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Does anyone know of any APIs that would allow a user to send scheduled text messages through a spreadsheet using one's current phone number that they already have through their current carrier instead of paying per text message using a third party service ? I have no problem paying a flat or yearly fee, but don't want to literally pay twice, once to my carrier, and another to the third party.

An example would be where the user would enter these details into a spreadsheet, and they would be, sent automatically at the given time stamp in column C, where C is a timestamp.

Example

A                       B                                  C
Phone Number           Message                            Time
1 856-XXX-XXXX     "Did you get that message?"            16:42:01
1 836-XXX-XXXX     "Whats up?"                            13:42:01

I have tried and researched what software exists for scheduling SMS:

  • MightyText
  • Pushbullet.

They currently do not offer this feature.

Software that offers via spreadsheet

  • Twilio

Cannot use same phone number as far as I know. I am aware that you can do this with Twilio, but I am trying to avoid paying 1.5 cents a text message, plus a dollar month for a different phone number!

Software that offers via spreadsheet outbound only:

  • Text gBlaster
  • SMS limit

I am also aware that this works as well, but same cost as twilio, but no capability to receive messages like in MightyText.

How to Use Google Script with Google Spreadsheet to send SMS (Text) Messages

Community
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Ted Taylor of Life
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    You can send SMS through email. SMS is a **gateway**. See [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43927471/send-arrow-character-to-iphone-with-sms) for sample CDO code. You will have to figure out your phone carrier's method of email->SMS->phone. Mine is something like `Public Const sPHONEMSSGNO As String = sPHONE & "@msg.telus.com"`. –  May 27 '17 at 16:27
  • You pay for incoming TXT mssgs...? –  May 27 '17 at 16:30
  • @Jeeped So your telling me I should ask each contact that I have, which carrier they belong to? I appreciate the advice, but I was aware of that, but do to the fact that when I text the person, it would show from " `msg.telus.com` I thought that was a turnoff. (May not be a big deal) – Ted Taylor of Life May 27 '17 at 17:06
  • @Jeeped I think this actually may be the best solution if I had all of their carrier information. Do you know any api's that would tell me which carrier they are on, if I feed it a list of 10 digit ints? [Twilio Pricing(https://www.twilio.com/sms/pricing) – Ted Taylor of Life May 27 '17 at 17:06
  • You can find out the carrier from the phone number if you think it would be intrusive to ask the individual. Each carrier has their own SMS format but it is generally *phonenumber*@specialdomain.com; some have different ones for regions like eastern US vs western US. –  May 27 '17 at 17:08
  • @Jeeped Twilio charges .0075 for incoming and .0075 for outgoing which would be just one message conversation, for a total of .015 – Ted Taylor of Life May 27 '17 at 17:09
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    I send myself text alerts all the time; only way to keep on top of things with nasdaq. I don't pay a cent. Twilio is just charging for something most people are too stupid to do themselves,. –  May 27 '17 at 17:11
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/145276/discussion-between-ted-taylor-of-life-and-jeeped). – Ted Taylor of Life May 27 '17 at 17:16

1 Answers1

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This is not possible in iOS. You need server support to send automated text messages.

Duncan C
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  • Can you elaborate on what type of server support, I would need? Are you suggesting that I would have to setup some sort of sms trunking? – Ted Taylor of Life May 27 '17 at 17:35
  • Yes, you'd need to send the SMS messages from a server, and they would not come from the user's phone number. Apple does not allow you to send email or SMS messages from the user's device except by displaying a **system** dialog to the user that the user has to approve. Apple wants to prevent their devices from being used as spam-bots. – Duncan C May 27 '17 at 19:36
  • Did not know that. Learn something knew every day. I guess 85% of smart phones in the world provide spam or apple is just super restrictive with their operating system. – Ted Taylor of Life May 28 '17 at 23:39