SmsGateway turns an ordinary Android phone into an SMS gateway you control from your browser or through an API. You send messages from a web dashboard or from your own app, and the phone sends them from its own SIM, on your existing mobile plan. The service lives at smsgatewayapi.online.

How it works

  1. You install the SmsGateway app on an Android phone and link it to your account, most easily by scanning a QR code.
  2. You send an SMS from the web dashboard or with an API call.
  3. The server passes the message to the phone through a push notification, and the phone sends it like any other text.
  4. You see the message status: pending, dispatched to the phone, sent or failed.

Messages go out from the phone's own number, not a company name, and each SMS costs whatever your mobile plan charges.

What it's for

  • Appointment reminders for clinics, salons and repair shops.
  • Order confirmations for online stores.
  • Verification codes and alerts from apps and SaaS products.
  • Messages to customers who opted in.

A simple API

The REST API has three core operations: send a message, check its status and view your account details. You authenticate with a key in the request header, and you can regenerate the key at any time. For protection, each key is limited to 120 requests per minute. The documentation and the OpenAPI spec are public.

Several phones

You can connect several phones, and messages are spread across them automatically. For each one you see the battery, whether it's charging and the signal, and if you can't find it, you can make it ring or locate it on a map. Long messages are split into parts automatically.

From the dashboard you can also send bulk messages, watch statuses update in real time and resend failed messages with one click.

What to know first

A few things that are better to learn now than after your first batch:

  • "Sent" means the GSM network accepted the message, not confirmation that the recipient received it.
  • Some carriers cap how many texts a SIM can send. Check what your plan allows.
  • On some phones (Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, Samsung) you need to turn off battery optimization for the app, or the system may stop it.
  • Spam and bought number lists are forbidden. You need your recipients' consent, as GDPR requires.

Privacy

Phone numbers and email addresses are masked in logs, and SMS text is never written to logs. Finished messages are deleted automatically after a set period.

Plans

There's a free plan with one phone and a small monthly message allowance for testing. Paid plans add more phones, more messages and API access. Current details are on smsgatewayapi.online.