LDS Tools and SMS / Text Messaging

Hello-

I've searched the boards here for discussion on SMS capabilities from LCR or LDS Tools and it's not been that deep.

We have a young contingent in our Elder's Quorum who respond quite well to text messaging. We've tried sending mass text messages using the SMS option on LDS Tools, but you quickly get limited by your carrier.

If the Church were to use a platform like Twilio, SMS could become a really powerful communication tool. Additionally, you could enable SMS communication from LCR.

What does everyone think?

Dan

We have also been trying to use this function in our ward but we have the same problem where not everyone is getting them. If anyone has a fix so we can send a mass text to all the R.S. women please let me know. Thank you Becki McCune

Seems that something could be written to interface to Twilio pretty quickly. Just not sure about the costs

dotson98 wrote:Seems that something could be written to interface to Twilio pretty quickly. Just not sure about the costs

The programmers work under the direction of the Priesthood Department, as I understand. Posts to this user-to-user tech forum will not necessarily get to them. The 2 best ways to get feature requests to the Priesthood department are:
1. Requests from stake presidents to their area authority through their coordinating councils
2. Feedback within LDSTools or LDS.org or LCR

No guarantees that the feedback will be responded to, but we're told all feed back is read and passed to the appropriate group.

I'm sure the value of text messaging is not lost on the brethren, but that is not the perfect solution for everyone. In our ward, about 30% of the membership would be missed with a text message only communication method.

>> I'm sure the value of text messaging is not lost on the brethren, but that is not the perfect solution for everyone.

In our ward, we miss 50% + due to only having email... And we have all ages - a well mixed ward.

I just left feedback.

dotson98 wrote:>> I'm sure the value of text messaging is not lost on the brethren, but that is not the perfect solution for everyone.

In our ward, we miss 50% + due to only having email... And we have all ages - a well mixed ward.

I just left feedback.

Which is why I recommend a blended approach. No single solution will be 100% effective, 100% of the time in 100% of the wards and branches throughout the world. We also have a well mixed ward with some on the cutting edge of technology to others who don't own a computer or smartphone and everything in between.

The ward/branch leadership needs to sort out what is best for their situation as they are in the best position to know how to communicate to their members. It isn't easy - nothing worth doing is. In our ward, we use a ward facebook page, printed bulletin on Sunday, the LDS.org calendar, mid-week e-mail blast from the Executive Secretary, personal emails/texts from the various organizations to their members, and I think even some personalized phone calls to certain individuals. We don't get everyone, but if we insisted on a one-size-fits-all approach we would miss far more than we do now.

I do hope a mass text option becomes available for those who desire it, but I wouldn't get my hopes up for an immediate solution.

It is possible to email to text with some mobile phone providers (I pasted the following from a USA centered website). If individuals prefer to receive group emails via LDS tools as texts they can put a text-via-email type address into their profile on LDS.org.

The following is pasted from a website. Search some of the following text in your browser to find the website.


Just as you can send an email with a text message, you can also send a text via email. This is helpful when you only have data and not cellular service, which sometimes occurs in cell phone dead zones, or on planes. Here's how to send a text via email:

Open your email app on your phone, tablet, or computer.
In the "To" field, enter the 10-digit phone number you want to text, and add the corresponding email domain to the end of it (listed above). For example, if you’re sending to a T-Mobile number, you’d type the phone number plus @tmomail.net (e.g., 1234567890@tmomail.net). Do not include dashes.
Fill in the subject line, and compose your message.
Once you click send, the recipient will receive a text message. Replies to the text will come to your email, with the same subject you used.

AT&T: phonenumber@txt.att.net

T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net

Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com

Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com or phonenumber@vzwpix.com

Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com[/align]

Thank you!

Recently I finished writing a web application for sending text messages to quorums and organizations.
I'm currently using it with my ward. There is a dependency on Twilio service to message groups/organizations.
If you would like to try it send me a message and I can create credentials and ward name along with a url.
Again you do need to have a twilio account setup I think they have $20 free credit to do some testing.

My user case may be unique.

We use it send zoom links for sacrament meeting and also for sunday school/relief society and elders quorum classes.

I went this route because most people in my ward have abilities to receive texts easily but not as much as reading emails or having a facebook account.

One of the benefits is you have one virtual phone number incoming texts go to that you can setup with a auto-bot reply. etc.

others are members usually check texts more frequently than emails

This sounds very cool. I also did something with a Twilio account, but haven't deployed it yet. I think it's the direction to go for a lot of communications. There are lots of people that only check their email once or twice a week, if that. Particularly the Youth.

Did you have any luck with getting phone numbers from the ward list on lds.org? Sure would be nice to be able to get a refresh without copy-and-paste from the Members report, etc. I've copied to Excel and parsed out the personal phone numbers. But for a person who's not techie, (Elders Q or RS presidencies), they'll never do it.

Hey! @sfchris for me it has been a manual input of phone numbers for my ward to start with. I may have more wards join the application and use as they see fit. I've deployed mine through AWS If you want to checkout I will private message you the link with demo credentials. I'm also interested to see how you built your integration with Twilio!

pabloh007 wrote:Recently I finished writing a web application for sending text messages to quorums and organizations.
I'm currently using it with my ward. There is a dependency on Twilio service to message groups/organizations.
If you would like to try it send me a message and I can create credentials and ward name along with a url.
Again you do need to have a twilio account setup I think they have $20 free credit to do some testing.

My user case may be unique.

We use it send zoom links for sacrament meeting and also for sunday school/relief society and elders quorum classes.

I went this route because most people in my ward have abilities to receive texts easily but not as much as reading emails or having a facebook account.

One of the benefits is you have one virtual phone number incoming texts go to that you can setup with a auto-bot reply. etc.

others are members usually check texts more frequently than emails

@pabloh007 I would love to see how you did this, or get a link to the demo. That would definitely be nice to have. My wife struggles with the Tools app on her iPhone. It has issues being able to send.

I am seeing an issue where on my wife's iPhone SE, she can't scroll the text window when sending a text. Also, the send button will often not work when she has more than 5-8 numbers included. It is very frustrating.

gavinearley wrote:Also, the send button will often not work when she has more than 5-8 numbers included. It is very frustrating.

Note that many service provides will not allow a large number of recipients. It's possible that's what you're running into.

Hey I will send you a private message with a link and a demo user @gavinearley I will send you a private message with a demo user credentials and link to the app

I have wrote a quick overview of the system. I am only sending links through private messages for now so if you are interested private message me for credentials.

One more thing to add, Usually the twilio cost is something that we expense at my ward. Twilio cost will vary depending on how many contacts you are engaging and also how big your messages are. I tried to build an estimate cost for the bulk messages before you send so that helps to budget and re-write your message if it's too lengthy. Also the cost of notifications get stored in the system

We would like to use this SMS mass broadcasting to help everyone within our Stake for emergency broadcast system processing. Would we have to write a special program to use the twilio api to do so? We would like to also care for our neighbors that are not yet members of the Church of Jesus Christ in an emergency. Please email me or message me directly so we can collaborate on the best method. Thanks!

Hey @ypurba,
I sent you a PM to give some demo credentials to try it out and any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

pabloh007 wrote:I have wrote a quick overview of the system. I am only sending links through private messages for now so if you are interested private message me for credentials.

Hi @pabloh007 - I am new to this forum and it will not let me send a private message. Can you send me a private message so that we can talk about your app? I have a couple questions. My ward is looking to implement a mass texting app.

Hey! @jfield25 I sent you a couple of PM's let me know if you got them! but I sent the url and some demo credentials to play around.

@pabloh007 I got your private message! thanks for sending it. I have a few more questions to ask if you are available but the forum won't let me send a private message.

Any change you could private message me your email address so that we could begin a correspondence?

jfield25 wrote:I have a few more questions to ask if you are available but the forum won't let me send a private message.

You should be able to send one now.

Does anyone have a work around to send text through tools?
I'm using an iPhone 12. I can create a list for my presidency members and send a text to them, but any other list doesn't send. Are there limits to group size? I've kept lists to sizes of 8-12. Is that something I can change in my phone preferences? I can send email to all of the lists that I've created in Member tools, so I'm thinking that my problem is phone or carrier based. I'm willing to buy a new phone to make this practical.

We used to have a lot of success reaching families through email and social media, but everyone's habits changed in 2020 and we are having to resort to other methods. Text seems to be the most appreciated mode of communication, lately.

mariamherrmann wrote:Does anyone have a work around to send text through tools?
I'm using an iPhone 12. I can create a list for my presidency members and send a text to them, but any other list doesn't send. Are there limits to group size? I've kept lists to sizes of 8-12. Is that something I can change in my phone preferences? I can send email to all of the lists that I've created in Member tools, so I'm thinking that my problem is phone or carrier based. I'm willing to buy a new phone to make this practical.

Many have reported carrier limitation as being the problem.

Most of my RS sisters would like a text reminder of activities in addition to the monthly email. I could use some instructions regarding Twilio and how to set up an account. I went on their website and was immediately overwhelmed. I am not tech-savvy and need some specific instructions if anyone has them. Also, some guidance on the excel spreadsheet that was mentioned. I'm willing to put in the work, but I need to know how to do it.

Editing lists
I have used the list on LDS tools to send out texts to our sisters now I'm the Relief Society Secretary. It will not let me delete any of the old list I have made years ago.

Debrabcox wrote: It will not let me delete any of the old list I have made years ago.

In Member Tools, if you select the list and then click on the three-dot menu, you should see an option to delete the entire list.

Hey guys I have been making good progress on the SMS web application using twilio. Please find below the official domain name.. Please note the application is free to use and I can help setup your ward

the only work required is doing the twilio setup. Which I have documented but seems to change often as they keep re-designing the UI.

https://ward-notification-pager.io

if you are interested in trying it for your ward. please PM me

I have been used it for my ward since the pandemic for about 8 months for zoom meeting links and as things started to open up a bit more we have been using it more as an alert reminder of activities like ward conferences, ward activities, etc.

my email without spaces

southbayldstech @ gmail

Once you email me I can send you some demo credentials so you can try it out and let me know if you are interested in using..

Another update this past month I pushed out some more updates including ability to schedule messages to go out in the future. This was a request as I did a demo for another ward. Here is a list of the current future set

if interested or want to see a demo we can schedule something my email again is without spaces

southbayldstech @ gmail.com

- Schedule messages to be sent in the future for better planning
- Excel import for quicker loading of contacts.
- When toggled creates consent messages letting contacts of enrollments of notifications
- Ability to Opt Out through STOP / UNSUBSCRIBED by not sending text messages should a contact reply with stop words
- Connect with twilio API
- supports Church Ward Organizations/Groups
- Create custom groups to target messages to
- Creating messages with a preview cost to compose cost effective messages
- Receive inbound text messages (*requires setup of web-hook for twilio number)
- Disable/Enable contacts to stop receiving
- Ability to Restart announcement enrollment by user texting START back to twilio phone number.
- Monitor Twilio Cost before sending messages.
- Keeps history of sent messages
- Ability to customize auto-reply when users send messages to twilio number.

This sounds amazing @pabloh007! I have a custom domain and would love to add this ability too - can you PM me? Even though I’ve had an account for years, I can’t use PM yet!

jjmandeville wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:29 pm Even though I’ve had an account for years, I can’t use PM yet!

You can now.

pabloh007 wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 7:07 pm I have wrote a quick overview of the system. I am only sending links through private messages for now so if you are interested private message me for credentials.

@pabloh007. Our ward would very much be interested in a demo of your designed text messaging system. I tried the example download link but it fails to download correctly. My email is 4kevinhorton@gmail.com if you wanted to send that to me. I understand in order to use this messaging we would need a Twilio account. Our Elder's Quorum would appreciate any time you could give us to share more.

We have a large ward and email/FB is not sufficient for the tools that texting can provide. Appreciate your feedback and connecting with us.

Best,
Kevin

Hello everyone,
After about a year since I've been on this thread I have finally added the ability to request more info about using the text notification tool using twilio. For more info see the landing page and you can request information.

https://ward-notification-pager.io

You can find more information at the home page below and also request more info.

Some quick FAQ
is the application free to use?
Yes the managing of contacts, organizations and integration with twilio is totaly free!

What are the twilio costs?
This varies depending on how many contacts you are sending messages to and also how long are you text messages. I have tried my best to estimate the cost before sending the message that way users can shorten messages to
be more cost effective.

Can you receive messages in the application?
Yes, there will be instructions sent to you on how to connect twilio inbound messages and forward them to the app so you have 1 place to view outbound/inbound messages

Can you import a spreadsheet of contacts?
Yes, there is an import tool you can use to import a max of 200 contacts at a time. If you have 400 contacts do 2 spreadsheet imports.

Is there a limit of how many contacts?
Currently I haven't yet reached a limit.

Security and permissions?
Each ward has it's own separated space in the app. When someone signs up a new ward is created and users are assigned to a ward. Users can't not see each others ward contacts. This is super important because each ward
has it's own twilio account and phone number and must be isolated at all times.

Email Notifications?
When you have enabled to receive messages in the application, each user can opt in to receive an email and then a user can take any action if necessary.

Can contacts opt-out to receive text messages?
Yes if a user replies STOP to a message send by your ward twilio will flag as unsubscribed phone number. When you send a message to this contact twilio will notify the app and in response the application will unsubscribe and
disable the contact. This contact will not receive any more messages. If at a later time they op-in then the user will be re-enabled and will continue to receive messages.

