Text messages

Let the assistant reply to inbound SMS.

Open AI Receptionist → Text Messages.

The same assistant that answers your phone can reply to text messages, using the same knowledge and the same rules.

Turning it on

Replies to text messages enables the channel. Once on, inbound SMS to your numbers is answered by the assistant instead of sitting in the Inbox unread.

Requirements

• A number with SMS capability. Not all numbers have it — check the capabilities before buying. See Buy a number.
• For US recipients, completed carrier registration. See US carrier registration (10DLC).

Texting US numbers without completed 10DLC registration results in messages being filtered or blocked by carriers. This is enforced by the carriers, not by LimeCall.

How text differs from voice

The assistant adapts, but a few things are worth knowing.

There is no end of the call. A text conversation can sit idle for hours and resume. The assistant keeps context across that gap.

Replies should be shorter. What reads naturally when spoken is too long as a text. The assistant compresses, but if you have written long scenario instructions, check how they read as messages.

People send fragments. Texters send several short messages in a row rather than one complete thought. The assistant waits briefly for a follow-up before replying, so it answers the whole thought rather than the first fragment.

What it can do over text

The same things it does on a call: answer from your knowledge, collect details, qualify the enquiry, book into your calendar, and hand over to a human.

Handing over works differently — instead of transferring a live call, the conversation is assigned to a person and appears in their Inbox. See Working a conversation.

Taking over yourself

Any conversation the assistant is handling can be taken over by a human at any point from the Inbox. The assistant stops replying on that thread as soon as you do.

This is the right response to a conversation going wrong — take it over, sort it out, and then fix the knowledge or scenario that caused it.

Opt-outs

Replies of STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE and similar are handled automatically: the contact is suppressed and no further messages are sent to them. This is a legal requirement in most markets and is not something you should override.

Auto-replies are not the assistant

LimeCall also has simple template auto-replies, configured under Settings → Messaging. Those are fixed text sent on a trigger. The assistant is a conversation. If you have both configured, make sure they are not both replying to the same message.