How to set up a Twilio SMS inbox in Front
Overview
Twilio is a service that provides phone numbers to send and receive SMS and calls, built on an API meant for global scale. Front's Twilio channel integration allows you to send and receive SMS messages in an inbox in Front using a regular phone number or a shortcode, and use all the collaborative features of Front just like with email.
Instructions
Step 1
Click the gear icon on the top right of Front and into the Company or Personal settings tab, depending on which space you are working with. Admins can also access user settings by following these steps.
Step 2
Click on Inboxes on the left menu and Add an individual inbox or Add a team inbox, depending on which space you're in.
Step 3
Fill out the name and description of your inbox. Click Create.
Step 4
Choose SMS from the channel menu.
Step 5
Go to the Twilio website, and log in.
Step 6
You should now be looking at your Twilio console dashboard, which is where you will find your Account SID and Auth Token. Copy and paste those into your Front Twilio settings.
Step 7
Now, select a phone number from the dropdown.
Step 8 (optional)
If you don't see the number you need or if the number is a shortcode, click the link on the bottom that says Can't find your phone number in the list? Enter it manually.
You'll see a new box appear where you can enter the number you need. From your Twilio console, copy and paste the number you'd like to use into the Front inbox setup. If it's a regular phone number, the format should include the country code and the area code, like this: +1 (123) 456-7890.
Step 9
Click Verify Account. We will then automatically validate these credentials with Twilio. If you receive an error, please double check that you have entered everything correctly.
FAQ
Does my Twilio history import into Front?
Yes, Front will import 100 of the most recent message of your Twilio history into the Archived tab of the inbox. If you've used another SMS platform, that portion of the history might be importable via API, but feel free to contact us and we'll take a look.
Do Front and Twilio have a full two-way sync?
Not fully. All inbound messages should be received by Twilio and sent to Front. Any outbound messages sent directly from Twilio will only be imported into Front after a new inbound message is received in the conversation. Front will import up to 20 previous messages for any conversation.
Why did my messages stop coming into Front?
Check that the webhook in your Twilio settings is filled in with the Front webhook. Since Twilio only allows one webhook per phone number, connecting other apps to this phone number may override Front's webhook, thus stopping Front from receiving your messages.
Why can't I send SMS?
If you ever experience issues sending an SMS message in Front, check the Twilio console for the status of the message you sent. For reference, here's a dictionary of errors and warnings you may experience using Twilio.
How many contacts can I message at once?
Front allows you to send a single SMS message to 200 contacts at a time. On sending an SMS to a group of recipients, each recipient will receive their own individual copy of the message, in a 1:1 conversation between your SMS channel, and their number.
I'm trying to compose a Twilio message to a specific contact. Why isn't my contact showing up in the recipient field?
Only contacts that have an associated phone number will show up as suggested recipients when sending in a Twilio channel. In order for your contact to appear, you will need to first add their phone number by editing their contact information.
Pricing
This feature is available on all plans.
-
Thanks for this. Is it possible to use a rule to trigger an SMS auto response? I have successfully added Twilio to my Front account.
-
Chris Morris Hi! Yes, this is possible. If you have a rule you want us to take a look at, feel free to email us with the name of the rule you have created.
-
We use Twilio's Messaging Service to handle multiple numbers for each service. Is it possible to add a Front inbox for each service or add multiple Twilio numbers for one Front inbox?
-
Tea Nguy Yes, you can add multiple Twilio numbers to Front.
-
Cori Morris Follow up question, is there a limit, or what is the max amount of numbers we can add for one inbox? Some of our Twilio Messaging Services have 30+ numbers. Would it be possible to add the messaging service to an inbox instead of adding each number individually?
-
Tea Nguy You can add all 30 numbers as channels, and put all 30 in 1 inbox. There is no limit. But, you must add each one. There's no way to add them in bulk.
-
Cori Morris , we are using long codes, which means Twilio will respond to/manage any SMS opt-out requests. Do you know if there is a way to track opt-out requests in Front as they are received by Twilio?
-
Chris Morris The opt-in/opt-out is on Twilio's side. Those messages are treated by Twilio and not forwarded to Front so you can't manage them in Front.
-
Hi is there a way to edit an inbox's twilio connectio?. Especially the authentication and account sid.
-
Winston Young Not at this time. You will have to remove the channel and re-add it.
-
How can I set status callback for messages sent by Twilio? They provide such feature in their API.
-
Dominik Olczyk Front already sets the status callback for all sent messages so that we know they were successfully delivered and can log any failures.
-
Cori Morris Thanks you for the reply. How can I set custom status callback url? Is it possible? I need to track message status in my project also.
-
Dominik Olczyk Unfortunately, Twilio does not support multiple callback URL. It is important that the callback URL is Front's otherwise you will not receive your SMS in Front anymore.
I would recomment you to use Front's webhook & API to be notified of incoming SMS for a specific channel. You can read about it on https://dev.frontapp.com or if you have questions about it, feel free to contact api@frontapp.com . -
Hi,
I was wondering does the SMS API allow one way messages?
Thanks,
David
-
David Armstrong Are you wanting to block inbound messages? If so, Front will just accept whatever Twilio sends over. You could configure a rule to archive/delete inbound messages. Alternatively, it looks like you can configure your Twilio account to reject inbound messages as stated here: https://support.twilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/223181648-Is-there-a-way-to-block-incoming-SMS-on-my-Twilio-phone-number-
-
We set up a new Twilio number with this guide but the webhook for inbound SMS on Twilio didn't get set. It isn't mentioned in this guide, and if I'm not mistaken it happened automatically when configuring through Front before. Is there any way to get that webhook for an existing channel / inbox so I can add it to the Twilio #?
-
Jake T We'd be more than happy to provide that for you! Please email support@frontapp.com so that we can send the webhook to you privately.
-
Evan Ostroski Thanks Evan, sending an e-mail over now.
-
Hello, I am experiencing a big problem with Twilio integration. I live in France and when I add a french number bought at Twilio, there is no problem and everything seem fine. I can send and receive messages within Front.
But when I use a US number, Front allows me to send a SMS... but the message received by the phone is not 'from' the 'bought' number, but from a short number (ie : 36105)... And if I reply to this number, I will never see the answer in Front.
What is the problem? Is it temporary?
Thanks for the help.
-
Jerome Chouraqui Please email us at support@frontapp.com and we'll try to help with your specific case, though it may have to do with how Twilio is handling your messages. It'll be best to continue the discussion via email so we can look at your actual message logs.
-
Has anybody had any luck in integrating eg zapier to display the name of the sender in the twilio inbox ? we get alot of messages and always have to look for the customers name in our other inboxes . it would be wonderful if there was a way to match number with a name . any ideas ?
-
info@3xw.nu Hi there, could you write to us at support@frontapp.com with specifics of your channel and example conversation ID so we can see if there are any solutions we can provide? Thanks! :)
-
Hi - I use Front to send and receive twillio sms notifications. Love it! Works great!
I am now trying to set up some notifications that include image attachments (MMS I suppose). Can someone provide some guidance on the code to do this. I can manually create these messages in my Front dashboard ... but want to create some automated notifications that include a photo attachment.
Twillio has good documentaion on how to do directly with them .... but I want to send from Front, so I have the send / receive history.
Any tips or documentation appreciated.
-
Hi Daniel - this should work using canned responses, but I am experiencing some odd behavior when I test it. I've opened an issue to alert our engineering team so that they can look into it. I will post an update once we have an update!
