Is possible to send automated sms avoiding third-party apps?

Dental_Tour · ‎Nov 01, 2021

Is possible to send an automated sms using only Twilio (or similar apps) and Airtable, avoiding the use of zapier or other third-party apps?

ScottWorld · ‎Nov 01, 2021

Welcome to the community, @Dental_Tour!

The SMS app can’t be automated, but it uses Twilio:

If you want to automate an SMS without using external automation tools like Zapier or Integromat, you would need to write your own custom JavaScript to do that.

In fact, I created a very extensive text messaging sending & receiving system for one of my clients using Airtable & Integromat, which I demonstrate in this podcast:

Paul_P · ‎Nov 29, 2021

hello everyone!
I was trying to find an answer to this question myself and I came across your post.

@Dental_Tour & @ScottWorld, this can be done directly from Airtable with TextMagic

You can create an automation within Airtable where the SMS can be sent based on conditions you specify.
You can connect your gmail account to TextMagic and create a very simple formula where your contact phone numbers get formatted to this string: phonenumber@textmagic.com

Let’s say you create a column with drop down menu with these 2 options:
READY TO SEND
SENT

you can than specify condition, that when the status of this column changes to READY TO SEND, airtable will initiate the automation and can send a text with dynamic fields of your choice.

I have it setup to send notifications to my clients based on status field and other conditions in the screenshot and it works great.
Cost: $4.00/month for a static number (fully featured 2-way text communication) + $0.04 per message (outbound). Inbound messages are free. Mobile app and web interface included.

ScottWorld · ‎Nov 29, 2021

Thanks! I’ve never heard of TextMagic before. With your TextMagic product, what would be the method for receiving the text message replies into Airtable?

ScottWorld · ‎Nov 29, 2021

Looks like Integromat has full TextMagic support! So that could be the method for receiving incoming text messages and then sending them to Airtable.

Paul_P · ‎Nov 30, 2021

@ScottWorld in my case I didn’t care about receiving replies into Airtable.
TextMagic has a webapp for more advanced scenarios as well as API key to integrate it into your proprietary solution.

When someone replies to my text, I get notified by email and by notifications inside TextMagic mobile app.

One click and I can respond to the message and interact with the sender right where we left off. TextMagic lets you customize your workflow by using automations, templates, forms and other features that I didn’t even try.
I’ve been using Textedly for last 2 years for bulk text messages and notifications, but TextMagic has way more features that I find more useful than Textedly.

I was looking for a solution that will not depend on Zapier, Integromat, Pabbly etc.
I wanted to be able to create a workflow where triggers inside Airtable would send customized messages using dynamic data inside Airtable.

I’m not sure why would you need replies to text messages inside your Airtable, but I realize that you may have a specific workflow and a reason for this option.

Another option is Twilio, but I realize that there is some learning curve when you setup it for the first time - something I didn’t want to spend time on.

My workflow is very similar to this one:
send text messages from airtable

I hope that helps.

Paul_P · ‎Nov 30, 2021

PaulinoPo · ‎Nov 04, 2022

I’m not sure, but it seems to me that, for example, a VoIP number can be set to send a message automatically. This number is connected to the Internet network and it turns out that you can configure it through a PC, or in the phone itself, without resorting to any third-party programs, and the advantages of this number are more than the cellular network. For example, I use a subscription from https://www.mightycall.com/ and have been using it for two years, and the number has never caused any problems.