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SMS is Surge’s first channel. RCS and WhatsApp are next.

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RCS (Rich Communication Services)

RCS is the successor to SMS. It supports images, carousels, read receipts, typing indicators, and branded sender profiles — without requiring a separate app install. It works over the carrier network like SMS but looks more like a messaging app. Surge’s RCS support will use the same API surface as SMS: the same POST /accounts/{account_id}/messages endpoint, the same contact and conversation model, and the same webhook events. Messages that can’t be delivered as RCS (because the recipient’s device or carrier doesn’t support it) will fall back to SMS automatically. You won’t need to write any fallback logic.

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WhatsApp

WhatsApp support will follow a similar pattern: same API surface, with WhatsApp-specific features (templates, rich media) exposed as additional parameters on the existing message create endpoint.

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What to do now

If you’re building messaging workflows today that you’ll eventually want to extend to RCS or WhatsApp, the patterns to use are:
  • Contacts and conversations: the contact and conversation model will extend to cover all channels. Messages today in a conversation thread will be associated with the right contact when new channels come online.
  • Webhook events: message.received, message.sent, and message.delivered will work identically across channels. Your handler code won’t need to change.
  • Sender identity: RCS uses carrier-managed sender IDs rather than phone numbers, so the underlying sender for an RCS-eligible message won’t be the same phone number you send SMS from. Your application code stays the same — Surge selects the right sender for the channel.
There’s nothing to configure ahead of time. The channel extension will happen at the API layer.

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Staying informed

Subscribe to the changelog at surge.app/changelog (or see Release Notes) for release announcements. Deprecation notices are tracked at Deprecation Notices.