Reach people who aren't in the app — and external contacts during an incident — by text. whoot. SMS routes inbound texts into a room and sends outbound alerts to a recipient list, all from your own numbers.
How SMS Works in whoot.
whoot. is voice-first — but not everyone you need is in the app, and during an incident you may need to reach people on nothing more than a mobile in their pocket. SMS closes that gap. It lets a text message flow into a room, and lets your team send alerts out to external contacts, all from numbers you own.
Two Directions
SMS in whoot. moves in two distinct directions, and it helps to keep them separate in your head:
Inbound — When someone texts one of your numbers, the message lands inside a room as an ordinary message that every member can see. This is how a person without the app gets a line into the conversation.
Outbound — Your team sends SMS as part of an emergency alert from Security Operations, broadcast to a recipient list of external contacts. Outbound SMS is alert-driven, not free-form chat.
whoot. SMS is not a general "text anyone" messaging product. Inbound texts attach to a room; outbound texts go out as alert broadcasts to a list. If you're looking to send one-off marketing texts, this isn't that.
Where It's Managed
Phone Numbers(Admin) — Buy numbers and switch SMS on or off for each one.
SMS Recipient Lists(Admin) — Build and maintain the lists of external contacts that outbound alerts text.
Security Operations(Enterprise) — Where alerts are actually fired, including the SMS broadcast to your lists.
Throughout these docs, a room is the space your members talk in (the product term for what was once called a "channel"). Every SMS number is attached to exactly one room.
What You Need
An SMS-enabled number, attached to the room you want texts to reach.
For outbound alerts, one or more recipient lists of the contacts to notify.
Security Operations (an Enterprise feature) to fire the alerts that send those texts.