Is there a twilio discount to send messages?
No, unfortunately there are not discounts. However if you reference other wards you may receive credits from twilio. Look into the twilio referral program

Is there going to be a mobile app?
At this time no, the app works well on mobile browsers it was built and tested around mobile phones.

Finally thanks to all the wards that are currently using it as it has made the application better with suggestions!.

pabloh007 wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 6:41 pm Recently I finished writing a web application for sending text messages to quorums and organizations.
I'm currently using it with my ward. There is a dependency on Twilio service to message groups/organizations.
If you would like to try it send me a message and I can create credentials and ward name along with a url.
Again you do need to have a twilio account setup I think they have $20 free credit to do some testing.

My user case may be unique.

We use it send zoom links for sacrament meeting and also for sunday school/relief society and elders quorum classes.

I went this route because most people in my ward have abilities to receive texts easily but not as much as reading emails or having a facebook account.

One of the benefits is you have one virtual phone number incoming texts go to that you can setup with a auto-bot reply. etc.

others are members usually check texts more frequently than emails

@pabloh007 let’s talk, I have been thinking about getting something spun up to resolve this issue. If anyone else is interested in making something, you can reach me through my website willardgmoore.com

New Updates to the ward sms texting app.

New links
Get the latest FAQ
https://ward-notification-pager.io/about
Request demo credentials to try out the application
https://ward-notification-pager.io/contact

Also new features.
- You can now receive email notifications when you receive an inbound text message. You just need to opt in your user. - If you have phone numbers to include in text messages but don't want to create actual contacts you can use temp contacts when composing a new message. any questions please PM me or contact me through the link above

New Updates to the ward-notification-pager app!
- Ability to customize organization/group greeting messages
- Small re-design to contact views/Updates

Request demo credentials to try out the application
https://ward-notification-pager.io/contact

Hey everyone! I have added more documentation to the FAQ about the sms texting application.

If you are interested in trying it out use the contact form below
https://ward-notification-pager.io/contact
You will receive demo credentials which you can use to get a feel for the how the app works. Please note importing of contacts is disabled on the demo account

If you decide to give it a try for your ward I will create the ward for you along with your user or users if more than 1 will need access . You can then start looking at importing contacts etc..

More documentation on the FAQ Page.
https://ward-notification-pager.io/about

How organizations work in the application
https://ward-notification-pager.io/1c64 ... 9eef0a.pdf


Also due to new carrier sms rules I have put a throttle in place of how many sms we can send per minute at a maximum of 50 per minute. so if you have 100 contacts that need to receive a message we will send 50 wait and send the next 50 in the next minute.

Sorry if this has been answered... Can users (members) join w/o an admin having to add them? Can I hand the SMS number to them and tell them to send the word "join", or something like that? I can see that you would want an approval process, but with high turnover in some of our wards, seems like this can get hairy.

Hey @dotson98,
Thanks for the suggestion! I have definitely thought about adding such functionality. We don't support that right now. But I can put it in the development roadmap. One thing to note is that self registering in the beginning can be cause some overhead for cost. As you get charged inbound/outbound message segments. so for example someone wanting to join would require about 5 messages see below

inbound-text: JOIN
outbound-text: reply thanks for joining please send first and last name
inbound-text: john doe
outbound-text: now we need to know your primary org reply [RS, EQ, YM, YW]
opt-out-message: Thank you for joining to stop receiving message simply reply 'STOP' to this number

Once I have this developed, I will post again in this forum if you want to try it out.

Hey Everyone,
Just pushed out a feature that may help some users. Depending on the volume of contact a text message contains it may be filtered by the carrier. Even though the limit of 1 sms per second is respected by twilio carriers have their own filters. Introduced a rate-limit feature if you are getting messages filtered. It is not publicly disclosed what criteria carriers use to filter. To enable go to ward settings and enable You can set how often release messages per interval.

So let's say you have a message that will go out to 100 contacts.
It would send the first 50, and then schedule the next 50 to go out in the next 5 minutes.

Thanks Pabloh007!
Keep up the great work with this very useful tool.

An update on the throttling message releases. Instead of counting an sms to a contact Ive updated to count the number of segments. So far testing looks good and very small amount of filtered messages. While I'm still working out what is the best rate for now this works well. You can also read up on a more full explanation about segments.

TLDR
Segments is the way twilio sends to carrier messages the longer your message the more segments you user per contact.
https://ward-notification-pager.io/about

Hello everyone I hope this message finds you well. There have been quite a few updates to the ward messaging application.

