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Introduction

Messaging lets you create a personal contact that users can call and text. Use the same phone numbers for voice and SMS (and RCS when enabled), with one place to manage conversations and pathways.

• Pathway-driven replies — Prompts with backchanneling and pauses are automatically stripped from messages so replies stay clean and professional.
• Conversation lifecycle — When a conversation ends, the agent stops responding. Restart by deleting the conversation or its messages in the messaging dashboard, then start a new thread.
• Pricing — Each SMS message is billed at $0.02 (inbound and outbound).

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RCS (Rich Communication Services)

Bland supports RCS so you can deliver rich, interactive messages—verified business profiles, suggested replies, action buttons, cards, and media—using the same APIs and endpoints as SMS. No separate integration is required.

• Same endpoints as SMS — Use the same send/receive and conversation endpoints; if your number has an RCS profile set up (via your Messaging Service), Bland automatically defaults to RCS when the recipient supports it.
• Automatic content templates — We generate RCS content templates from your pathways and conversation flow: quick replies, action buttons, and rich cards are derived from your node logic and messaging context so replies stay on-brand and on-path.

If you’re interested in enabling RCS for your numbers, contact your Account Executive to get set up. What RCS looks like An RCS conversation can show a verified business profile, structured messages, and tap-to-reply options; your business profile can display verification and contact details.

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Quick start

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How to create a messaging contact

Visit the Messaging page and click Configure SMS for Phone Numbers. Click any phone number you own, then click Setup SMS. You can set up a number with either a prompt or a pathway, similar to configuring your phone number for inbound calls. Once saved, a toast appears so you can receive a test SMS from the number. You can manage your messaging conversations from the dashboard.

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Using an existing voice pathway for messaging

If you have an existing voice pathway and want a similar setup for messaging, create an SMS pathway by cloning from that pathway’s page: click Clone current pathway. To link an inbound number to your SMS pathway, click Set Inbound Number to SMS Pathway. When testing your SMS pathway, send a test SMS to the number and view pathway logs from the pathway page—iterate the same way you would for a voice pathway.

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Merging changes between voice and SMS pathways

If you change your voice pathway and want those changes in your SMS pathway (or the other way around), you can merge them. Click the Sync button. A modal opens so you can select the pathway to merge from. You can see the differences between the two pathways and choose the SMS pathway, the voice pathway, or a custom edit for the node, pathway label, or global prompt. You can resolve conflicts for: Global prompts Nodes Pathway labels Finally, review the summary of changes that will be applied. After you confirm, the changes are applied so you can keep your SMS and voice pathways in sync.

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Outcomes, citations, and summaries

SMS conversations support the same post-conversation analytics as voice calls. When a conversation ends (via timeout, end-call node, or opt-out), the platform can automatically run outcomes, extract citations, and generate summaries.

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Configuring per number

In the Messaging dashboard, each SMS number can be configured with:

• Outcome IDs — outcomes to evaluate when conversations end
• Citation schema IDs — citation schemas to extract from the conversation transcript
• Summary prompt — a custom prompt to generate a conversation summary

These are returned in the List SMS Numbers endpoint under sms_config.

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Configuring per request

You can also pass disposition_ids and citation_schema_ids directly in the Send SMS or Send SMS Batch request body. If omitted, the values configured on the SMS number are used automatically. Per-request values override the number’s configuration when provided.

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Webhook payloads

All SMS webhooks include a channel field ("sms", "rcs", or "whatsapp") so you can identify the delivery channel. When a conversation ends, the status webhook includes the full conversation context:

• variables — pathway variables collected during the conversation
• metadata — custom metadata passed when the conversation was created
• pathway_tags — tags from pathway nodes visited during the conversation
• concatenated_transcript — the full conversation transcript as a single string
• summary — AI-generated summary (when a summary prompt is configured)
• citations — extracted citation variables (when citation schemas are configured)
• dispositions — outcome run results (when outcomes are configured)

Message webhooks also include variables, metadata, pathway_tags, and created_at for parity with voice call webhooks. For more on outcomes and citations, see Outcomes and Citations.

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BYOT & A2P

In the United States, all phone numbers used for SMS must be registered with an A2P (Application to Person) campaign. Each number must be linked to a Twilio Messaging Service SID to send and receive SMS. Numbers purchased from Bland are linked to a Messaging Service SID automatically. For bring-your-own (BYOT) numbers, the ability to set up your own A2P campaign in Bland is coming soon. Until then, set up your A2P campaign with Twilio and pass the Messaging Service SID when configuring your SMS number in Bland.

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API reference

Use these endpoints to send messages, manage conversations, and configure numbers. All work for both SMS and RCS. For webhooks, delivery status, and number updates, see the Messaging section in the API Reference.

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Coming up

• A Transfer Chat node for messaging, replacing Transfer Call so you can transfer to an agent from an SMS conversation.
• A2P campaign setup within Bland.

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Related

• Conversational Pathways — Build the flows that power your messaging and voice agents.
• Memory — Cross-channel memory so the same contact is recognized across calls and SMS.
• Outcomes — Define rules that classify what happened in each conversation.
• Citations — Extract structured data from conversation transcripts.
• Post-Call Webhooks — Webhook payloads for both voice calls and SMS conversations.
• Billing — SMS pricing and usage.