Send text messages in Zaps

Written by Owner

Updated at August 20th, 2025

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Table of Contents

Limitations Do not send prohibited text messages 1. Select your app and action event 2. Confirm your phone number 3. Customize your message 4. Test your step

You can send yourself text messages using SMS by Zapier. Zapier uses Twilio to send text messages.

Limitations

You can send up to 15 messages per hour.
You can only send messages to United States and United Kingdom phone numbers.
You can only send messages to confirmed phone numbers.
Text messages have a limit of 153 characters. Any additional characters will be truncated.
T-Mobile carrier numbers are not supported.

Tip

You can also send messages using WhatsApp.
If you need additional text message features, use one of the many text message apps available on Zapier.

Do not send prohibited text messages

Your use of SMS by Zapier is subject to Twilio's messaging policy. There are certain topics which cannot be mentioned in SMS by Zapier messages. If you send a text message that contains prohibited content, it will be blocked, and this may result in further action taken under our Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policy.

Text messages cannot contain any reference to:

Alcohol
Illegal drugs
Cannabis or CBD
Firearms
Gambling
Prescription medication
Tobacco
Adult content
Profanity
Hate or violence or harassment
Sexual or lewd
Self-harm

Zapier uses OpenAI to assist with filtering text messages before sending them.

1. Select your app and action event

In the Zap editor:

Click the Action step, or click the plus + icon to add an action to your Zap.
Search for and select SMS by Zapier.
Click the Event dropdown menu and select Send SMS.
Click Continue.

2. Confirm your phone number

In the dialog box, enter your phone number in the To Number field.
Select the method of confirmation you want to use:
- If you select SMS, a text message containing a PIN code will be sent to your phone number.
- If you select Call, you will receive a voice call containing a PIN code.
Click Send SMS.
In the Confirm PIN field, enter the PIN code you received.
Click Yes, Continue.

Note

Do not include any symbols with your phone number only use digits. For UK numbers, include the country code.

3. Customize your message

(Optional) In the From Number field, enter the phone number that you want to receive messages from.
In the Message field, enter the message that you want to send. You can include data from previous steps in your message.

4. Test your step

Click Test step. If the step is successful, you’ll receive a text message. The phone number your text message comes from will be a local number for the location, either United States or United Kingdom.

Once you’ve set up your SMS by Zapier action, you can add another action or finish setting up your Zap.