Getting Started with TextMagic
What is included in a TextMagic free trial? You will have full access to all features during your TextMagic free trial. No credit card details are required. We provide you with 0.4 credit (and a dedicated number only in the USA and Canada for one month FREE). You can test the service for a maximum 30 days. You can test sending SMS globally, as long as you have credit left. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Do you provide global SMS coverage? TextMagic offers global SMS coverage. We cover 190+ countries and 700+ networks worldwide. Sign up for a free trial to test delivery to your chosen country. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What is the maximum length of a text message? GSM 03.38 character setIf you use a standard GSM 03.38 character set, single text messages are limited to 160 characters, including spaces. The maximum length of a text message is 918 characters including spaces.
Each concatenated text message is limited to 153 characters, rather than 160 due to the need for user-data headers (UDH) information. Mobile phones use UDH information to enable them to link long messages together so they appear as single SMS messages in recipients’ phones. The standard character set includes the Roman alphabet and the most common accented forms, certain special characters, and the Greek alphabet. It includes the following characters: @ Δ SP 0 ¡ P ¿ p £ _ ! 1 A Q a q $ Φ " 2 B R b r ¥ Γ # 3 C S c s è Λ ¤ 4 D T d t é Ω % 5 E U e u ù Π & 6 F V f v ì Ψ ' 7 G W g w ò Σ ( 8 H X h x Ç Θ ) 9 I Y i y LF Ξ * : J Z j z Ø ESC + ; K Ä k ä ø Æ , < L Ö l ö * LF – Line feed (line break), ESC – Escape character, SP – Space character. Note: An escape character always precedes the characters Unicode character setUsing unicode, for such languages as Russian, Arabic, or Chinese will restrict your message to a maximum of 70 characters per SMS.
The longer the message (amount of SMS parts), the more it costs. Please use our free SMS length calculator. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
How do you protect my privacy? We assure you that none of your sensitive information can be used or accessed by any third parties, unless requested by legal authorities. This information is protected by our employees and professional security software. TextMagic is 100% GDPR compliant and SOC 2 Type II certified. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Does TextMagic have any messaging restrictions? When utilizing TextMagic services for direct marketing, you maintain full responsibility for complying with any and all legal requirements regarding direct marketing and the rights of data subjects. Moreover, you are solely responsible for the content of messages sent using such services, as TextMagic only provides the platform for said services. TextMagic Terms of Service (2. Acknowledgement/Consent) Because laws and best practices vary depending upon the country, TextMagic does NOT provide legal advice. We recommend that you contact the local solicitor in order to find the best way to manage communication with your clients using the text messaging service. For more information about messaging principles, please see:
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How can I contact TextMagic support? If you’re having trouble with TextMagic, or have any questions, then you need to contact TextMagic support. You can contact TextMagic support in three ways:
Our customer service agents are available from 06:00 to 23:00 UTC Monday – Friday and from 09:00 to 15:00 UTC on weekends. You can also email us or send an online ticket support form at any time. We promise to answer all tickets on the same working day, within minutes if possible. At weekends we still monitor emails and deal with all tickets that require urgent attention. |
Web App
Can I use TextMagic on my smart-phone/tablet? | ||
Can I receive SMS from my clients? You can receive replies and incoming SMS from your clients. If you use a free shared reply number, you can only receive replies to messages you have already sent. All replies will be displayed in SMS Chat. If you have purchased a dedicated number, your clients can contact you whenever they like. All incoming messages will be displayed in SMS Chat. You can send and receive SMS using a dedicated number. You can buy a dedicated number on the Buy number page. | ||
Which web browsers are supported by your web interface? Our web interface supports the latest versions of:
Please check your browser version using our free browser update tool. | ||
Can I schedule text messages to be sent later? You can schedule text messages and make them recur using our online interface, desktop and mobile applications, and API. API commands for scheduling text messages are available in TextMagic SMS API documentation. | ||
How can I send a text message with an SMS attachment? You can add an SMS attachment to your message. However, it will be sent as a link inside the SMS message – not as an MMS. | ||
Can I import my contacts from a .CSV or Excel file? Rather than adding contacts one by one you can import them in bulk from these file types: *.xls, *.xlsx, *.csv. Learn how to import contacts. We assure you that none of the sensitive information can be used or accessed by any third parties, unless requested by the legal authorities. This information is protected by our employees and professional security software. – Data transfer between customer’s PC and our servers is encrypted (256-bit SSL certificate issued by GoDaddy). – We use the McAfee Secure service, which constantly scans our servers for security purposes. – TextMagic if fully GDPR compliant. | ||
How many contacts can I store? TextMagic does not set any limits on how many contacts you can store. You can store as many as you need. | ||
How can people opt in and opt out of my lists? If you do not have your contacts database set up yet, you can place a TextMagic form on your website to gain more opt-ins. You can read more about these forms here. People can simply opt out from your communication by replying STOP, STOPP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, END or QUIT to any of your messages. Once they have opted out, you cannot send messages to these contacts anymore. Your customer can also send you an incoming message with these keywords to resubscribe: JOIN, SUBSCRIBE, RESUBSCRIBE, OPT IN, OPT-IN, OPTIN orUNSTOP. |
Email to SMS
Can I send text messages from my own email application? You can send text messages using any email application or email client: Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail, Apple Mail, etc. Learn how to set up the Email to SMS service. | ||
What is the difference between Email to SMS and email distribution lists? SMS distribution lists are used to:
