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Need suggestions in solving a problem.

I'm attempting to duplicate what I’ve observed in the Nordstrom Twilio SMS/MMS showcase example on the Twilio web site. It’s very cool. I too want to build a server/client app that will work with Twilio SMS to allow me to interact, through Twilio, with multiple customers except, in my case, I’m a one person company. The situation includes multiple customer numbers, one Twilio intermediary number, and one customer service mobile phone (me) handling all the customer requests. I’d like to view and interact in threaded message conversations identical to the iOS Messages app.

From the Twilio short video and write up, it looks like the phone app is the standard iOS Messages app. However, that does not appear possible. It seems like both a custom phone app and a custom server app are required to handle the logic and routing of messages in and out. I’m wanting to have a single published SMS number where SMS callers can directly make a request through the one published SMS number.

Any suggestions on how to approach this in a simpler way? I could use a pool of Twilio numbers and assign one to a conversation request as needed, but in my case, I’d like a persistent connection number with the customer for months or more.

Snow Man AK
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Twilio developer evangelist here.

You can achieve this using just the one Twilio number. You would want to build an application that you can receive and send messages to the end users with.

You can create threads with each user by sorting the messages by the number they are sent to/from (that is, all messages from a user will have their number as the from number, all messages to that user will have their number as the to number).

I've been working on a web application that produces a simple SMS app for a Twilio number, you can find the source code on GitHub here: https://github.com/philnash/sms-messages-app

Let me know if that helps at all.

philnash
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  • Looks like Twilio is now addressing the problem of interacting with customers over SMS and Chat head on with their new products: Proxy and Channels. I look forward to using them with they are available. Thank you. Apple seems to recognize the customer interaction problem also with their new Business Chat service. I like the non-proprietary Twilio approach better. – Snow Man AK Jun 12 '17 at 23:56
  • You are right there. If you're interested, make sure you sign up for early access to [Proxy](https://www.twilio.com/proxy) and [Channels](https://www.twilio.com/marketplace/channels). – philnash Jun 12 '17 at 23:58
  • I've signed up thanks. Can I send you a photo of my current solution? I think you'd laugh. Using a simple Ruby app on Heroku, and not yet having access to proxy and channels, I have put all the customer conversations into on iOS Messages conversation flow. Every incoming message is prepended in the body with the customers' phone number and I manually prepend every outbound message with the customers' phone number. The app parses, sends, and receives through one Twilio number and my phone. It's a mess. Hurry up with Proxy and Channels! – Snow Man AK Jun 13 '17 at 02:30
  • That's no joke, I've definitely hooked up that exact flow for conversations too! Glad we'll be able to handle it better with Proxy soon enough. – philnash Jun 13 '17 at 10:06
  • Anything definitive on when Proxy+Channels will be available? Really looking forward to GA. No response from the Early Access request. – Snow Man AK Aug 10 '17 at 21:54
  • I'm afraid I have no more information on a release of either Proxy or Channels for you right now. Sorry! – philnash Aug 11 '17 at 08:13