I want to buy a number on Twilio to use with Whatsapp chat. Many of the numbers has only a "voice" option (and not SMS, MMS, etc.).
Can one also use this number or is Whatsapp by default an SMS?
This support article will help:
Which Twilio Phone Numbers are Compatible with WhatsApp?
Alan
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i am using twilio messaging service in my webapp. Here, each phone number have its own messaging service. I want to associate all phone numbers to 1 messaging service. Is it possible to send and receive messages on each phone number using 1 messaging service?
Twilio developer evangelist here.
According to this article:
A Twilio Messaging Service can contain up to 400 Twilio message senders by default, including phone numbers, short codes, Alpha Sender ID, and WhatsApp senders.
And if you need more, you can contact support.
How do you import contacts into Twilio SMS (phone numbers for texting)? This is so simple yet nothing in this app I can find lets you import contacts, please help!
Also how do you know the phone number you have for a contact is a Whatsapp number?
Is there software that identifies the Whatsapp numbers from a list of phone numbers that are mostly landlines but a few are cell or other type numbers that are registered on Whatsapp?
Twilio developer evangelist here.
Twilio does not store your contacts, so there is no way to import contacts. When you want to send an SMS message you provide the number you want to send the message to, the Twilio number you are sending from and the body of the message. There is no need for a contact.
Within Twilio Notify, which is a way to send bulk notifications, you can create Bindings. A Binding is a resource that binds an identity to an address and an address type, for example an phone number for an SMS or an APNS device token for push notifications on iOS. Once you have a number of bindings stored, you can send a notification to them.
Also how do you know the phone number you have for a contact is a WhatsApp number?
When using the WhatsApp API to send messages, you must receive explicit opt-in from your users that you can contact them via WhatsApp. So, you should not try to search through existing contact numbers to find out whether they are also a WhatsApp number, instead, you should get your user's consent to send to their WhatsApp number and record the number then.
I have been trying to personalize my messages and send in masses to my customers in google spreadsheet through whatsapp. Have been trying to work on this with an expert but it seems that currently they only allow twilio number which we have to buy from them. May I check whether any of you know when twilio will be able to enable non-twilio number(our personal contact number) for the whatsapp?
WhatsApp does not support certain uses cases, so verify this is this a promotional use case.
You will need to WhatsApp enable a Twilio number. Based on where you are located, porting your number to Twilio may be an option.
WhatsApp Commerce Policy
What use cases and businesses are allowed to use WhatsApp on Twilio.
I was wondering if its possible to allow people to text to a twilio number without charging them sms charges by their carrier? So, for each text message that is sent to a twilio phone number, I will cover the cost. Basically, free or charge text messaging for users to a specific twilio number.
Twilio developer evangelist here.
We support incoming SMS messages on toll free numbers in certain countries, so yes!
I recommend opening up the advanced search in the phone number console and checking the boxes for toll free and SMS.
All my users are in the United States. When someone signs up on my website they enter their cell phone number. Can I use the user's own cell phone number to send a SMS text message via twilio?
I was reading the twilio documentation about subaccounts and I couldn't determine if this was possible or not. They make it sound like you can only send texts using a narrow range of phone numbers.
Twilio evangelist here.
Today, you can only send text messages from phone numbers you've provisioned from Twilio. We've got a FAQ article that describes why.
You can make phone calls from either a Twilio provisioned phone number, or a verified phone number.
Hope that helps.