RCS has been a feature on iOS, but has so far not been enabled on the SMARTY network. Please enable this feature to allow users with iPhones to use RCS messaging
I posted this over a year ago, months after iOS supported RCS and Smarty has been silent on this issue.
They actually lost a customer because I moved my mother away from Smarty as a direct result of this (and the lack of short codes at the time). I'm unaffected as an Android user.
The truth is, Smarty does need to set up some infrastructure to support RCS and there is no legal requirement for Smarty to do so yet. This is Apple's fault, kinda, for not handling it themselves (Apple only begrudgingly supported RCS after pressure from Google and regulators). Smarty probably also makes a fair bit of money from accidental MMS charges and that would disappear overnight if they adopted RCS.
Unfortunately, if you want standard modern carrier features Smarty is not the carrier to join. You waited years and years for something as basic as Short Codes. I suspect RCS is still many years away on Smarty.
MMS should be free, if these help articles talking about MMS costs are correct:
