A long requested API feature, the ability to send Group Messages, is now here! In addition, we've made a number of small improvements to the overall user experience, including security upgrades and several bug fixes.

Made various security improvements to both multi-factor authentication and Free Trial login. Also, cleaned up a number of bugs throughout the application.

Improved Time Zone Visibility — Previously, only admin-level users could see which time zone the dashboard was in. Now, any user can check the dashboard’s time zone by clicking on the dashboard selector dropdown. There is a reminder when scheduling a message, so you can rest assured your messages will go out when you want, regardless of what time zone your users happen to be in. Visual Updates — Updated copy of our empty state messages in Settings to better align with our product voice and tone. Improvements Continued security improvements. Fixed a rare bug that prevented certain messages from appearing in the message queue. Fixed a bug that moved some contacts to “Suppressed” or “Archived” status when sending a group message. Fixed a bug during message composition that would delete line spacing when an emoji was used. Emojis no longer delete anything. Fixed a visual bug with MFA setup on Android. Fixed automatic billing for accounts that convert from the free trial to a paid plan.

Improvements Fixed a bug that prevented keyword responses from loading properly. Fixed a bug that prevented autoresponses from loading properly.

Improved Multi-factor Authentication — We’re continuing to update and improve MFA to make the process as easy as possible, while maintaining account security for everyone. Updated New User Flow — To improve our security and continue to keep everyone's data safe, we implemented an additional step in the new user sign up flow involving email verification. This does not impact any current users.

Bug Fixes Fixed a bug impacting templates used in group messages, resulting in merge fields displaying incorrectly in the sent message. Fixed a bug that allowed Basic plans to set up Integrations. Integrations are only available on Starter and above. Further Reading Need help navigating some of these changes? Visit our Help Center, specifically the following pages: Escalation

Repeating Messages – We’ve added the ability to schedule repeating messages in both individual and group. This allows you to compose a message, set a scheduled date to send the first instance of this message, and then designate how often that message repeats. Whether it’s twice a week, monthly, or once every four years, the modal is fully customizable. Dynamic Groups for Repeating Messages – When creating a Repeating Group Message, recipient groups are now dynamic. This means that you can schedule a Repeating Group Message with a group and any changes made within that group will be reflected in the recipient list of the message just before it sends. Dynamic groups are currently only for Repeating Messages, but expect an update for all Group Messages coming soon! API and Reviews Statistics

Introducing Receptionist — Receptionist offers three options for handling callers to your text-only number and can be found under Settings. Select which option works best for you and your company, and Receptionist will take care of the rest. Voice Greeting is now Automated Greeting — Voice Greeting has been renamed to Automated Greeting to hopefully clear up any confusion. Automated Greeting is one of three options under Receptionist and functions exactly like Voice Greeting. Enter your company name and a voice-enabled phone number, and callers will receive an automated message with the provided information. Call Forwarding — This new feature for text-only numbers can be added to any existing plan. Rather than receiving an automated message, callers will be seamlessly redirected to a voice-enabled number you provide. Add Call Forwarding to your plan and enable it under Receptionist to set it up.

Updated Conversation Threads — We cleaned up conversation threads, making them easier to understand and navigate. In addition to removing repetitive information, features like Redacting, Message Tags, and Forwarding can be accessed by clicking on the three-dot button of each message. Keyword Responses — We updated how Keywords work to provide better clarity within conversations. When a user texts in a keyword, the response for that keyword now shows up in the conversation thread and marks it as resolved. Previously, contacts would receive the keyword response, but this wasn’t shown in the conversation thread.

Simplified Tab Names — We simplified the names of some of our tabs in Messaging. Everything works the exact same, we just got rid of the word “View” in “All Messages” and “Scheduled Messages.” View All Messages — Whether you search or filter your conversations, you can now click “All Messages” to reset those changes and return to your full list of conversations. If you have Filter by Contact Tags set in your Preferences, clicking All Messages will disable them. However, navigating away from the page and back to Messages immediately reenables the filters.

Group Message Merge Fields — Merge Fields are now part of Group Messaging! They function exactly like regular merge fields, allowing you to add personalization to your message for each contact. If a contact in your selected group doesn’t have the chosen field information, there are multiple options to easily customize how that merge field will appear in their specific message. For more information, see our help documentation. Note: Merge Fields in Group Messaging is currently available as a free, public preview. Group Message Analytics — In addition to integrating Merge Fields, Group Messages also received updated analytics. Track the progress of your message, how many messages were sent, delivered, and see any errors encountered along the way. Create new, targeted Group Messages based on contacts who did or didn’t respond to your original message, as well as those who didn’t interact with an included link. Custom Fields in SMS Chat Report Download — Custom Field columns are now included in the downloaded CSV file, making for even more personalized data and information.

Delete Contacts and Message History — Administrators can now delete any contact, regardless of message history. Previously it was only possible to delete a contact if there was no message history with them. You can also mass delete contacts without message history through the Mass Actions bar in Contacts. Contacts with message history must be deleted individually. Webhooks Debugging Interface — We added a debugging interface to provide developers with even more information about established webhooks. This interface can be accessed by selecting View Details under Actions for any webhook. Zapier in Starter Plans — Zapier is now officially a 3rd Party Integration and is included in Starter plans and up. Even More Updated refresh modal that appears whenever a new release comes out. Just click the Refresh button and you’ll have the most up-to-date version of Text Request. The Technical Contact listed in Account will be notified whenever a webhook is disconnected. Updated Templates’ folder selector in Compose Message to now be scrollable with a mouse wheel, resulting in a better user experience.

