Native URL support is one of RCS’s simplest yet most powerful features. It enables developers to effortlessly create sophisticated app experiences.
URLs can live discreetly behind buttons or cards, deep-link directly to websites, or trigger webhooks to servers without user interaction. They can also launch RCS chats from websites or link seamlessly between different chats.
With WebView, authenticated web sessions can even be embedded directly within the messaging app.
Compare this to traditional text messaging. URLs appear as raw text. Their usability depends entirely on Android or iOS. Whether you get a helpful preview or just a bare link is determined by your operating system.
Clicking the link usually forces an awkward transition out of the messaging app into your mobile browser. This creates a high-friction, high-stakes handoff. It feels like those cartoon moments when a character runs off a cliff, briefly scrambles in midair, and inevitably plunges downward….
