Answers for your next SMS workflow.

Follow the sending guide with a regional API key, an enabled US destination and a suitable US sender. Send to the documented sandbox recipient +15005550006 to exercise delivery events without contacting a real recipient. A message to your own phone is a real send.

Send messages, receive replies, manage senders and destinations, and inspect delivery outcomes. The product hub connects number types, registration, campaigns, analytics and the corresponding setup guides.

Use the destination catalogue to check current coverage, sender types and registration requirements. Enable the destination in your workspace before sending; coverage alone does not complete your sender setup.

US application-to-person messaging from local ten-digit numbers uses 10DLC brand and campaign registration. Toll-free and short-code programs have their own requirements. Choose the sender type first and follow its registration guide.

Campaign describes the marketing job: audience, content, timing and measurement. A broadcast is the sending resource that manages one audience send. The dashboard and Broadcast API are ways to operate that workflow.

Use individual SMS sends for application-triggered notifications. Use a campaign for a coordinated audience send with shared content, scheduling and progress. A batch of independent SMS requests is a different operation.

Yes. A contact can carry phone and email identifiers and shared properties. Channel eligibility, consent and suppressions still determine which messages that person can receive.

No. Standard SMS does not report opens. Delivery receipts, replies, configured link clicks and connected conversion events answer different questions and should be reported separately.

Use an agent to prepare and operate the workflow through Bird’s supported tools and workspace permissions. Review the recipients and message, and authorize the sending action as part of your process.

A batch contains up to 100 independent SMS messages. A broadcast targets an audience with shared content and manages preparation, scheduling, progress and recipient outcomes.

Membership is resolved when the scheduled send starts. A person added or removed before then can change that send’s audience. Inspect the resulting recipient snapshot when investigating the campaign.

Cancellation stops work that has not yet been submitted. Messages already handed to a carrier cannot be recalled, so inspect the recipient outcomes after cancellation settles.

Start with delivery counts and failures. Use separately configured reply, click and conversion signals to measure the action the campaign was intended to produce. Standard SMS does not produce an open event.

Per message, at a rate that depends on the destination country and the sender type you send from, so a US long code and a UK alphanumeric sender are priced separately. Rates are published per country on the SMS pricing page.

Yes, billing is per segment rather than per message. One segment holds 160 GSM-7 characters, or 70 once a single emoji or non-Latin character forces the whole message to Unicode. Longer text is split and every segment is billed, so a stray character can double a large campaign's cost.

Carrier fees apply per message and vary by destination and carrier. In the US, 10DLC also carries brand and campaign registration fees. Both are listed on the SMS carrier fees page.

The SMS log shows the segment count and cost on each individual message once it's priced; SMS metrics aggregates accepted volume, segments, and spend over time.

GSM-7 allows 160 units for one segment or 153 per multipart segment. Unicode allows 70 or 67. Extension characters and emoji can use more than one unit, so the visible character count is not enough to predict billing.

Bird accepts up to 12 segments and rejects a body over the limit. Use the encoding-aware segment count rather than treating a fixed visible-character count as the limit.

The batch endpoint accepts up to 100 independent messages. Use a broadcast workflow when the job is a campaign to an audience.

Use the rate-limit information returned by the API and the current account documentation. API request limits and carrier throughput are separate constraints.

Sender type, registration, destination and carrier requirements affect throughput. Plan around the approved sending program and investigate reported limits instead of assuming one global messages-per-second rate.

Choose by destination, required capabilities, traffic pattern and registration. A number’s type describes its network category; its capabilities tell you whether that number can carry SMS or voice.

No. Ownership, sender registration and an enabled destination are separate checks. A number can be allocated while compliance work is still outstanding.

No. Short codes are allocated by Bird through an assisted process. Ask an SMS specialist to review the market, program and traffic requirements.

Yes, when the allocated number lists both capabilities. Filter inventory by the capabilities you need and check the returned number; do not infer them from its type alone.

A short brand string shown in the SMS sender field instead of a phone number. It is an identity you claim and register where required, rather than a reply-capable number.

No. Use a number with SMS capability when the workflow needs replies. Prepare the appropriate opt-out mechanism for the campaign and destination.

Only where the destination permits that sender and no required registration remains. Enable the destination and inspect the sender’s country requirements before launch.

Toll-free messaging uses a separate verification program. Choose a number with SMS capability and complete toll-free verification for the intended use case.

No. Approval establishes eligibility for the program. Message content, recipient availability, suppressions and carrier conditions still affect delivery.

An SMS-capable toll-free number can support replies where the destination and carrier allow them. Subscribe to inbound events and review the relevant keyword handling.

A 10DLC is a ten-digit long code used for application-to-person messaging in the US under a registered brand and campaign. Long-code numbering and registration differ in other countries.

No. Check the capabilities on the specific number. Some local numbers support voice without SMS, so filter inventory for the capabilities your application requires.

Throughput depends on the destination, carrier and registration program. Review the approved brand and campaign limits for US 10DLC traffic.

A short code is a national messaging number of four to six digits. It is used for reviewed, high-volume messaging programs and does not provide voice service.

Contact an SMS specialist to review the destination, use case and program requirements. Bird allocates short codes; the self-service numbers ordering API does not sell them.

Short codes are national. Check the local program for each market rather than treating one code as a global sender.

