RCS update standardizes replies, edits, and more for Android and iPhone

The GSMA Association (GSMA) is responsible for maintaining Rich Communication Services (RCS) and the latest update to the standard adds “extended messaging” which should improve interoperability between Android and iPhone.

Universal Profile 2.7 was finalized in June (and released to the public in July) with “support for more engaging messaging experiences.” This includes:

• “Enable replies and reactions (including custom reactions) to sent and received messages”
• “for the sender of the message, to modify, recall and delete the message he has previously sent for himself and the recipient of the message”

Today, the Messages app on iOS and Google Messages on Android translate reactions (Tapbacks on iPhone) in SMS conversations so that the actual emoji appears. Making this feature standard should mean that client apps won’t have to efficiently translate every reaction.

In the specification, reactions refer to an emoji or emoticon. Multiple “from the same sender may be associated with a message,” while you can delete them after the fact.

There is also support for custom reactions, which can be an “existing or generated image.” This can be a Live Sticker, Genmoji, or Photomoji. Behind the scenes:

A custom reaction message is a file transfer message with extended headers

Meanwhile, iOS 18 does not support inline/threaded replies from Android users that indicate which message the sender was referring to. This RCS update should enforce that:

Besides deleting messages, being able to edit what you’ve sent to correct typos is easy.

The ability to recall or cancel a message is described as follows:

An RCS client must provide an option to recall an RCS message shortly after the message is sent.

As part of this standards update, RCS will also “extend spam reporting to person-to-person messaging.”

• “The spam report message allows a customer to report an RCS user as a spammer or as an identifier involved in fraud, sending inappropriate content, or other inappropriate behavior.”
• “Spam report messages are transmitted in a system spam report message (SIP MESSAGE) to the application server. They are targeted to the IMSPAM-REPORTING-URI configuration parameter and should only be sent by RCS clients. The service provider’s application server should process the spam report messages and take unilateral blocking actions.”

THANKS Matthew G.