RCS Onboarding Guide: Set up, test and launch your agent

RCS is the future of rich business messaging. Bring your brand to life with messages sent from a verified business profile, complete with your name, logo and contact details, so customers recognise your business and connect with confidence.

This guide takes you from setup to launch: create your RCS agent in Kudosity, see your brand in action with test messages on your own phone, and submit it for approval before you start messaging customers. RCS agent approval timelines differ by country and by carrier.

In the left-hand menu, open RCS › RCS agents and click Create agent. A four-step wizard takes you through the agent's details, its public profile, a review, and a first test.

The RCS Agents page with the Create agent button.

Agent details

Agent details: brand name, hosting region, billing category and use case

These four choices are permanent once the agent is created, so review the options carefully.

1. Brand name. Your registered business or trading name. If your account already has a brand, it is filled in and cannot be changed.

2. Hosting region. North America, Europe or Asia Pacific. This is where your agent operates from and stores its data, and it cannot be changed after the agent is created. Choose it by the regulations that apply to you and by proximity to the people you message: Latin America uses North America, Africa uses Europe, Australia uses Asia Pacific. It does not limit which countries or mobile networks you can launch in. The RCS Country Availability Guide lists the region for each country.

3. Billing category. How the agent's messages are charged.

   • - Non-conversational (pay per message). Selected for you, and suits most senders: notifications, promotions, OTPs and the No Code RCS Upgrade.

   • - Conversational (pay per AI session). For AI agents that hold ongoing back-and-forth chats. Available by request: click Request access to contact us.

4. Use case. Choose how this agent will communicate. Carriers check that your messages match the use case.

   • - Multi-use (recommended). Transactional updates and promotional offers from one agent. Suits most businesses.

   • - OTP. One-time passwords and verification codes only.

   • - Transactional. Service messages such as order updates, appointment reminders and account alerts. No promotional content.

   • - Promotional. Marketing messages such as offers, sales and campaigns.

The Compare billing categories dialog.

Click Continue.

Public profile

Define how your brand appears to your customers receiving RCS messages. You can edit these details until the agent is verified for launch.

Public profile, with the live phone preview.

Review

Check the summary. Brand name, hosting region, billing category and use case cannot be changed after this point. The public profile, including the agent name, can be edited until the agent is verified for launch. Use Back to fix anything, tick the confirmation, then click Create agent.

Review: everything the agent will be created with.

The last step of the wizard is a first test. The same Test devices table and Send a test message card are on the agent's Test message tab, so you can come back and test at any time.

The test step: test devices and the Send a test message card.

You need a phone that can receive RCS:

• Android. Any Android phone with RCS switched on in Google Messages.

• iPhone. An iPhone on iOS 18 or later, with RCS turned on in Messages settings, can be a test device in countries where RCS business messaging is enabled for iPhone.

Testing with an Australian mobile number? Use an Android phone for now. RCS business messaging is not yet available on iPhones using Australian mobile networks.

1. Click Add test device. Enter the number in international format, for example +61412345678, and click Add device. You can add up to 5 devices.

2. Under Send a test message, choose an accepted device, select one of the pre-made messages (text, text with a suggested reply, image, rich card or carousel) and click Send to see your brand in action on your phone.

3. Check the phone. The message arrives from your branded profile with your logo, name and description. Until the agent is launched, some operators label it as unverified.

4. Click Go to agent profile to open the agent's page, or Skip testing for now to come back to it later from the Test message tab.

Test thoroughly before you launch. Once you request launch, the profile is locked and carriers review the agent exactly as you submitted it. Fixing a mistake after launch needs Kudosity's help and can mean a fresh verification or even a new agent. Before you launch, check that:

• Test messages arrive on each test device from your branded profile, with the right name, description, logo and banner.

• The logo and banner look right on the phone, not cropped or blurry, and the colour is easy to read.

• The Call, Email and Website buttons work: the number reaches the right line, the email goes to an inbox someone monitors, and the website opens.

• The privacy policy and terms of service links open publicly, without a login.

• The messages you plan to send match the use case you chose.

When everything checks out, open the agent's page. While the agent is Ready for testing, a banner on the Details and Test message tabs lists what to check before launch and has a Request launch button. Save or discard any unsaved profile edits, tick both confirmations, then click Request launch. You will see “Launch request submitted. An admin will follow up with next steps.” Kudosity will then contact you, as you will need to complete some additional forms to verify your business for the RCS agent.

The agent page before launch.

Timing depends on the country. Where Google alone approves and you reply promptly, launch takes two to three days. Where operators run their own checks, allow weeks. Brazil's fastest launch took 17 days; the United States and Canada take longer.