Messaging

Messaging Overview

Messaging is an bidirectional mobile messaging solution that provides an encrypted, reliable, and free messaging system entirely within the CommCare mobile application to PersonalID users. It provides a few advantages over traditional SMS.

• Message delivery is guaranteed. Unlike traditional SMS that will fail to deliver if the phone is out of network coverage, all messages will be saved until a user reaches connectivity, and delivered once possible.

• Messages do not incur the high carrier costs from Telecom providers associated with SMS.

• Messages are available within the CommCare application. Users do not need to leave the app to read or reply to messages.

• All messages are encrypted end to end, preventing anyone except the intended recipient from reading the message, even if it is intercepted in transit.

Core Concepts

Messages are organized in Channels on the mobile device. A channel is a single conversation between a PersonalID user and another system, much like SMS with a single phone number. This channel may represent a project in CommCareHQ or a chatbot in Open Chat Studio. A channel can only be created by the external system, but once it is created, both the system and the user may send messages to the channel at any time. A user may not initiate a new channel.

Messaging on Mobile

Messaging is available in the side navigation menu of the CommCare mobile application. There, users see a list of active messaging channels, and can send new messages or read past ones. Users will be notified as new messages come in.

This video walkthrough explains how mobile users interact with messages received on their devices.