MaaP, Messaging as a Platform, is the GSMA's name for the business layer of RCS: the platform that lets a brand run a chatbot or interactive service inside the phone's native messaging app, with rich cards, carousels, suggested replies and tappable actions, rather than through a separate app. Google's RCS Business Messaging is the MaaP implementation most US carriers use.
What the platform does
A MaaP platform sits between the business and the carrier's RCS network. It hosts the agent, holds the verified identity, exposes an API for sending rich messages and receiving replies, handles capability checks and fallback, and reports delivery and read events back. Without it, RCS would only be a richer way for two people to text; with it, the inbox becomes a place a business can sell, support and confirm.
MaaP, RBM and Jibe: three names for one layer
The terms overlap because the standard, Google's product and Google's infrastructure each have their own name.
| Name | What it is | Who uses the word |
|---|---|---|
| MaaP | The GSMA's specification for business messaging on RCS, part of the Universal Profile | Standards documents, carriers, European providers |
| RBM | RCS Business Messaging, Google's hosted MaaP product: the agent console, the API and the verification process | Google, US providers, most how-to guides |
| Jibe | The Google infrastructure that carries RCS for carriers that do not run their own, and that RBM runs on | Carrier announcements, Google documentation |
In the US the three resolve to the same thing in practice, because the major carriers route business RCS through Google. What is the Google Jibe platform covers the infrastructure side and RBM the product side.
Where MaaP sits in the chain
- The brand writes the message or builds the bot flow and owns the consent record.
- The provider (SimplyRCS, Twilio, Sinch and so on) connects to the MaaP platform, files the agent for verification and exposes its own API or app to the brand.
- The MaaP platform hosts the verified agent, renders the rich message into the carrier's RCS format, checks whether the handset can take it, and records the delivery and read events.
- The carrier network carries the message to the phone, or hands it to SMS when the phone cannot receive RCS.
- The handset's messaging app shows the brand name, logo and checkmark, the card or carousel, and the buttons the user can tap.
Steps 2 and 3 are why a business never talks to MaaP directly: the provider is the connected party, and the agent lives on the platform under the provider's relationship with it. How does RCS routing work follows a single message through the same chain.
What a MaaP platform exposes
- A verified agent: the display name, logo, colour and description reviewed before the first send, which is what makes the message look like it came from the brand rather than a number.
- A messaging API for text, rich cards, carousels, suggested replies and suggested actions such as dial, open URL, share location and add to calendar.
- A capability check, so the sender knows before sending whether a number can receive RCS at all.
- Fallback handling, so a message to a phone without RCS still arrives as SMS or MMS rather than disappearing.
- Delivery and read events per message, plus the replies and button taps that drive a bot.
- Session handling for two-way conversations, which is what a chatbot is built on.
Common confusions
MaaP is not an app the customer installs; the whole point is that it runs inside the default messaging app. It is not the same as an A2P SMS gateway, although the same provider usually offers both and the SMS side carries the fallback. And it is not a carrier product you buy directly: in the US a business reaches it through a provider, which is why choosing an RCS provider is the practical decision and MaaP is the thing underneath it.
In practice
A brand does not build on MaaP directly. It works through a provider that is connected to the platform, files the agent for verification, and sends through that provider's API or app. On SimplyRCS the agent filing, the capability check and the SMS fallback are all handled on the platform side, so the MaaP layer is something you benefit from rather than something you configure.