RCS read receipts: What they are and how they work

RCS has transformed messaging in 2025, but there’s still one question everyone keeps asking: Did they read it?

Between Android updates, iPhone compatibility, and mixed app support, read receipts in RCS can feel more confusing than helpful.

Why are they showing for some messages and not others? Can brands use them to improve engagement tracking? And what’s actually visible when your campaign goes live?

Most importantly: how can you use RCS read receipts to drive smarter messaging without guessing who saw what?

This guide is built for Android users, digital marketers, and CX leaders who want clear answers.

What are RCS read receipts?

RCS read receipts show whether a message was simply delivered to a user’s device, or actually opened and read. But understanding what these receipts really mean, and how they work across different apps and platforms, is key to getting the most out of modern messaging.

Read vs. delivered: What’s the difference?

Many users (and even marketers) confuse “delivered” with “read”, but these are very different events in the RCS messaging flow:

• Delivered: The message has reached the recipient’s device and was successfully handed off by the carrier or platform (e.g., Google Messages or Apple Messages with RCS enabled).
• Read: The recipient has opened the message, indicating they’ve likely seen its contents. This is a crucial signal for timing follow-ups, optimizing CTAs, or triggering next steps.

Why this matters for users and businesses

For everyday users, knowing if someone has read your message can reduce confusion and eliminate guesswork in group chats or important conversations.

For brands and CX teams, this distinction powers advanced engagement tracking. It helps answer questions like:

• Who is actually interacting with your content?
• Which messages are being seen vs. ignored?
• When is the best time to follow up?

This visibility allows for smarter automation, better timing, and more personalized communication flows, especially when powered by platforms like Infobip that support message status-based triggers in tools like Moments.

What do RCS read receipts look like in Google Messages?

Google Messages is the default RCS app on most Android devices, including Pixel and Android One phones, and it offers the most complete implementation of read receipts today.

Here’s what message status icons typically look like:

• Single checkmark (✓) – Sent: Message was sent from your device
• Double checkmark (✓✓) – Delivered: Message reached the recipient’s device
• Filled double checkmark (✓✓) – Read: The message has been opened by the recipient

These visual indicators appear beneath the message bubble and update in real-time as status changes. In group chats, you’ll see per-person read indicators when supported, helping users know who has seen the latest messages.

How to enable or disable RCS read receipts

Whether you’re managing personal conversations or testing cross-device compatibility, knowing how to turn RCS read receipts on or off is key to customizing your experience.

It’s important to remember: read receipts only work when both parties have RCS chat features enabled and are using supported apps and carriers. If these conditions aren’t met, your messages may fall back to SMS or MMS, and delivery/read feedback will be unavailable.

In Google Messages

Google Messages is the most widely supported RCS messaging app and offers a straightforward way to manage read receipts.

Here’s how to enable or disable them:

1. Open Google Messages on your Android device
2. Tap the profile icon or three-dot menu in the top right
3. Select Messages settings
4. Tap RCS chats (or Chat features, depending on the device)
5. Toggle the Send read receipts switch on or off (When enabled, others will see when you’ve read their message, and you’ll see when they’ve read yours)
6. (Optional) You can also toggle “Show typing indicators” in the same menu

For read receipts to function, both the sender and recipient must:

• Have RCS enabled
• Use a compatible app (like Google Messages)
• Be connected to a mobile data or Wi-Fi network
• Have carriers that support RCS interoperability

If any one of these elements is missing, the message may send as an SMS/MMS—and read receipts will not be available.

In iOS Messages

With the release of iOS 18, Apple has introduced RCS support in Messages, bringing richer messaging features, including read receipts, to conversations between iPhone and Android users.

However, RCS compatibility may vary by region, carrier, and iPhone model, especially during early rollout phases.

Not seeing the option? Some carriers may delay support or hide the setting until service is provisioned. In these cases, cross-platform messages will still fall back to SMS or MMS.

Why this matters for marketers and CX leaders

With Apple now supporting RCS, the potential reach of RCS-enabled messaging just expanded significantly.

For marketers and digital teams, this means:

• Broader audience coverage with consistent read/delivery tracking
• Improved engagement metrics from cross-platform campaigns
• More reliable triggers for follow-ups, retargeting, or channel fallback
• The ability to craft richer customer experiences, without relying solely on third-party apps

While group chat and RCS A2P messaging remain separate domains (group threads are still unsupported for business use), Apple’s adoption of RCS makes 1:1 conversational messaging more powerful and insightful than ever.

RCS vs SMS vs iMessage vs WhatsApp: quick receipt comparison

When it comes to read receipts, not all messaging platforms are created equal. Some offer full visibility into when your message is seen, while others are limited to basic delivery status or no tracking at all.

Below is a quick comparison of how each platform handles read receipts:

Why read receipts matter for business messaging

In business messaging, every moment counts. Whether you’re sending a time-sensitive offer or guiding users through onboarding, knowing who has seen your message and who hasn’t can transform your strategy.

RCS read receipts give brands visibility that SMS and many legacy systems simply can’t. When paired with a communications platform like Infobip, this visibility becomes actionable: it powers automation, personalization, and smarter message delivery.

Improve engagement tracking

Read receipts allow you to track message performance beyond delivery. Instead of guessing whether a user saw your message, you can:

• Identify exactly when a customer opened a campaign or notification
• Measure engagement trends by time of day, geography, or device
• Fine-tune send times and CTAs based on what’s actually being read

This level of insight helps optimize messaging for real results, whether the goal is conversion, retention, or education.

Personalize follow-ups

With read status data, you can move from generic campaigns to responsive, behavior-based journeys.

This type of contextual follow-up improves relevance and increases response rates. Infobip’s platform makes it easy to build these journeys across RCS, SMS, WhatsApp, and more.

Enable smarter automation with Infobip

Infobip’s customer engagement solution lets you build powerful automation flows using read receipts as a trigger or decision point.

• Trigger next messages only when the previous one is read
• Delay offers or reminders until a user engages with initial content
• Fallback to SMS or WhatsApp automatically if a message remains unread

These flows help ensure you’re not over-messaging disengaged users, or missing out on high-intent opportunities. And with Infobip’s real-time analytics, you can continuously improve your strategy based on what your audience actually sees.

How Infobip enables RCS read receipts at scale

RCS read receipts offer more than just a “seen” notifications; they represent a powerful data point that can drive personalization, automation, and business outcomes. But to unlock their full potential, brands need the right infrastructure and partner to deliver and track them reliably across networks, devices, and use cases.

That’s where Infobip comes in.

With a global platform built for compliance, performance, and scalability, Infobip enables businesses to send verified RCS messages with full visibility into delivery and read status, all while maintaining fallback options and automation at scale.

This foundation ensures your messages not only reach the right users, but also return trusted delivery and read receipts, critical for regulated industries, enterprise campaigns, and high-value customer interactions.

RCS read receipts: FAQs