For a free-text send, provide a sender your workspace can use in the destination and the appropriate message category. A system-template send resolves its category and sender from the template.

Provide an idempotency key and reuse it for a retry of the same request. A send without that key can be treated as a new message.

No. A 202 response means the API accepted the request. Follow the message record and signed events for the carrier-reported outcome. A delivery receipt does not establish that the recipient read the text.

A batch contains up to 100 independent messages, each with its own recipient and body. A broadcast is an audience campaign with shared content and a managed send lifecycle. Choose the workflow that matches your job.

Receive on a supported Bird number and subscribe to the signed sms.received event. Verify the webhook signature before processing the sender, receiving number and message text.

Send from the number that received the message to the original sender. Check that the number and destination support the conversation you are building.

Where the country keyword catalogue supports it, STOP creates a suppression for the exact sender/subscriber pair and sends the configured confirmation. Check the country rules; uncovered countries require your own opt-out handling.

The sender/subscriber suppression is scoped to that pair. Workspace-wide contact preferences are a separate control and can apply across senders.

Alphanumeric sender IDs are send-only. Choose a number with the appropriate inbound capability and destination support for two-way SMS.

Open the destination catalogue and review the sender types and registration requirements for each market. Your workspace must also allow the destination before a send is accepted.

It reports a delivery outcome from the carrier. Receipts can arrive after acceptance, and the message record may still be pending. Delivery does not measure whether someone read or acted on a text.

Start with the message status and failure reason. Compare reporting by carrier, country or sender, then check registration and destination configuration. An aggregate failure rate alone does not identify the cause.

Use Lookup when your application needs phone-number intelligence before sending. Review the signals and availability for that lookup rather than treating an SMS delivery report as a complete number check.

Delivered messages are measured against accepted messages in the selected send-time range. Recent sends can remain unsettled while carrier receipts arrive.

The documented failure-rate calculation includes undelivered, failed and expired outcomes. Rejected traffic is displayed separately, so it should not be added to that rate without changing its definition.

The stats API exposes separate breakdowns for supported dimensions, including country, carrier and originator. Use the filters that endpoint supports. Two independent aggregate reports do not establish a combined carrier-by-country result.

A carrier delivery receipt reports delivery, not a read or click. Measure link visits and conversions through an appropriately configured link and application analytics flow.

Open its message record and event timeline to follow acceptance, carrier handoff and the reported outcome. Use the stats API for aggregate trends and webhooks for events in your own application.

A supported START keyword can end the corresponding keyword suppression. Manual suppressions and workspace-wide preferences have their own controls; one change should not be assumed to reverse another type of opt-out.

Query the suppression resource for the subscriber and sender. Check workspace preferences as well when preparing an audience. Sending remains subject to the effective controls at submission.

A US long code uses 10DLC for application-to-person messaging. Toll-free messaging has a separate verification program. Other country registrations depend on the sender and destination. Read the requirements for the sender you plan to use.

No. Sender registration, customer permission and current opt-out status are separate checks. Preparing an approved sender does not grant permission to message every contact.

Read its country requirements, registration status and whether the destination is enabled. Complete the next actions Bird reports before launching the traffic.

No. Claiming creates the brand identity in the workspace. Country registration establishes whether that sender is approved for the destination that requires it.

Read whether registration is required, its status, whether the destination is enabled and any next actions. Having an approved sender does not turn on a disabled destination.

Review the estimate published for the country when one is available. External review and requested corrections can affect timing; use status rather than an assumed launch date.

The brand identifies the business. A campaign declares a use case under that brand. Link the sending numbers to an approved campaign before using them for US application-to-person traffic.

The registered use case cannot be changed. Prepare a new campaign when the use case changes, and review the requirements and charges before submitting.

No. Complete campaign approval, link the number and enable the destination. A public-company brand also has an Auth+ requirement before campaign registration.

Toll-free messaging follows its own verification program. 10DLC applies to US long-code application-to-person messaging.

Your call to Bird is, over HTTPS, and so is the inbound webhook we send you. The last hop isn't ours to encrypt: SMS is a carrier protocol with no end-to-end encryption, and the message is readable on the handset and to the carrier. Choose the content and channel according to your application’s security requirements; standard email is not an end-to-end encrypted substitute.

Every event is HMAC-signed. Verify the signature with your endpoint's secret before you act on the payload, and rotate that secret from the dashboard whenever you need to.

In the region your organization is hosted in, either us1 or eu1. Your API key carries it in its prefix (bk_us1_…, bk_eu1_…), which is how the SDKs and the CLI pick the right endpoint without you configuring one.

A key is limited by its assigned scopes and levels. Give each application only the access it needs; a key with additional scopes can access those products too. Role and scope requirements govern key management in the dashboard and API.

Both. A key takes an allowlist of CIDR ranges and rejects requests from anywhere else, and rotating one leaves the old key working for a grace period (24 hours by default, or zero to cut it off immediately) so a roll needs no downtime.

The audit log records account configuration and security changes with the available actor, action, target and time. Individual SMS traffic belongs in message logs and analytics, so use the record that matches the question.

Certifications and security documentation live in the Trust Center at trust.bird.com. The data processing agreement, privacy statement and acceptable use policy are published at bird.com/legal. For a vendor questionnaire, your Bird account team handles it.