Frequently asked questions

Public app downloads are currently unavailable. If SMSKit is already installed, you can pair the phone through Devices in the dashboard.

You send from your own SIM and local number, so recipients see a number they know. Delivery depends on your carrier, the phone and its signal. Carriers can still filter business traffic, so follow your carrier's rules.

Messages from your own SIM usually arrive within seconds. Delivery speed and rates depend on your carrier, device and signal; neither is guaranteed.

$5 per phone per month, unlimited messages. Free tier covers 1 phone.

No.

No. A slot covers one active phone at a time, not a particular phone. To replace a phone, deactivate or delete the old phone, then activate the new phone in the freed slot. A phone paired while a slot is free fills it on its own. There is no extra slot or charge.

Yes. Messages go out from your own SIM under your carrier's normal terms, including its plan charges and sending limits.

SMSKit is built for your own controlled volume (OTP, alerts, two-way). Consumer SIMs are rate-limited by carriers, so it is not a route for unsolicited mass marketing. Always follow local consent and opt-out laws: replies (including STOP requests) reach you via two-way messaging and webhooks, and honoring them is your responsibility.

Yes. SMSKit can email a warning when a SIM's estimated SMS credit runs low or its bundle nears expiry, and when a phone's battery falls to a level you set. Turn on each alert per SIM or per phone from the dashboard. Alerts warn only; sending carries on. The credit amount is an estimate counted from the starting credit you enter and the messages SMSKit sends on that SIM. SMSKit does not read the carrier balance.

No. A compatible phone you already own can do the job. It needs Android 8.0 or newer, a working SIM and an internet connection.

Any Android 8.0+ phone with a working SIM and internet, including a spare or older one. Age alone is not enough: an Android 7 phone does not work. Cheap and used phones are fine. Dual-SIM supported.

For continuous operation, keep the phone connected to a suitable charger and online. Follow the manufacturer's charging guidance, keep it cool and ventilated, and enable a battery charge limit if available. Stop using a phone with a swollen or damaged battery.

As many as you have phone slots ($5 each). The engine load-balances across them.

A per-device hourly limit (default 200/hr) controls your sending rate. Carrier restrictions still apply.

Public app downloads are currently unavailable. Contact us for help. Existing installations can continue using the service.

Jobs auto-failover to a healthy phone.

They retry across devices; exhausted jobs land in a dead-letter queue you can inspect.

On our managed platform. We host and operate it; you don't run any servers.

Yes. Two-way messaging and threading are on the Standard plan, and sms:received webhooks work on every plan.

No. SMSKit sends and receives SMS over your own SIM. WhatsApp, MMS, and voice are not supported.

An opt-in import into your SMSKit account of the inbox and sent history already on your phone, including business texts sent from the phone's own app. It merges with your live and SMSKit-sent messages into one searchable two-way timeline.

On the Standard plan, export up to 50,000 messages per request to NDJSON or CSV (GET /api/v1/archive/export). Narrow larger exports by date range, or use GET /api/v1/messages with pagination and filters for contact, direction, origin, and date.

SMS follows your plan's retention window (30 days on Standard). Imported and received messages can be deleted from the dashboard and API; SMSKit send-history rows cannot be deleted through the archive. Contacts remain until deleted through the contacts API or account deletion.