 'joyn', but this was abandoned at an early stage.

Availability and support in Germany

All manufacturers of Android-based smartphones today offer RCS as the functionality of the natively integrated "Messages" or "Messages" application. This also uses SMS (and in some networks also MMS) in cases where RCS is not used by all communication partners. For older Android devices that do not yet support RCS, Google offers the "Messages" app in the Playstore.

Some network operators also offer RCS apps for download under "message +".

The networks of Telekom and Vodafone in Germany are among the RCS pioneers. O2 Germany also (again) offers RCS services for its customers, so that in principle every customer of a mobile communications provider in Germany can use RCS services if the service provider and the smartphone support RCS.

RCS services can be used on the smartphone if an RCS-capable app is installed on the mobile phone (this can also be the native "Messages" or "Messaging" app on the device), the network operator offers RCS services and for the Subscription has activated.

Applications in Germany

All current Android smartphones support RCS natively. With its “Messages” app, Google offers RCS support for current Android smartphones together with “Messages for web” as web access to personal messages.

In the past, RCS was implemented using the mobile phone providers' own apps, which have now largely become superfluous and have been partially discontinued. Telekom supported the RCS standard with the “Telekom Message + (RCS)” app on Android and iOS. Development stopped on January 1, 2019. Vodafone offered the “Vodafone Message +” app for iOS and the “Vodafone Call + & Message +” app for Android. The Apple variant was removed from the Apple Store on April 18, 2018. The Android app is also no longer available in the Google Play Store. O2 offered its “o2 Message + Call” app for iOS and a beta version for Android. For O2 customers of various Drillisch brands, this service was canceled on July 1, 2017.

Development and history

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The development of the original Rich Communication Suite began in 2008 on the initiative of Nokia and has since been promoted by the international branch association of GSM providers ( GSMA ). After 2011, the product was renamed "Rich Communications Suite enhanced", abbreviated to RCS-e, and the brand name "joyn" was introduced. The increased willingness of the GSM mobile phone companies to invest in this new technology is primarily due to the new over-the-top messengers - the network operator service SMS with 160 characters of text is no longer competitive with multimedia -capable services.

In Germany, the introduction of Deutsche Telekom , Vodafone and O2 was originally planned for the end of 2011, but has been postponed several times. The official premiere took place at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2012. After Vodafone launched the service in April 2012, Telekom Deutschland followed suit , offering the service in beta since March 5, 2013 . At the beginning of April 2014, Telekom published new apps for using Joyn, which was later renamed to message +. At O2 , Joyn was originally supposed to be launched in 2013, but an app with corresponding functions did not appear until August 2015 (in beta). E-Plus initially wanted to wait for the development (before the takeover by O2), but in future it should also be possible for E-Plus customers to use the O2 app. Swisscom has announced the start for 2019. As of April 2019, RCS is being offered by 76 telecommunications companies worldwide.

In July 2015, RCS will be expanded to include enriched calling functionality. Enriched calling makes it possible to combine RCS messages in connection with a call, for example to give the called party a reason for the call or to exchange a photo or document during the call.

With the Universal Profile 1.0, full compatibility of all RCS implementations worldwide is to be achieved in 2016. This is particularly important in order to make RCS clients on the various end devices compatible with all networks worldwide. Among other things, the chat protocol OMA-CPM is defined here as a global standard, with a transition phase for the SIP Simple Protocol used in Europe .

Another innovation that will be introduced with Universal Profile 2.0 is 'Messaging as a Platform' (MaaP). MaaP offers companies the option of using RCS as a communication channel with their customers. The Universal Profile 2.0 defines the new functions for the first time in 2017, the first campaigns will be presented for the first time at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2018 by the US network operator Sprint and others. At MWC 2019, MaaP services and demos were presented by various network operators and customers from North America, Europe and Asia.

Since 2017 the GSMA has been running "RCS Business Messaging Labs" on a global level to promote the use of Messaging as a Platform.

To date (as of January 2020) more than 360 million smartphones with RCS are active. The German network operators have so far not published any figures on RCS users, but the native implementation on all Android smartphones is likely to have exceeded the 10 million mark of active RCS smartphones.

technical features

RCS uses existing standards of the 3GPP and Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). The license-free use of the GSM standard and the constant expansion of additional functions make the use of RCS attractive for cellular networks.

A device with RCS capability must first be configured by the cellular network before the RCS services are available. This process runs automatically without any interaction with the user. After configuration, RCS then determines which contacts are available in the contact list for chat communication and which RCS services are available at both endpoints of the communication. For reasons of data protection and security, the contact list is not loaded onto a central service server, but remains on the device.