Organize Your Templates — We’ve added the ability to organize your message templates into folders. Create, organize, and manage folders and templates on the Templates page. When adding a template to a message, templates remain organized by folder and even include a Recent folder listing a user’s most recently used templates. New Reviews Tab: Requests Sent — It’s now easier than ever to track which contacts you’ve sent Review Requests to. This page tracks all contacts sent a request, as well as reminders sent, whether or not the contact clicked the link, their sentiment selection, and whether or not they left a public review. Typeahead in Search — Whether searching through Messages or Contacts, just start typing and the system will provide a list of likely options. Updated date and time formatting throughout the application for a more consistent look. Made minor visual updates to the Account page to account for (ba-dun tss) the addition of the recently added Contacts tab.

New Account Tab — This one is for our administrators out there, we’ve added a new tab to the Account page. You can now designate different administrators to be contacted for specific reasons such as the account’s main contact, billing contact, and technical contact. Send Attachments without Text — A picture is worth 1,000 words, or at least 160 characters. You can now send messages containing only attachments. Webhooks: API Generated — Our Webhooks page only listed user-created webhooks. We updated this page to list any webhooks created through the API. To easily differentiate between the two types, a new column in the list will display API or User to keep everything organized. Additional small updates to the new mobile compose screen, which should make for an even better user experience. If a message is tagged, the tag icon in Classic and Condensed views is now green. Hover on the tag icon to see which Message Tags were used in the conversation. Fixed a visual bug when composing a reply in a message thread. Fixed an issue preventing users from using the tab key to interact with different fields in the compose modal. You can once again tab every which way! Fixed an issue with the keywords field under Advanced Search causing it to return an error under certain circumstances. Fixed a rare issue that caused the dashboard selector to stop working until the page was refreshed. Fixed a bug that allowed accounts without the SMS Chat feature to update SMS Chat settings…I’m sure you can see how that would be a problem. Fixed a bug causing the Send button to disappear if a browser window was made too narrow. Fixed a visual bug when using Merge Fields in the mobile app.

Mobile Compose Update – Everyone’s favorite feature in Text Request received a visual update. We’ve refined the mobile compose experience and unified the look between “New Message” and “Thread Compose”. The three most frequently used message features are still visible, and tapping the “+” expands the menu to select our other offerings. Button Updates – While we were teaching Compose Message how to dress for success, we also gave some pointers to our buttons throughout the application. Various bug fixes.

Various small bug fixes.

New and Improved Autoresponder - While others were preparing for the holidays, Autoresponder was preparing for its makeover. Along with improved UI and functionality, you can now set your office hours, select your time zone, and apply a cooldown timer to autoresponses. Keeping your contacts updated while you’re away has never been easier! Various bug fixes.

* Favorite Dashboards — Quickly access your most visited dashboards by favoriting them. Favorited dashboards are marked with a star and remain at the top of the dashboard selector. Favorited dashboards automatically sync between desktop and mobile applications, keeping everything the same no matter where you access Text Request from. * User Details in Merge Fields — Merge Fields for contact information are great, but what about user information? Merge fields can now automatically add user information to your messages based on your user profile. The currently available fields include user first name, last name, and email address. Bug Fixes * Fixed an issue that caused a message field to show an extra attachment when uploading images. * Fixed a visual bug in Payments that caused the % to appear before the number. * Fixed a notification bug with the iOS mobile app that was causing notifications to persist even after being cleared. * Fixed a broken link in the Integrations page when upgrading your plan. * Updated an error message for PDFs that more clearly defines the problem. * Fixed a bug causing the Link Tracker feature to open randomly, in a sort of haunted way. * Fixed a mobile app bug that caused dashboards with long names to block certain content. * Fixed a broken link in the update payment banner.

We've made a few bug fixes: * The add button was disabled when an administrator tried to add a new user. * There was an issue adding more than one merge field to a message.

* Contact Tags Maintained — A new section on the Conversations page of Profile & Preferences allows you to select the Contact Tags you want to filter the selected dashboard by. Your selections will remain active until you choose to delete them or deactivate the filter. * Fixed an issue with notifications not displaying for certain actions. * Squashed a bug in Groups that reversed the listed order when using mass actions. * Fixed a bug where the convenience fee for payments would not be applied to certain contacts.

* Account UI Refresh — Our Account screen received a makeover, resulting in easier navigation and better organization. If you’re a fan of our easy-to-use Profile & Preferences screen, you’ll love this! * Fixed a bug in the mobile app that occasionally prevented the navigation menu from closing. * Fixed a visual bug that made it hard to see a message’s status in a conversation if the contact opted out. * Fixed an issue with Payments where the convenience fee was not automatically added.

* New Convenience Fee Option for Payments — In addition to a fixed fee, users can now select a convenience fee that represents a percentage of the amount being billed. Find this in Payment Settings. * Managers can now see account usage totals in the Usage Report. * Several small UI updates throughout to enhance the user experience of Text Request. * Updated the template for Email Notifications. * Fixed an empty screen that displayed on mobile devices for a number with not completed 10DLC * Fixed an overlapping visual bug with notification banners. * Fixed usage report discrepancies when using custom dates. * Contacts are now properly archived when they opt out. * Fixed inaccurate message counts displayed in Group Messages.

Various stability improvements and bug fixes.

Various bug fixes and stability improvements.

Various bug fixes.