- Updates on throttle message delivery to avoid messages being classified as spam
- SMS message editor now calculates segments and non GSM characters
- FAQ includes document explaining how organizations/groups work in the app
- Contact Page now includes a message field (Specify if you want an account right away or just a demo account access)
- One time use numbers when composing SMS messages (If you target a group/org and only need to copy a person once, you can enter up to 15 temp numbers)

Overview on how groups/organization work in the application, It is actually quite flexible on you can organize groups of contacts
https://ward-notification-pager.io/1c64 ... 9eef0a.pdf

Overview how you connect twilio with the application
https://ward-notification-pager.io/308e ... 44ae56.pdf

If you want to use the app, hit me up on the contact page and let me know if you need a access to a demo account or if you need a ward created for you to use along with any emails of users that will need access to your ward.
https://ward-notification-pager.io/contact

You can report bugs/feature/comments to my email which you will get once you start using the app.

Hey Everyone Add support to the app to be a bit more tailored depending on ward type.
YSA, Standard, Seminary Class.

You can now have a seminary class created for your stake or ward. I'm from California so the seminary class may be bit different . For instance we have a couple of seminary classes for the whole stake so we are starting by onboarding 1 class and see how it goes. In a nutshell it's a WARD with less organizatins/groups that is a bit more helpful. Same features as a full ward and users can create orgs/groups to tailor the needs.

The ward type now appears in most menus so you will see if it's standard, ysa, or seminary.

If you want to use the app, hit me up below and in the comment write the type of ward you are looking for. (standard,ysa, or seminary)
https://ward-notification-pager.io/contact

Thanks!

@pabloh007 -

That app looks amazing! I have been toying with writing something like that for a while.

Too bad there is no way to integrate it with the Church's site so you don't have to import all the contacts again!

I am a bit worried that my Bishop will not want me to upload all the contacts into a system that I don't own. (I sure hope he will let me do it!)

Either way, thank you for all the hard work on making this site, and sharing it with us all!

Hey @Vaccano, For seminary one thing the teacher did before using the app is ask the parents permissions to be contacted by text in a signup sheet. That gives you consent to add those numbers to the system. Or you can use a google doc form to get's people consent. The app also allows you to send an enrollment message and contacts can opt out if the choose to. The app will record them as unsubscribed contacts which you can then delete them as twilio wont allow you to send messages to them either way.

Is there an updated app for YSA communications via text?

Yes we do have some YSA ward using the app now. Whenever you are treads to try submit your info here

https://ward-notification-pager.io/contact

If there is a ward out there using this not only for ward level communications but also for the various organizations on a regular basis I would love to understand what your Twilio costs look like? I'd really hate to get this setup and get everyone onboard using it only to find out the cost is somewhat prohibitive if we use it as intended and frequently across the ward. Thanks!

Hey @kirkmeyers Having used the tool on my ward for the 2022 on a pretty regular basis. It averages for us about $20 a month. We have active ward member count of about 100. The cost will depend largely on how many members you have and how long are the messages you sent. The tool does have some features to reduce cost. As you compose messages you will see the estimated cost to send the message for a specific group. You can then edit/modify the message to reduce the size. Recently we have opted to send flyers with our messages to reduce the cost even further. We do this by sharing the url of the flyer and then using a URL Shortner that is built in the app to reduce the character count. That has worked well for us. If you are interested there is a contact page where we can further discuss.
https://ward-notification-pager.io/contact

Hi pabloh007,

I'm interested in trying out your web application. Could you send me your email and details to
[email address redacted; this is a public forum]

Thank you!

pabloh007 wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 6:41 pm Recently I finished writing a web application for sending text messages to quorums and organizations.
I'm currently using it with my ward. There is a dependency on Twilio service to message groups/organizations.
If you would like to try it send me a message and I can create credentials and ward name along with a url.
Again you do need to have a twilio account setup I think they have $20 free credit to do some testing.

My user case may be unique.

We use it send zoom links for sacrament meeting and also for sunday school/relief society and elders quorum classes.

I went this route because most people in my ward have abilities to receive texts easily but not as much as reading emails or having a facebook account.

One of the benefits is you have one virtual phone number incoming texts go to that you can setup with a auto-bot reply. etc.

others are members usually check texts more frequently than emails

I have an app that does mass text. It’s like 4 years old almost and it works well to reach out to ward members


You can google ward-notification-pager and send a request for a demo. The app is completely free you just pay for the twilio charges.

On average our ward spends like $20 a month sometimes less. It depends how much we use it.

The concern I'd have with ward-notification-pager is you need to disclose contact information to a third party. I'm not seeing a privacy policy.

I do have a privacy policy that I had to create. Feel free to check it out

https://ward-notification-pager.io/privacy