Sending & Receiving Text Messages

Two-way SMS on your dedicated number. Receive texts from anywhere, send and reply from the Messages tab (US & Canada), threaded conversations, and per-message costs.

Your dedicated number does two-way SMS. You can receive texts from any number, anywhere in the world — verification codes, OTPs, notifications, or a message from a friend — and you can send and reply right from the Messages tab. Everything lives in one threaded inbox per number.

Receiving texts

Anyone can text your number — there are no country restrictions on what you can receive. When a message arrives, usually within a few seconds:

• It's saved to your inbox at My Numbers → click your number → Messages, threaded by the contact who sent it.
• A push notification fires (if you've enabled push for that number).
• You receive an email with the sender and full message body (unless you've disabled SMS emails in your account settings).

Each received text costs a small per-message fee (from $0.01), deducted from your balance.

Sending and replying

Open the Messages tab for your number, pick a conversation (or start a new one), type your message, and send. Conversations are threaded by contact, so replies stay grouped with the original sender.

• Sending is available to US & Canada numbers onlyright now. Texting numbers in other countries (for example the UAE) isn't supported yet.
• If you try to text an unsupported destination, you'll see a clear message explaining it can't be sent — and you are not chargedfor a message that can't go through.
• Outbound texts are billed per message. Long messages are split into multiple segments, and each segment is billed.

Reading and managing messages

• Unread messages are highlighted with a blue dot. Open a thread to mark it read.
• Message body shows in full, in plain text.
• Sender number and timestamp appear on every message.
• A trash icon lets you delete a message.

Messages stay in your inbox until you delete them.

Common use cases

• One-time passwords (OTP). Sign up with your dedicated number and the verification code arrives in your inbox.
• Two-factor authentication codes. Banking apps, social networks, dev tools — anywhere SMS 2FA is available, you can use your dedicated number.
• Service notifications. Delivery updates, appointment reminders, marketing texts — they all land in your inbox.
• Quick replies (US/Canada). Reply to a friend or confirm an appointment straight from the Messages tab.
• Forms requiring a US phone.Some US online services don't accept international numbers. A dedicated US number gets you past that gate.

Costs at a glance

• Receiving a text: small per-message fee, from $0.01.
• Sending a text (US & Canada): per message; longer texts use multiple segments, each billed.
• Blocked destinations:nothing is charged if a message can't be sent.

All of this is funded from your single prepaid balance. See My Numbers Billing for the full breakdown.

Disabling SMS emails

If you only want to read texts in the dashboard and not receive copies in email, go to Settings and toggle Email me when SMS arrives off. Push notifications are independent — they keep firing as long as the per-number push toggle is on.

What about MMS?

Picture and video messages (MMS) aren't supported. If someone sends you an MMS, the text portion (if any) shows up in your inbox; the media is silently dropped.