GoHighLevel RCS Messaging: What It Is and How to Set It Up

Short answer: GoHighLevel now has RCS messaging in Labs (Official, changelog dated October 28, 2026). RCS lets you send branded texts that show your business name and logo, with rich cards, carousels, tappable buttons and suggested replies. To try it, an agency admin turns on RCS Messaging under Agency Settings, Labs, and then each sub-account registers a sender under Settings, Phone System, RCS Messaging. Carriers and the provider must approve the sender before it can go live. HighLevel has not announced per-message pricing or SMS fallback behavior yet.

What RCS messaging is in GoHighLevel

RCS stands for Rich Communication Services. Think of it as a richer version of a text message that shows up in the customer's normal messaging app. A plain SMS is just text from a phone number. An RCS message can carry your brand and interactive pieces that the customer can tap.

According to HighLevel's changelog entry (Official), once your sender is approved you can:

• Show your business name and logo in the conversation, so customers see who is texting them.
• Send rich cards and carousels with images and offers.
• Add tappable buttons for actions such as booking, calling or visiting a page.
• Offer suggested replies so customers can answer with one tap.
• Use RCS in one to one conversations, bulk messaging, workflows and reusable RCS templates.

That last point matters most for service businesses. If RCS works inside workflows, the same reminder, follow-up and review request sequences you already run can become branded messages instead of plain texts, once your sender is live.

Status and cost: what is announced and what is not

• Status: Labs. That means it is an early feature you switch on yourself, and it can change.
• Approval: required. HighLevel says sender registration needs carrier and provider approval before live messaging can begin. When the sender is approved, its status changes to Live.
• Countries, carriers and devices: availability depends on them. The changelog does not publish a list.
• Price per message: not announced yet.
• What happens if a phone cannot receive RCS: not announced yet. Do not assume an automatic SMS fallback until HighLevel documents one.

Because pricing and fallback are unknown, treat RCS as a test channel for now, not a replacement for SMS in critical messages like appointment reminders.

How to set up RCS messaging, step by step

These steps follow the official changelog entry.

1. Turn it on in Labs. In Agency Settings, open Labs, search for RCS Messaging and switch it on.
2. Open the sub-account. Go to Settings, Phone System, RCS Messaging to start onboarding. You can enable as many sub-accounts as you like, one at a time.
3. Brand identity. Enter the business name, logo, description, contact details and website, then preview how the brand will look to customers.
4. Countries. Choose the countries where you will send RCS.
5. Sender details. Describe how you will use RCS, what messages you will send and how customers consent to receive them.
6. US verification, if you send in the US. Provide the extra business and messaging details HighLevel asks for.
7. Review and submit. Progress saves automatically, so you can come back later. After submitting, track approval status inside HighLevel.
8. Test before going live. Add test devices so you can see real RCS messages before the sender is approved for customers.

How to describe consent so approval goes smoothly

The sender details step asks how customers agree to receive your messages. Write it the way you would for A2P 10DLC texting: name the form or checkout where people opt in, quote the consent language, and list the message types (reminders, confirmations, offers). If your forms do not collect clear consent today, fix that first. Our guide on the GoHighLevel SMS opt-in checkbox shows what a consented form needs, and the same proof helps here.

Keep the brand details identical to your website and Google Business Profile: same business name, same logo, same phone and URL. Mismatched details are a common reason messaging registrations get questions or rejections.

Who should try RCS now

• Businesses with visual offers: med spas, salons, home services with seasonal promotions, and retail, where a carousel with photos and a Book button can beat a plain link.
• Teams that already have clean SMS: if your texts already deliver and your opt-in is solid, RCS is a reasonable next test. If texts are failing, fix that first with our checklist on why GoHighLevel texts are not sending.
• Agencies: RCS onboarding happens per sub-account, so plan who gathers brand assets and consent details for each client.

Who should wait: anyone who depends on texts for time-sensitive messages and cannot afford a channel with unknown pricing and unknown fallback. Keep those on SMS until HighLevel publishes the details.

What to do now

1. Turn on RCS in Labs for one test sub-account, not every client.
2. Gather the brand assets and consent wording before you start the form.
3. Submit, add test devices and look at how cards and buttons render.
4. Build one RCS template, for example a promotion with a Book button, and send it to a small, opted-in segment.
5. Compare replies and bookings with your usual SMS before you move more sequences over.

If you want help getting your messaging foundation right first, our GoHighLevel account audit checks your phone setup, consent and workflows, and the speed to lead sprint builds the follow-up that RCS can later make richer. You can also book a free discovery call.

See every other release from HighLevel's conference in our LevelUp 2026 announcements hub, which we keep updated as details are confirmed.

Yaakov (Koby) Oranski, Founder and CEO of Yotomations

Certified GoHighLevel Admin and Partner. Koby designs CRM migrations, two-way integrations, billing systems and AI agents for service businesses, and writes from the engagements described on this site.

Published 2026-10-29