Getting RCS approved
RCS puts your name, logo and colours at the top of your customer’s messages app, verified as genuinely you. Before that can happen, the UK mobile networks have to confirm your brand is who it says it is.
2mee files the application and handles the technical setup. Four of the steps need you, and two of those have deadlines you can miss. This page covers what we’ll ask for and what will land in your inbox.
Request RCS from Settings → RCS. Everything below starts once you have.
What we’ll ask you for
Section titled “What we’ll ask you for”Your company
These are checked against public records, so they have to match exactly. An abbreviated name or an out-of-date address is enough to have the application rejected.
- Registered company name, exactly as Companies House has it
- Company registration number
- Registered office address
- Your industry
Your brand
- The name customers should see on the message
- Logo and a wide banner image
- Your brand colour
- Links to your privacy policy and terms, both publicly reachable
Your customers
The networks want proof your customers agreed to hear from you, and they check it themselves during the review. You need a page on your own website that anyone can open without logging in, showing all of:
- Your brand name, the same one you’re registering
- How to get help: “Reply HELP for assistance”
- How to stop: “Reply STOP to unsubscribe”
- How often you’ll message them, for example “up to 4 messages a month”
- “Message and data rates may apply”
- A link to your terms, and a link to your privacy policy
Send us the link to that page. A sign-up form hosted on someone else’s platform will not pass, and neither will anything behind a login.
Your people
- One named contact, with job title and a monitored email address
- Someone able to authorise use of your name and logo
We make the rest ourselves and send it over for you to approve: the screenshot of that page, the example messages, and the welcome, HELP and STOP replies.
The seven steps
Section titled “The seven steps”- You send us your details. The list above.
- We build your sender and test it. Your messages go to handsets we’ve registered for testing. Nothing reaches your customers at this stage.
- You see it on a real phone and sign off. We record a short video of your messages as a customer will receive them, and that video goes into the application. Change your mind about wording or artwork before this point. Afterwards, changes mean applying again.
- We submit the application. We’ll send you two things you need for step 5: your sender name and your sender ID.
- You email Three and Vodafone. See below. This has to come from you.
- You reply to two verification emails. See below. Both expire.
- You go live, network by network. Automatic.
Expect two to three months from step 4, sometimes longer. The networks set that pace and we can’t shorten it.
Your email to Three and Vodafone
Section titled “Your email to Three and Vodafone”These two networks need your permission in writing before they’ll carry your brand, and it has to come from you: we can’t send it on your behalf.
Send it once we’ve given you your sender name and ID at step 4. Attach your logo and banner image.
To: dan.cottle@three.co.uk and wholesaleorders@vodafone.com
Cc: aws-end-user-messaging-rcs-approvals@amazon.com
Subject: [Sender name] RBM Brand approval
Approval for Agent: [Sender ID]
I at [Your company name] confirm that I am authorized to use thefollowing name: [Sender name], logo and images, as shown in theattached image file(s) for the RBM agent.
I hereby confirm that I give permission to Amazon Web Services toregister this RBM agent and use the logo for the purpose of sendingRBM messages to users of Three and Vodafone Network(s) on our behalf.
[Your full name][Your job title][Your company name]Replace only the bracketed parts. We’ll send you the sender name and ID, so there’s nothing to look up. It must be signed by someone authorised to licence your brand.
Two emails you need to watch for
Section titled “Two emails you need to watch for”The other networks use outside firms to verify brands. Both email your named contact directly, without warning, and both expire.
Allow these two senders through your spam filter before step 4. If either lands in junk the deadline passes, and the check has to be bought and run again.
| Network | Verified by | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| EE and BT | Brand Assure | 30 days |
| O2 | Aegis | 7 days for the PIN, 45 for the whole check |
Brand Assure emails from uksupport@brandassure.com with instructions for confirming
your brand identity. Reply to complete it. If the 30 days lapse, the check has to be bought
and run again.
Aegis emails from certify@aegismobile.com with a security PIN you’ll need to enter. If
the PIN expires you can request a fresh one, but not once the 45 days are up.
Going live
Section titled “Going live”Each network reviews you separately, so you won’t switch on all at once.
| Stage | What your customers get |
|---|---|
| Waiting | Plain text messages, as today |
| Partly live | Customers on approved networks see your full branded messages |
| Fully live | Every UK network carries your brand |
As soon as the first network approves you, your branded messages start going to their customers. Everyone else keeps receiving your messages as ordinary texts until their network catches up, so nobody misses a message either way.
Choosing your use case
Section titled “Choosing your use case”What you tell the networks you’ll use RCS for is binding.
Register for service messages (deliveries, appointments, account alerts) and you can’t later send offers or promotions through the same brand without applying again. Register for promotions and the reverse applies: no one-time passcodes or urgent service alerts.
If you’ll want both, say so at step 1 and we’ll register it that way from the start. It’s far cheaper than a second approval.