US billing types

In the United States, RCS messages are billed as one of two types:

• Rich messages
• Rich media messages

Message classification depends on whether the content is text-only with basic actions or contains media and advanced suggested actions.

Track US billing with webhooks

For messages in the United States, the trafficType field returns two additional values that map to the US billing types defined above:

Segment counts for rich messages: Rich messages in the US bill in 160-byte segments, and delivery reports and inbound webhooks report how many segments each message used.

US Interactive Session

US Interactive Session is a session-based billing model for conversational RCS agents in the United States. It uses different criteria than global A2P and P2A conversation billing.

MO message qualifications

Only specific person-to-application (P2A) actions count toward the Interactive Session trigger:

• The end user sends a free-text or file reply.
• The end user taps a suggested reply.
• The end user shares their location.

The following actions do not count toward the trigger:

• Clicking an Open URL, Add to calendar, or similar suggested action button.
• Tapping Request location without completing the location share.
• Typing notifications.
• Delivery receipts.
• Seen receipts.
• Read receipts.

An interactive session starts when all of the following criteria are met:

• 4 qualifying messages are exchanged within a 24-hour period
• At least 2 person-to-application (P2A) messages
• At least 1 application-to-person (A2P) message
• Messages can occur in any order

When these criteria are met, a 24-hour free messaging window opens, anchored to the first of those 4 messages. All messages within this window are part of the interactive session and are not charged individually.

Key differences from global billing:

Interactive Session scenarios

Session triggered

The sender and end user exchange 4 qualifying messages within a 24-hour window (2 A2P + 2 P2A). MO 2, the 4th qualifying message, completes the trigger.

The session retroactively anchors to MT 1, the earliest message in the sequence. MT 1 is the charged message, and its cost is recalculated to Interactive Session. MO 2 receives its billing classification in real time.

The remaining 3 messages (MT 1, MO 1, and MT 2) each receive a retroactive Conversation Started event (3 CONVERSATION_STARTED events total). All messages within the 24-hour session window are part of the interactive session and are not charged individually.

Insufficient messages

Fewer than 4 qualifying messages are exchanged within a 24-hour period. The trigger condition is not met, and each message is billed individually as a Rich message or Rich media message.

Only 3 qualifying messages occur within 24 hours. The trigger requires 4, so no session starts.

Window expired

Messages are exchanged, but a gap of more than 24 hours separates early messages from later ones. By the time the 4th message arrives, earlier messages have expired from the rolling 24-hour window. Fewer than 4 qualifying messages remain in scope, so no session starts.

At MO 2, the 24-hour look-back window contains only MO 1, MT 2, and MO 2 (3 qualifying messages). MT 1 has expired, so the trigger is not met.

Non-qualifying actions

Actions such as clicking Open URL or Add to calendar buttons do not count as qualifying messages toward the 4-message session trigger.

Qualifying messages total 3 (2 A2P + 1 P2A). The trigger requires at least 2 P2A messages, so it is not met.

Multiple outbound messages

The sender sends MT 1. The end user responds with MO 1. The sender then sends 4 additional MT messages (MT 2 through MT 5) while waiting for another end user response. The end user responds with MO 2, completing the session trigger. All 7 messages occur within a 20-hour window. This means 4 hours of the 24-hour session window remain available for additional messages.

MO 2 receives its billing data in real time. The remaining 6 messages each receive a retroactive Conversation Started event. MT 3, MT 4, and MT 5 do not advance the trigger progress. The composition requirement mandates at least 2 MO messages among the 4 qualifying messages, and only 1 MO had been received before MO 2.

End user initiates

The end user sends 3 MO messages before the sender responds with MT 1. MT 1 is the 4th qualifying message and completes the trigger. Because MT 1 completes the trigger, it receives its billing classification and conversation.id in real time, so no Conversation Started event is sent for it. Each of the 3 MO messages receives a retroactive Conversation Started event with trafficType set to null (3 CONVERSATION_STARTED events total). The 24-hour session window starts from MO 1, not from MT 1.