RCS services (as described in Universal Profile 2.3)

  • Provisioning of the terminal
  • Determination of services and availability of contacts
  • Chat
  • File transfer
  • Group chat
  • Audio messaging
  • Messaging on multiple end devices of a user
  • Use of voice telephony on end devices
  • Use of IP video telephony on end devices
  • Enriched calling
  • Messaging as a platform
  • Security against malware attacks
  • Behavior of the terminal device for the use of IP services if data services have been deactivated by the user
  • User settings for RCS
  • Use of voice telephony and IP video telephony on multiple end devices of a user (without technical specification)

Rich Business Messaging - Messaging as a Platform

The RCS messaging functions should not only be made available to users on smartphones, but also to business customers who want to communicate with their customers. With the RCS Universal Profile 2.0, new functions have been specially developed and standardized for this purpose, which are documented in the GSMA specification RCC.71 in the chapter "Messaging as a Platform" and which have been refined in the subsequent versions of the specification:

Chatbots

  • Chatbot profile
  • Chatbot verification
  • Anonymization of the user in relation to the chatbot
  • Chatbot Directories
  • Deep links
  • Avoiding spam and inappropriate content
  • Rich cards and carousel arrangement
  • Suggested answers and actions / chips

While communication between smartphones today (as of January 2020) is largely bundled in tariffs (= "SMS Flat"), commercial use of network access is chargeable. In addition, an ecosystem has formed:

  • Network operators market network access to SMS and RCS
  • RCS system technology providers who offer RCS production platforms for network operators
  • Aggregators that take over the dispatch to the various networks, carry out campaigns and market them to business customers
  • RCS client developer and device manufacturer with their own clients

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ GSMA: Rich Communications , accessed September 17, 2012
  2. ↑ Jibe, a Google company. Retrieved January 29, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Google's Android Messages: Attack against WhatsApp and Co. through the back door RCS. In: heise.de. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Samsung Messages vs Android Messages: Comparison of Features. In: guidingtech.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Samsung and Google Collaborate on RCS Messaging for Android - Samsung Global Newsroom. In: news.samsung.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Exclusive: Chat is Google's next big fix for Android's messaging mess - The Verge. In: theverge.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Daniel Berger: Google wants to replace SMS with “Chat” and is pausing the development of “Allo”. In: heise.de. April 20, 2018, accessed March 15, 2019 .
  8. ↑ GSMA: Rich Communications Specifications ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 17, 2012  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gsma.com
  9. ↑ GSMA: Rich Communications Commercialization ( Memento of the original dated September 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 17, 2012  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gsma.com
  10. ↑ Messages by Google. Retrieved January 29, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Android Messages app from Google
  12. ↑ Web access to the Android Messages app
  13. ↑ Largely unnoticed: Vodafone and o2 are discontinuing their messengers. In: iphone-ticker.de. April 23, 2018. Retrieved August 26, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Markus Weidner: o2 discontinues Message + Call. May 21, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Ingo Pakalski: Network operators start new mobile phone service. In: golem.de . January 22, 2012, accessed December 21, 2013 .
  16. ↑ Angela Göpfert: The SMS is dead, long live the app! tagesschau.de, February 27, 2012, archived from the original on July 4, 2012 ; Retrieved February 27, 2012 .
  17. ↑ a b Albert Fetsch: The new O2 Message + Call app: Now make calls with your smartphone in the WLAN. In: Telefonica blog. August 11, 2015, accessed August 11, 2015 .
  18. ↑ Markus Weidner: o2 starts with WLAN calling via smartphone app. In: Teltarif.de. August 11, 2015, accessed August 11, 2015 .
  19. ↑ Meike Lorenzen: Telekom postpones official Joyn start. In: Wirtschaftswoche. January 28, 2013, accessed January 5, 2014 .
  20. ↑ Markus Städeli: Whatsapp and Co. are facing serious competition. In: nzzas.nzz.ch . April 13, 2019, accessed April 14, 2019 .
  21. ^ GSMA Enriched Calling. Retrieved January 29, 2020 .
  22. ↑ GSMA RCS Universal Profile. Retrieved January 29, 2020 .
  23. ^ The GSMA announces availability of Universal Profile Version 2.0 for Advanced RCS Messaging. In: Future Networks. July 19, 2017, accessed January 29, 2020 (American English).
  24. ↑ News from Sprint at Mobile World Congress 2018 | Sprint Newsroom. Retrieved January 29, 2020 .
  25. ↑ Demos & Case Studies. In: Future Networks. Retrieved January 29, 2020 (American English).
  26. ↑ RCS Business Messaging Labs & Seminars. In: Future Networks. Retrieved January 29, 2020 (American English).
  27. ↑ RCS. In: Future Networks. Retrieved January 29, 2020 (American English).
  28. ↑ RCS Documentation. In: Future Networks. Retrieved January 29, 2020 (American English).
  29. ↑ RCS Universal Profile 2.3. Retrieved January 29, 2020 .
  30. ^ The RCS Ecosystem. In: Future Networks. Retrieved January 29, 2020 (American English).