Certified RCS: messaging with verified identity and evidential value

  • For more than three decades, SMS has been the backbone of communication between businesses and their customers: universal coverage, low friction and high open rates. But it carries some inherent weaknesses: a sender ID that anyone can spoof, and messages that travel across the network unencrypted.

  • In Spain, the Ministry of the Interior recorded 489,248 cybercrimes in 2025, of which 430,493 were online scams — 88% of all cybercrime. Smishing, the impersonation of a legitimate brand via SMS, tops that ranking, with losses estimated at €1.5 billion a year.

  • Since the anti-fraud plan came into force in March 2025, operators have blocked more than 5 million fraudulent SMS messages and around 135 million calls. In 2026, the CNMC (Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission) is preparing an official register of business and public-sector senders to verify who is behind each message.

For any business communicating with its customers, the question is no longer how to send more messages, but how to guarantee that the customer trusts the message is genuinely theirs.

What is RCS?

RCS (Rich Communication Services) is the natural successor to SMS. It’s an evolution of the channel, not an app the customer has to download or a third-party platform: it works natively within the messaging app already built into the phone.

It delivers what SMS never could:

  • Rich content. Formatted messages with links, images and visual elements that turn a communication into a brand experience.
  • Read receipts. Beyond delivery confirmation, RCS shows whether the message has actually been opened — a decisive difference for critical communications.
  • Verified identity. The recipient sees the brand name, logo and a verified-sender badge. This tackles smishing at its root.
  • Secure communication. Information travels encrypted.
  • Native experience. Everything happens inside the phone’s own messaging app, with no friction, no downloads and nothing required from the user.
  • Advanced metrics. Delivery and open data can be captured to review business operations.
  • Character count. Up to 2,000 characters of formatted text per message.

Sender verification: the best defence against fraud

With RCS, the sender’s identity is verified by the operators through a business registration process. A brand sending via RCS appears with its name, logo and trust badge, certified by the network. It cannot be impersonated, and the customer knows this before even opening the message. The sector is already applying this to shield its most sensitive communications, starting with transaction alerts and OTP codes — precisely fraud’s favourite target.

Logalty’s differentiator: electronic evidence

As a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) under the eIDAS framework, Logalty acts as a trusted third party by way of interposition. With the Certified RCS service:

  • Electronic evidence is generated for every milestone of the communication.
  • Delivery and read receipts are backed by evidential value.
  • Logalty issues a final transaction certificate confirming the outcome of the message.

This means you don’t just know your communication was delivered and opened — you know it with certified, robust and traceable evidence.

Trust translates into results

When customers trust the channel, the communication stops being a passive notice and becomes an actionable one. The impact is direct:

  • More interaction. With native buttons, links and actions, the customer can act without leaving the chat, driving more conversions and less friction.
  • A better customer experience. Formatted content and high-resolution images turn a message into a brand experience.
  • Greater impact. Verified identity means the message gets read and taken seriously, rather than ignored or mistaken for a fraud attempt.

How does Certified RCS integrate with Logalty’s solutions?

RCS slots into the workflows you already use.

  • Transaction access alerts. Logalty adds RCS as a channel for sending alerts.
  • OTP delivery for signing. RCS becomes a rich, verified option for one-time codes.

Certified RCS also works as a standalone service: a secure communication channel with a verified sender that builds trust with your customers across electronic signature, digital onboarding and notification processes.

RCS use cases by sector

  • Banking and insurance. Transaction alerts, rich OTPs and renewals with read receipts, shielded against impersonation.
  • Healthcare. Appointment reminders or invitations with read confirmation and visual instructions, including map locations.
  • Utilities. Billing, outage or incident communications with clear, verified content.
  • HR. Internal and candidate communications with delivery and read traceability.
  • Logistics and retail. Order tracking with images and buttons, plus incident management.
  • Public administration and collections. Communications where proving delivery and reading matters.

What if the recipient can’t receive RCS?

The message still gets through. If the recipient’s phone doesn’t support RCS, or has no data connection at that moment, the system automatically falls back to SMS, converting and delivering the message that way — effectively working as a Certified SMS. In any case, adoption is expected to keep growing, with close to 3.8 billion RCS users worldwide forecast by 2026.

What’s the difference between SMS and RCS?

Traditional SMS Certified RCS Message
Length 160 characters, plain text Up to 2,000 characters, rich text
Content Text only Images, buttons, links and visual elements
Sender identity Unverified Verified brand: name, logo and badge
Security Vulnerable to smishing and impersonation Verified identity, protected against impersonation
Delivery receipt Limited Yes, with evidential value
Read receipt Not available Yes, with evidential value
Transmission channel GSM network (dependent on coverage) Internet (WiFi/mobile data, also works abroad)
Legal value None Logalty as a QTSP under eIDAS

 

How do I start using Certified RCS?

Sending RCS messages requires a verified sender: a brand identity registered and approved by the operators.

You can already use the service under Logalty’s own account, letting you start communicating via RCS straight away. And when you’re ready to move to your own brand identity, we’ll support you through the entire registration and verification process with the operators. Get in touch with us to find out more.