With TextMagic Email to SMS service you can send and receive text messages from your email account to mobile phones, without the need to install any software. | ||
How can I exclude my email signature when I send Email to SMS? Our Email to SMS service recognizes and excludes most standard footers, but if this does not work with your particular footer you can introduce a cut-line. We recognize a new line followed by a minimum of five hyphens as the end of the text message. Everything down to, but not including, the cut-line will be sent. So, in the example below, only ‘My text message’ will be sent. | ||
What format must the Email to SMS number be in? If you send a text message using your email address, use the following format: | ||
Can I receive incoming SMS to my email? We can forward incoming text messages and replies to your email address. |
SMS Gateway API
Can I integrate your bulk SMS Gateway into my application? | ||
Does TextMagic offer integration support? We do our best to provide world-class support to customers who use our SMS API Gateway. However, we only support the part that directly relates to our product, API documentation or pre-written wrappers. We do not provide development support. This means you must hire a developer to help you write the code, if you do not have the necessary experience and knowledge to do it yourself. | ||
Does TextMagic offer any API documentation? |
Billing
How secure are payments on TextMagic website? We use a secure payment gateway – Stripe – that processes payments on our behalf. TextMagic does not store credit or debit card details on our website. All payment data is securely stored by a third-party PCI-compliant payment gateway. TextMagic servers are held in a secure environment with limited access. We assure you that no sensitive information can be used or accessed by any third party, unless requested by legal authorities. This information is protected by our employees and professional security software. Data transfer between customer’s PC and our servers is encrypted (256-bit SSL certificate issued by GlobalSign). | ||
What is a Pay-As-You-Go billing model? Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) is when you pay in advance for your service use. You are not tied into paying for a certain amount of texts each month and you can stop the service whenever you want. TextMagic offers a 100% pay-as-you-go service. | ||
Do you offer post-pay contracts? Unfortunately we do not offer post-pay or unlimited texting contracts. Our service is 100% prepaid. SMS credit never expires and there are no hidden fees. | ||
How can I make a payment? In order to make a payment, please visit the Buy Credit page and follow the on-screen instructions.
We do not keep your credit card details on file, unless Auto-recharge is enabled. For your convenience we recommend you enable the Auto-recharge feature, which will top up your account automatically when the balance falls below a specific level. | ||
What is Auto-recharge and how does it work? Auto-recharge is a feature that automatically tops up your account with SMS credit when your balance falls below a certain amount. This ensures that you never run out of credit and prevents unexpected service interruption. Auto-recharge works with credit cards and PayPal. With Auto-recharge, your credit card or PayPal account is debited in the same way as if you were making a manual purchase, but with Auto-recharge enabled, you don´t need to approve each payment. Be aware that automatically recharging your credit is not the same thing as having a subscription although both involve recurring payments. Learn how to enable Auto-recharge. | ||
Do you send balance alerts when my balance runs low? We will send a low balance alert email when your balance falls below the level you have set on the Balance alerts page. | ||
Do you keep credit card details on file? When you add your card details to your TextMagic account, they are not stored directly on TextMagic servers. Instead they are stored on a separate PCI-compliant and extra secure Stripe server. | ||
Will I be charged VAT? UK customers All customers from the UK will be charged 20% VAT. EU customers All customers making purchases in the EU will be charged VAT. In order to avoid paying VAT, you need to enter your registered company VAT number on your Account page. Once this is done you will no longer be charged VAT. Customers outside the EU Customers outside the EU will not be charged VAT. | ||
How am I charged when I send text messages? When you send texts in bulk, your account balance is deducted according to:
Information about the maximum text message length is available in this article. The longer the message (amount of SMS parts), the more it costs. Additional charges apply to receiving incoming text messages and responses. Pricing information is available on the TextMagic Pricing page. | ||
How do I pay for a dedicated number and Sender ID subscriptions? If you buy a dedicated virtual number or apply for a Sender ID, you will be charged on a monthly basis, always on the same day of the month as your original purchase. Please note, that when your subscription renews, we deduct credit from your TextMagic account balance, not your card/PayPal. Please be aware that if your account balance becomes too low to renew the number or Sender ID, we reserve the right to cancel it permanently. To avoid service cancellations, we recommend you enable Auto-recharge. | ||
What is your refund policy? Used funds are not refundable under any circumstances. We will refund unused credit if requested. If you would like to have your credit balance refunded, please send an email to [email protected]. Please include your name, company name, email address and the reason for wanting a refund. We reserve the right to take up to seven business days to process any refund requests. You will receive your refund using the payment method you used to purchase the credit. For example, if the original payment was made by credit card, we will credit the amount of your unused credit to that card. |
Account Management
Where is my data stored? Your data is securely stored on our servers, which are located in a secure data center in Europe, in a restricted area with absolutely no physical access available to third parties. The data is available only to the user (or anyone who has access to the username and password). We will NEVER share or sell your data, texts or numbers. TextMagic is 100% GDPR compliant and Soc 2 Type II certified. All payment transactions are encrypted using SSL technology. Please read TextMagic Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. | ||
How do I update personal details on my account? You can update your TextMagic account details whenever necessary.
