Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a communication protocol between mobile telephone carriers and between phone and carrier, aiming at replacing SMS messages with a text-message system that is richer, provides phonebook polling (for service discovery), and can transmit in-call multimedia. It is part of the broader IP Multimedia Subsystem. Google added support for end-to-end encryption for one-on-one conversations in their own extension.
The Rich Communication Suite industry initiative was formed by a group of industry promoters in 2007. In February 2008 the GSM Association officially became the project ‘home’ of RCS and an RCS steering committee was established by the organization.
| Operator | Country | Launch date | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movistar | Spain | June 2012 | Branded as joyn. |
| MetroPCS | United States | November 2012 | Branded as joyn. |
| KT | South Korea | December 2012 | Branded as joyn. Discontinued in 2016 |
| LG U+ | South Korea | December 2012 | Branded as joyn. Discontinued in 2016 |
| SK Telecom | South Korea | December 2012 | Branded as joyn |
| Deutsche Telekom | Germany | February 2013 | Branded as Message+ |
| Telcel | Mexico | February 2013 | Branded as joyn. |
| Claro | Multiple markets | May 2013 | Branded as joyn |
