Like many here, I am a SmartThings convert. There are very few features that SmartThings has that HE doesn't allow. One of those, however, was the ability to send free SMS notifications. Yes, I do use the integrated HE push notifications for many of my events, but there are a few more "urgent" events that I also like text notifications as I tend to see them quicker and have a much smaller chance of missing them.
Yes, I am aware that there is a 3rd party (twilio) that allow this for a small fee and some folks use "Sendmail" to email to your phones email to sms service (but those are going away for many carriers in the very near future).
I found a Free way to do the SMS notfications and all it took was my old SmartThings hub I still had.
How to do this:
Install MIRA and link your HE hub to your ST hub
Create a Virtual Dimmer switch in HE and share that with your ST hub via MIRA
In ST:
Creat a routine to the effect: If Dimmer is between 2-100 for 5 seconds, set dimmer to 1.
Then Creat routine: If Dimmer is 100, send SMS "xxxxx" and routine "If Dimmer is 99, send SMS "yyyyy"" and so on.
Then in your HE automations, where ever you want the text notification to send, just set the virtual dimmer switch to the appropriate level.
ST sees that level change, sends the appropriate text message for the dimmer level and then 5 seconds later sets it back to 1% to "reset" it and wait for the next text message.
For those like me that are ST Converts, I'm guessing you have your old Hub just sitting in a drawer not being used, or do still have it implemented to control the few devices that HE isn't compatable with (yet).....like my Levolor Motorized Blinds.
Note: This isn't a 100% solution. I have found that on occasion, Mira doesn't update at all (very rare), or updates late (somewhat rare). So, on these "importat" notifications I have texts sent, I do still use HE push notifications as well.
While these end up as SMS notifications at your phone, you've built a Rube Goldberg machine that depends upon processing in the SmartThings Cloud (which has been highly unreliable in the past) and a whole bunch of data connections in between. There are lots of places for delays or lost messages. Using HE Push Notifications is an order of magnitude simplier and more reliable.
If you really want free (or near-free) SMS messages, you might want to look here: [Release] Textbelt SMS Notification Driver. It uses an external service to initiate the SMS, but directly via an API.
I'd also plug Pushover here for notifications. It's not free, but it's a cheap one-time lifetime license.
Thinking it couldn't possibly be as awesome as everyone claims, I held out on it for a while after moving from ST to HE, but after finally giving it a whirl, I can 100% confirm it is indeed awesome.
I've been using it for years now, and it has never missed an alert or been problematic in any way. The customiziability of its alert priorities is the greatest feature -- I sleep like the dead, but the Emergency setting will wake me up no matter what the quiet/focus mode is on my iPhone/watch.
HE's native Pushover integration covers everything I need, but there's a well-supported community intergration for it too.
I understand that Habitat used to support Texts, but stopped without explanation. I really wish they would provide this service, perhaps as an annual subscription, and with limited number of texts or other limitations.
If I recall correctly, it was explained at the time pretty clearly. The cost of providing a free SMS service was becoming a burden on the company, especially as the number of Hubitat users was growing very rapidly. SmartThings actually dropped free SMS messaging outside of North America years ago for the same reason.
Nope, it's the best TBR and works very reliably. I also have some old Osram bulbs that have been running flawlessly for over 5 years and any other device that HE is not happy about. I have to say the ST automations rarely if ever, need any fiddling around, and they're fast.
Do you have any examples of such a solution? Everything I have looked at in the past requires the use of a vendor specific API to implement SMS and/or MMS messaging. Hubitat chose to use Twilio's API for their built-in SMS messaging solution.
I am not aware of a universal SMS messaging API that all vendors conform to. The actual SMS messages themselves, yes. But not the means to get then text on the SMS network, so to speak.
Agree with this statement. I have used several communication providers such as Twilio and Plivo at work as my company's software integrates with them. In early 2018 just after HE was launched I wrote and shared a Twilio HE driver and HE staff asked if they could include this in the platform so assume the inbuilt driver is similar to my early version.
Each communication provider has their own RESTful APIs so a single driver would be a bit complex to maintain. I have shared 3 different SMS drivers (Twilio, Plivo, and Textbelt) and while similar they are all very different and also more importantly have different reach and cost across the globe because of regulation differences with SMS and voice communications.
I had PM'ed staff a few years ago when the US 10DLC requirements went into effect about the possibility of them providing an optional pay SMS service for customers and they wanted to keep things simple. Costs vary dramatically internationally so coming up with a SMS pricing model for all global HE customers is very difficult and something they didn't want to pursue.
I am remembering back when I used to Administer a Palo Alto firewall to send SMS to other Admins. All I had to do was research their cell carrier's sms gateway and aim at a URL with a field filled out with the Alert message and their phone number. I do not recall needing any SID or Tokens or APIs to make it work. Just their Carrier and phone number. Sadly times have changed.
Twilio was great before 10DLC but it’s not just them it’s all the major providers covering their rears. Text spam has ruined things.
Unfortunately 10DLC made things much more difficult for us developers or home automation enthusiasts who want SMS alerts. I was very happy when I found Textbelt recently but assume they are a front end to a shared Twilio or Plivo account.
TBH, it wasn’t really too bad getting approved for a 10DLC campaign. I encourage anyone interested to try. Somewhere on here, I posted my exact entries when I registered. I had to wait about 3 weeks to be approved, but it wasn’t really any hassle. They approved it with no questions asked.