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Can I invite my team members to TextMagic? You can create two types of sub-accounts for your team members:
You can also manage sub-account permissions as necessary. Sub-accounts will always use the SMS credit of the parent account. You can monitor the credit usage from the Sub-accounts reporting or Statements page. A dedicated virtual number cannot be shared between sub-accounts. Read Invite and manage Sub-accounts article for more information. | ||
Can I set up alerts and reports to be received via email? You can receive important alerts and daily/monthly reports by email. Please enable them on the Notifications settings page. |
Sender Settings
How quickly are text messages delivered? We can guarantee that text messages are sent instantly, after we receive a request from you. Messages are normally delivered within a few seconds, as long as the recipient’s phone has coverage. We cannot guarantee the final delivery time, as it depends on network conditions, which are outside our control. | ||
What do different delivery statuses mean? The delivery status of text messages can be monitored in our Web, Desktop and Mobile Apps and using API. Information is sourced from the recipient’s phone, except for mobile numbers in North America. Here is an explanation of the different delivery statuses:
If you use API, you can request SMS delivery notification via the receive command or callback URL. The API will respond with a single letter. Read the API documentation for more details. | ||
What is the difference between “dedicated” and “shared” numbers? All shared numbers belong to TextMagic. They can be used by any TextMagic customer. Shared reply numbers are included with your SMS package. You can only receive replies to messages you have already sent. All replies will be displayed in SMS Chat. TextMagic offers dedicated numbers for more than 25 countries. Dedicated numbers can be used by only one business account at a time. The price for a dedicated number can be found on the TextMagic Pricing page. A dedicated number is an essential component for two-way messaging. You can send and receive messages locally to or from anyone. All incoming messages will be displayed in SMS Chat. Please note: Our dedicated numbers cannot receive verification messages from banks, PayPal, Google, social networks etc. | ||
Can I send text messages from my company name? You can use a Sender ID to send text messages from your company name. If you send a message from your business name, no one will be able to reply to you. This is a paid feature, and you will be charged monthly for the Sender ID subscription. The maximum length of a Sender ID is 11 characters. Please Apply for a Sender ID first. The Sender ID may be filtered out by some network providers, so please test before use. Please note: Sender ID is not supported in North America and several other locations. | ||
Can I port my existing number to TextMagic? |
SMS Software for PC and Mac
Where can I download TextMagic Desktop app? TextMagic Desktop SMS for PC is a software package that enables you to send and receive SMS via your PC or MAC. You must have a TextMagic account first before downloading the software. Please note, TextMagic Desktop app works only with an internet connection. New desktop application is fully synchronized with the mobile and web applications and offers the same features. If someone sends a text message to you, you will receive a push notification on the PC. TextMagic Desktop app can be downloaded for free from the Downloads page. | ||
Which platforms are supported by the TextMagic Desktop App? We offer two versions of the TextMagic Desktop App:
The TextMagic Desktop App can be downloaded for free from the Downloads page. | ||
Can my employees access TextMagic both at home and work? Your employees can access the TextMagic Desktop App both at work and home. Please note: TextMagic Desktop App only works with an internet connection. The new Desktop App is fully synchronized with the mobile and web applications and offers the same features. If someone sends a text message to you, you will receive a push notification on your PC. |