# Channels & senders

The messaging channels in Instasent: SMS, RCS and WhatsApp (coming soon).

**Language:** en
**Audience:** platform
**TLDR:** Instasent offers SMS and RCS today, with WhatsApp coming soon. Sending requires a registered SMS sender or RCS agent; in some countries the sender needs registering before you can send. This collection covers each channel setup, senders and agents, and consent and per-country rules.
**Translation key:** platform.channels.overview
**Search keywords:** channels, channel, multichannel, sms, rcs, whatsapp, senders, sender, channel availability, activate channel, enable channel, setup checklist
**Related pages:** /platform/es/channels, /platform/en/channels/sms/sms-essentials, /platform/en/channels/sms/senders-registration, /platform/en/channels/rcs/what-is-rcs, /platform/en/channels/compliance-defaults, /platform/en/channels/countries
**Docs index (every page):** https://docs.instasent.com/llms.txt
**This zone's index:** https://docs.instasent.com/platform/en/llms.txt
**This page:** https://docs.instasent.com/platform/en/channels/ (HTML) · https://docs.instasent.com/platform/en/channels.md (Markdown)
**Other language (es):** https://docs.instasent.com/platform/es/channels.md

With Instasent you can message the same audience across several channels — **SMS**
and **RCS**, and soon **WhatsApp** — from a single platform. This page shows what
each channel offers, how they differ, and how to start sending with them.

## Available channels

| Channel      | Status                     | What it's for                                                                                                                                                                                |
| ------------ | -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **SMS**      | Available to every project | Plain-text messages worldwide. In some countries a prior setup is needed — registering the sender — before you can send.                                                                     |
| **RCS**      | Available to every project | Conversational messaging with a verified brand identity: send images, rich cards, carousels, buttons and more. When a contact can't receive RCS, the message is sent automatically over SMS. |
| **WhatsApp** | Coming soon                | In development. The section will grow when the channel launches.                                                                                                                             |

> **Note**: There is no email channel in Instasent. Channels are mobile messaging only.

## How channels work together

You write once, in the **same campaign and automation editor**, and pick the
channel there. Channels can also be **chained**: an RCS campaign can fall back
to SMS automatically for contacts who can't receive RCS, so nobody is left out.
See [SMS fallback](/platform/en/channels/rcs/sms-fallback).

## Start sending on each channel

- **SMS** is available to every project. In most countries you can start right
  away: [add a sender](/platform/en/channels/sms/senders-registration) and send.
  In some, a prior setup is needed — registering the sender — before you can send.
- **RCS** is available to every project. To start, register at least one RCS
  agent; from there you can send RCS campaigns.
- **WhatsApp** is coming soon.

## The setup checklist

Each channel has a **setup checklist** on its overview page that walks you
through what's left before you can send. It appears while there's something
pending and steps aside once you're ready.

- **SMS** — create a sender, then send your first SMS campaign.
- **RCS** — create a sender, register your agent for at least one country, then
  send your first RCS campaign.

![Channels overview in project settings with SMS, RCS and WhatsApp](/platform/en/channels/images/channels-1.png)
*The Channels area in project settings.*

## Consent & regulation

Each channel ships with its own default consent policy, designed so you can start
sending without friction. Consent is shared sensibly across channels: **RCS and
SMS share the same consent** — they travel to the same phone, so an opt-out on
one applies to the other. WhatsApp keeps its own.

- [Compliance defaults](/platform/en/channels/compliance-defaults) — what each
  channel asks for out of the box and what you can adjust.
- [Consent & subscriptions](/platform/en/consent) — the full model.
- [Countries & regulation](/platform/en/channels/countries) — per-country rules
  for senders and delivery.

## Explore the channels

- [SMS](/platform/en/channels/sms/sms-essentials) - Plain text worldwide: length, encoding, billing and senders.
- [RCS](/platform/en/channels/rcs/what-is-rcs) - Rich cards, carousels, buttons and verified brand.
- [WhatsApp](/platform/en/channels/whatsapp) - Coming soon. The section will grow when the channel launches.

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This is one page of the Instasent documentation. For the complete machine-readable index of every guide and API reference, fetch https://docs.instasent.com/llms.txt — start there for full context.