What this page is for
This page sets up the SMS (text message) channel. Only one provider sends at a time, and you can only choose a provider your business holds the add-on for — Africa's Talking, Twilio or Celcom Africa, each bought from Add-ons. Holding none leaves only the test provider, which sends nothing to anybody. Buying a provider add-on is all your business needs to send SMS: receipts, tax invoices, statements and points codes all go through it, with no separate messaging purchase.
Switching provider asks for the new one's account details and resets whether the connection is tested and whether its delivery reports are registered.
Only people whose role can manage settings see this page.
Fields
Provider
Which SMS provider sends your text messages. Only providers your business holds the add-on for are offered, alongside the test provider.
Example: Africa's Talking
Environment
Whether Tulindo sends through Africa's Talking's live service or its sandbox (the free test
service that delivers only to its own simulator). Shown only when Provider is Africa's
Talking, and Live unless you choose otherwise. Sandbox keys work only with the username
sandbox; live keys only with your app's username. A key used in the wrong environment is refused
by Africa's Talking, so changing Environment asks for the API key (and, for Live, the username)
again.
Example: Live
Username
Your Africa's Talking app username. Shown only when Provider is Africa's Talking and
Environment is Live, and required the first time you connect that provider or whenever you change
Environment. It is saved in lower case, so MyApp is saved as myapp. In Sandbox the
username is always sandbox, so the field is hidden.
Example: acaciagrill
API key
Your Africa's Talking or Celcom Africa account's API (application programming interface) key. Stored encrypted and never shown again. Celcom Africa's is under GET API KEY & PARTNER ID on its dashboard; Celcom Africa has no separate test service, so every text sent through it is real and uses your Celcom Africa credit.
Sender ID (optional)
The sender name registered with Africa's Talking: up to 11 letters and digits, or a phone number
in international form such as +254712345678. Customers see it as who the text is from. Leave it
empty to send from your account's default sender.
Example: ACACIAGRILL
Account SID
Your Twilio account's SID (security identifier), from your Twilio console. Shown only when Provider is Twilio.
Auth token
Your Twilio account's auth token, from your Twilio console. Stored encrypted and never shown again.
Sending number or sender ID
Your Twilio number in international form, such as +15005550006 or +254700000000, or a sender
ID of up to 11 letters and digits where Twilio allows one.
Example: +254700000000
Partner ID
Your Celcom Africa partner ID, from GET API KEY & PARTNER ID on your Celcom Africa dashboard. Shown only when Provider is Celcom Africa.
Example: 4521
Sender ID
The sender ID or shortcode registered with Celcom Africa: up to 11 letters and digits. Celcom Africa needs one on every text, so it cannot be left empty.
Example: ACACIAGRILL
Sender name
The name shown as who the text is from, when Provider is the test provider.
Send on this channel
Shown only once a connection is already saved. Switch off to stop sending without losing the details.
How to…
How to set up SMS
- Go to Messaging connections and press Set up on the SMS card, or go to Add-ons, buy a provider, and follow the link to set it up.
- Choose Provider — only providers your business holds the add-on for are offered.
- Fill in that provider's account details.
- Press Save connection.
- Back on Messaging connections, send a test and register delivery reports — for Africa's Talking and Celcom Africa, press Check credentials instead, since neither provider has a separate registration step.
How to switch provider
Choose the other provider in Provider, fill in its account details, and save. The previous provider stops sending at once, and a message that fails is never retried through it.
Delivery reports from Celcom Africa
Celcom Africa does not send Tulindo a report of what happened to each text, so a text sent through Celcom Africa stays at Sent in the message log and never moves to Delivered. Check delivery on your Celcom Africa dashboard if you need to. Replies such as STOP sent to a Celcom Africa sender ID do not reach Tulindo either.
If something goes wrong
- The page offers a link to Get SMS instead of a form — your business holds no SMS provider add-on yet. Buy one on Add-ons first.
- This business does not hold the add-on for that SMS provider, so nothing was sent or saved. — buy it from Add-ons, then try again.
- This SMS provider needs all of its account details before it can be saved. — fill in every empty field for that provider and save again.
- Africa's Talking refused the username or API key (401). — the username and key come from different apps, or the key is a sandbox key on Live (or the other way round). Check both come from the same app, and that Environment matches the key.
- Celcom Africa refused the partner ID or API key. — copy both again from GET API KEY & PARTNER ID on your Celcom Africa dashboard, save, and press Check credentials.
- A Celcom Africa text failed with 1001 Invalid sender ID — the sender ID is not registered with Celcom Africa. Use the one shown on your Celcom Africa dashboard.
- A Celcom Africa text failed with 1004 Low bulk credits — top up your Celcom Africa account.