Reply to incoming messages using Chats

Chat is a quick and easy way to send and reply to texts and have two-way conversations.

Before using Chats, you must ensure you are able to receive incoming messages and are not using a Sender ID (as people cannot reply to you if you send messages from your company name). Learn more about Sender settings.

You can also watch the SMS Chat introduction video that explains how to use this tool.

To send a message using Chats:

Select Chats from the main menu.
Click New chat.
Type a number or contact name and hit Enter or click the Start button.
Type your message. You will see how many parts your message contains. (Learn more about SMS length.)
Click Send.

Receiving replies with SMS Chat

When a person either replies or sends a new incoming text message to your dedicated virtual number, you will see a red notification next to the chat and the message preview highlighted in bold. You will also receive a desktop notification and hear a notification sound when a new message reaches your SMS chat.

If incoming SMS alerts are enabled on your account, you will also receive a copy of every incoming message to your email.

SMS Chat left column features:

The left column displays the list of chats that are currently open (or closed).

Edit chats: mark as read/unread, close chats, or delete chats.
Mark all chats as read.
Close all read chats.
Edit notifications settings: enable sound alerts; enable Desktop notifications; and enable message text preview in the desktop notifications.
Switch between Open and Closed chats tabs.

Please note: Closing a chat does not delete the message history. If you receive a new text message to the closed chat, it will be reopened automatically and appear in your Open chats tab again.