SMS Messaging
Your AI bot can receive and respond to SMS text messages using the same phone number as voice calls. Customers text a question, and the bot replies with an answer from your knowledge base — no app downloads or website visits required.
How SMS Works
A customer sends an SMS to your business phone number with their question.
Twilio or Telnyx receives the SMS and forwards it to Voquii via a webhook.
The AI searches your knowledge base and generates a response — the same RAG pipeline used by the chat widget and phone AI.
The response is sent back to the customer as a text message through your phone provider.
Each phone number gets its own conversation thread, so follow-up questions work naturally and the bot has context from previous messages.
Enabling SMS
Go to Settings → Phone AI in your dashboard.
Toggle "SMS Enabled" to on. The same phone number will now handle both voice calls and text messages.
Send a text message to your phone number from another phone. You should receive an AI-generated reply within a few seconds.
SMS Behavior
- Concise responses — Replies are kept under 160 characters when possible to fit within a single SMS segment.
- Plain text only — No markdown, emojis, or URLs in responses. Content is optimized for SMS readability.
- Safety gate applies — Blocked queries (medical advice, legal questions, PII requests) receive safe, deterministic responses, just like the chat widget.
- Conversation history — The bot remembers previous messages in the thread, so customers can ask follow-up questions naturally.
Sending SMS from Dashboard
You can also send outbound SMS to customers directly from the dashboard. This is useful for:
- Following up after an appointment
- Sending a quick update after a conversation
- Reaching out to a lead captured through the chat widget
Note: Outbound SMS uses the same phone number configured in your Phone AI settings. Standard carrier rates apply through your Twilio or Telnyx account.
Provider Setup
No extra configuration is needed beyond what you already set up for Phone AI. Both providers handle SMS automatically.
Twilio
SMS handling is automatic once your phone number is configured. Twilio routes voice calls and SMS to different webhooks — Voquii handles both. No additional Twilio setup is required.
Telnyx
Same as Twilio — SMS events are handled automatically once the number is connected to your Telnyx application. Voice and SMS share the same connection.
SMS in Analytics
SMS conversations appear in your analytics dashboard under the "SMS" channel. You can:
- View total SMS conversations and messages over time
- Filter conversations by the SMS channel
- Export SMS conversations separately for reporting
- Track response times and resolution rates for SMS interactions