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Communications RCS

RCS and Rich Messaging Templates Must Go Through Approval Before Production Use

8 min read

RCS rich card and carousel templates must be registered with carriers, go through approval, and be versioned so production is never blocked by unapproved changes.

Rule

Message templates must be registered, versioned, and approved before use in production sends.

Why

Using unapproved templates causes message rejection at the carrier level with no user-facing explanation.

Must

  • Track each template with a version number and approval status.
  • Never send using a template in pending or rejected status.
  • Test templates in a sandbox environment before submitting for approval.
  • Maintain a fallback SMS template for every RCS template.

Should

  • Automate approval status polling and alert on rejection with reason.
  • Lock approved template content and require re-approval on content changes.

Anti-patterns

  • Editing an approved live template without re-approval.
  • No SMS fallback when RCS template is unavailable.

Test Cases

  • Send attempt with pending template is blocked and logged.
  • Fallback SMS fires when RCS template is unavailable.

Telemetry

  • template_submitted_for_approval
  • template_approved
  • template_rejected (with reason)
  • send_blocked_template_not_approved