Twilio as a proxy for one-to-many SMS conversations -


i'm building small sms service consultant. wants clients able send smss single twilio number, , have them forward own phone number. when responds, wants responses appear twilio number (so conceal personal number), , maintain multiple conversations single twilio number proxying sms communication. imagine can using sessions, i'm not entirely sure how implement it?

any thoughts on approach?

twilio evangelist here.

this little tricky, have few options. main problem need send sms messages twilio number consultant, may contain multiple conversations. twilio keep session/cookies etc, unique 2 numbers. sms doesn't have allows add metadata, need @ few work-arounds.

the main problem here ux - if consultant receives sms customer's actual number , replies sms, sms go customer, not twilio. @ point, consultant 'leaked' direct mobile number.

let's go through message flow single customer:

the customer sends sms twilio proxy number:

customer -> twilio number -> consultant

then consultant replies twilio number, , forwarded on:

consultant -> twilio number -> customer

this fine. conversation can threaded on consultants phone twilio number. when consultant replies, app acts proxy, , forward message customer.

when add second customer, it's hard consultant know message from. because both come from same twilio number consultant's perspective!

customer1 -> twilio number -> consultant customer2 -> twilio number -> consultant

then reply:

consultant -> twilio number -> ??

when consultant replies, customer send message to? , conversation responding to? there couple of options:

1 multiple numbers

use single number customer sms consultant, multiple different numbers number when sending on customer. customers ever have 1 number, consultant has many different ones, 1 each customer. little pricey if consultant has hundreds of clients, @ $1 month/each!

2 pin codes

prefix each sms pin number identifies client. <id> <message>. when consultant responds, specify <id> of conversation replying to. it's not best user experience though, , make following message thread little tricky.

3 app

this favourite solution, requires little more work. build web or mobile native app them uses push notifications join between device , twilio. allows thread conversations seamlessly on original from/to number, rather having add data proxy conversation. allows consultant save numbers of customers, may given business card mobile number on it, , sms message may assume he's added number phone. means potentially access these sms messages anywhere, he's no longer tied own phone! work on tablet/laptop/desktop/whatever!

this quite tricky problem work with, because sms stateless. twilio preserve state, unique each pair of numbers, single pair (from/to) cannot have multiple session states.

i hope helps!


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