A compliant RCS program helps your sender application move through approval smoothly and builds trust with your recipients. This article shares U.S.-based guidelines to help you plan your consent flow, disclosures, and messaging.
This information is subject to change and does not constitute legal advice. RCS requirements can vary by country and region. Confirm your consent flow and disclosures with your internal compliance or legal team before you submit a sender.
Use the information provided in this article to learn about program-level requirements for RCS compliance. Then, refer to the RCS Registration Reference for the specific details you enter in each destination approval field.
# In this article
# Carrier requirements
U.S. carriers currently treat existing short-code standards as the compliance baseline for RCS onboarding. Formal RCS onboarding requirements are still evolving. Until carriers publish final RCS requirements, use the CTIA Short Code Monitoring Handbook as industry guidance.
Under current carrier guidance, both the sender and the business vertical must meet CTIA requirements for consumer opt-in, a privacy policy, and terms and conditions to qualify for onboarding.
In Iterable, RCS messages use an opt-in subscription policy, which you specify when you set up message types, before you send messages. See Setting up RCS.
# Call to action and opt-in
A call to action (CTA) is a clickable button or suggested reply that prompts the user to take a next step. Use clear, specific language so the recipient understands the exact type of messages they agree to receive and ensure that consent is optional: it can't be a condition of purchase or forced through an application process.
Users must opt in with an affirmative action, such as submitting a web form, keyword, QR code, or deep link. Don't treat browsing, adding an item to a cart, or similar behavior as consent. Click-to-chat is not a valid opt-in method. Describe your method in the destination approval form.
Use a separate RCS checkbox if the form also collects an email address, and a separate checkbox for marketing if the program also includes transactional messages. Ensure that each opt-in enrolls a user in only one program and one brand. If one sender covers more than one use case, identify every use case in the call to action. Don't hide opt-in details in terms and conditions for a different product or service.
The call to action must include:
- A product or program description
- Message frequency
- Complete terms and conditions, or a clearly labeled link to them
- A privacy policy, or a clearly labeled link to it
- The STOP keyword
- HELP instructions, or those instructions in your terms and conditions
- The disclosure Message and data rates may apply
IMPORTANT
The screenshot or URL you submit for approval must show these elements; don't overlook frequency, HELP, and opt-out instructions. Without these details, your destination may be rejected during the approval process.
Don't use a generic marketing CTA, collect a phone number for one purpose and use it for another, or obtain numbers from a third-party list. Don't share or sell RCS consent, send marketing messages to someone who consented for transactional messages only, or message anyone who has opted out except the opt-out confirmation.
# Impact on existing SMS opt-ins
Name RCS in the consent language. Don't mention SMS alone. For example, I consent to receive text messages (SMS, RCS, MMS). Existing SMS subscribers are covered only when the original language was broad enough to include RCS, such as mobile messaging. If it was limited to SMS, collect a new opt-in that includes RCS. Confirm this with your legal team, and subscribe users to an RCS message type in Iterable before you send.
# Opt-in confirmation, HELP, and STOP
Send a single opt-in confirmation message. Include:
- Program or brand name, or a product description
- Customer-care contact information
- Message frequency
- Message and data rates may apply
- Opt-out instructions, such as Reply STOP to opt out
Iterable does not send these replies automatically for RCS. After the sender is launched, use journeys to send confirmation, HELP, and STOP messages and to update subscriptions. See Sending RCS from a Journey.
For the launch video, send those messages as custom test sends from the sender page. See RCS Registration: Creating a launch video.
HELP replies must include the program name and additional contact information, such as a phone number or email address.
STOP replies must confirm that the user is unsubscribed and will not receive further messages unless they opt in again.
IMPORTANT
Opt-in confirmation and HELP or STOP replies don't count as a transactional use case. If you register a Multi-use sender, include a separate transactional example such as an order update or appointment reminder.
# Terms and conditions and privacy policy
Place complete terms beneath the call to action, or in a clearly labeled link next to it. Terms and conditions must include:
- Program or brand name
- Message frequency
- Product description
- Customer-care contact information
- Opt-out information
- Message and data rates may apply
Your privacy policy must be live, easy to find, and linked from the call to action. It must describe how you collect, use, and share customer information, and it must comply with applicable U.S. privacy laws. Include a statement that you don't sell, rent, or share end-user data, or that you share data only with messaging operators or vendors.
If you send shopping-cart or abandoned-cart notifications, the terms and privacy policy must mention those notifications and explain how you collect the information, such as cookies or cart activity.
IMPORTANT
When you create a sender, the privacy policy and terms URLs must be publicly accessible over HTTPS. Reviewers check the pages, not only the URLs.
# Programs that are prohibited or reviewed case by case
Certain industries and use cases are prohibited from sending SMS and RCS messages. Do not register a U.S. RCS sender for:
- Age-gated content
- Loans
- Political messaging
- Social media promotions
- Sweepstakes or contests
- Multiple brands in a single campaign
Donations or pledges (non-political) and some first-party payment-reminder programs may be reviewed case by case. Approval is not guaranteed. Confirm restricted verticals with your legal counsel before you submit and refer to Restricted SMS Content and Regions for more information.
IMPORTANT
Omit prohibited programs from the sender description, campaign description, and launch video; if you don't, your destination may be rejected during the approval process.
# Observe quiet hours
Promotional sending-time rules can apply to RCS. Confirm the allowed hours for each destination with your legal counsel before you launch.
Iterable Quiet Hours can help you avoid sending during a window you define in each recipient's local time. For RCS, Quiet Hours are off until you enable them. Turn them on for promotional blast, triggered, and journey campaigns if you need to pause or skip nighttime sends. Quiet Hours is a setting in the RCS campaign or journey tile.
Quiet Hours apply the same window every day. They don't pause sends on specific days of the week or holidays, and they don't guarantee compliance with regional regulations.