RCS Capability Check

What is an RCS Capability Check?

An RCS capability check is a real-time lookup that confirms whether a specific phone number can currently receive RCS messages, based on the device, operating system, carrier and data connection.

An RCS capability check is a query the messaging platform runs before sending, asking whether a given number is reachable over RCS at that moment. The answer depends on several things at once: the handset model and OS version, whether the carrier has RCS enabled for that subscriber, whether the user has RCS switched on in settings, and whether the phone has an active data connection. Because any of these can change, capability is not a permanent attribute of a number. A contact that was RCS-capable last month may not be today.

This check is the foundation of cascade routing. Without it, a campaign sent as RCS-only reaches the capable share of the base and silently drops the rest. With it, the platform can send RCS where it will land and route the remainder to SMS within the same send, using a pre-written SMS version of the message.

Example: before a promotional send to 500,000 contacts in Brazil, a retailer runs a capability check, sends RCS to the numbers that pass and routes the rest to SMS automatically.

Related terms

• Cascade Routing
• Message Cascade / Fallback
• RCS Agent
• MSISDN

Related BSG products

• RCS Messaging
• Bulk SMS
• Number Verifier

Further reading

• RCS in Brazil: Carriers, Coverage and What Works for Brands in 2026