Rich Communication Services (RCS) and messaging automation experiences platform, nativeMsg, has announced the release of their patent pending RCS Fallback technology. The technology enables any smartphone user to have a RCS style experience on unsupported mobile networks, operating systems and devices.

To date, RCS is only available on a limited number of Android devices and mobile network operators. With the nativeMsg RCS Fallback experience, brands and businesses can deploy RCS style experiences on any smartphone including Apple iOS devices.

RCS, sometimes referred to as SMS 2.0, is the next generation of messaging being deployed by the mobile network operators. RCS allows for two-way conversations utilizing a rich media experience including actions, buttons, quick replies, carousels and rich content. The protocol turns the native messaging client on your mobile device into a host of many applications and the next development frontier.

“The biggest apprehension for brands deploying RCS has been the number of supported handsets. With this new technology, this obstacle is eliminated and brands can now deploy RCS style experiences for unsupported handsets.” said Brian Stafford, CEO of nativeMsg.

“RCS is a great technology and is the future of business-to-consumer messaging, but the gap of unsupported devices is currently too wide. We can close this gap and allow consumers to have a valuable brand experience on any device they are using.”

The rollout of RCS is quite complex requiring the network operator to enable services on their network and upgrading mobile devices to support the RCS specification in a native SMS messaging client. The industry has made great strides, but it will take time for an acceptable adoption rate. Apple has not officially announced support of pure RCS on iOS devices.

“After seeing it live on supported mobile devices, brands are eager to deploy and deliver RCS experiences.” said Michael Lamb, President of nativeMsg. “We can help them launch RCS style experiences today across all smartphone devices and mobile networks. As RCS expands globally, brands can feel confident that they will be able to transition from RCS Fallback to full RCS messaging seamlessly.”

The lack of support on Apple iOS has been a big deterrent for brands in the U.S. According to StatCounter, iOS has a 54 percent penetration rate in the United States as of May 2019. A true RCS experience on all devices is the holy grail of messaging, but bringing support today to all smartphone devices will accelerate consumer adoption and awareness.