Broadly speaking, CommCare supports two ways of sending out SMS messages:
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See more details on each of these implementation strategies below.
Pros and Cons (when to use each method)
Sending SMS directly from a CommCare form is good for messages that are:
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Asynchronous alerts or reminders
Batch messages sent out to many users at once
Messages that need to be sent from an anonymous or system user
Automated, interactive SMS workflows
Sending an SMS directly via a CommCare form on a mobile device
See documentation Sending an SMS directly from a CommCare form on how to implement this in CommCare form builder.
Level of effort (app-building): ~1 hour to configure your first message, several minutes for each subsequent message
User Experience: User taps on a button that says “Send SMS” inside a CommCare form. They are taken to the SMS interface of their device, where the list of recipients and message content has been pre-populated from hidden variables in CommCare. When the user taps “Send”, they are automatically returned to CommCare.
Requirements: Mobile SMS credit on the user’s phone
Caveats: Can be hard to verify if an SMS message was actually sent or not. Can’t send messages asynchronously. Messages originate directly from the mobile worker’s phone
Configuring SMS to be sent from CommCareHQ’s servers via an SMS Gateway
See extensive linked documentation CommCare Messaging on how to implement this functionality using the CommCare messaging feature and an SMS Gateway provider.
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