Build SMS Text Message Into Your Web Apps : Twilio API

Twilio API:
It allows building apps that send and receive SMS using phone numbers. This API helps to enable users to communicate with your app.

How it works?

Twilio API

 

We can use it with the help of different languages i.e. PHP, PYTHON, RUBY, JAVA, .NET, PERL

How to Start?
It’s very to start with Twilio. Before, going to coding; first create your account in Twilio.

1. Create account in Twilio.
2. Get verified your mobile number.

It will provide you Twilio phone number and you can start with your test account; to get more features you have to upgrade your account.

How to Start

You can also choose your number from different regions. But, Twilio still not started with Indian numbers. When you go to your dashboard, there you can see Twilio provides Account SID and Auth Token for your account which Twilio use to get details for the account.

Dashboard-Twilio

 

I used this twilio API in Code Igniter.

Sending Text Message via REST API

1. Download the Twilio-PHP library for CI
2. Put config file “twilio.php” inside config folder and twilio library file into libraries folder.

Twilio-PHP library

 

3. Create your controller to handle text message.

Twilio-PHP library for CI

4. Go to your twilio account and set URL which will call your script and SAVE.

Twilio Account

 

Here, now all set. 🙂 Now, you can do message to twilio number and twilio will respond you back with message “Hi! I am from Twilio API” for this code. 🙂

Additional Features:
Under Dev Tools tab, you can monitor your API. You can check for your error here.

Additional Features

Other good one is Logs tab.

It maintain all log details related to messaging like time, to, from and SMS body. You can also create CSV of your logs.

Twilio Message

The interesting feature is you can also set Geographic permissions for message sending and receiving.

Geographic Permissions

I found this API very interesting to work.
You can use this API in your project for various purposes like Alert Notification, Advertising, create Conversational Apps, Reminders, Promotions, Location based Services, etc. I hope this will help to save your lot of time while implementing this feature for your site.

 

Written By: Naincy Gupta, Software Engineer, Mindfire Solutions