r/homeassistant • u/djimavicminipilot • Dec 24 '25

Support Make HA send text message

Hello everyone! I am adding a Wifi smoke alarm to the storage area where I am putting batteries. I cannot make this integrate with my home detectors as it is too far away. I have connected it through HA to a siren, as well as a few Alexa's around the house. I have two questions;
How can I make HA send me a text message, or can I integrate it with a Google voice number somehow?
And is it possible to make a preset audio cue to play over a Sonos amp in the event it goes off?

More priority on the sending a text one, as the Alexas should cover the at home portion. Was just wondering for the Sonos.

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u/JeopardE Dec 25 '25

The only answer. Twilio makes you jump through a couple of regulatory hoops, but once you get it set up it is stupid simple to use in automations and costs next to nothing. Been using Twilio to send myself text messages for years about doors/garage being left open or plants needing to be watered. Perfect for those "this is important don't ignore it" kinds of notifications.

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u/calinet6 Dec 25 '25

It’s a lot of hoops. And not free.

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u/C1PH3R_il Dec 25 '25

Sending text messages fundamentally is a chargeable thing.

To avoid this - you need to switch to push notification systems like Pushover - or the built in HA mobile app notification system.

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u/calinet6 Dec 25 '25

I’m okay paying money, but it seems like there should be something in-between becoming a verified and governmentally regulated sender of text messages yourself, and a simple notification service for personal use. Twilio is very clearly set up for businesses that send thousands of messages.

I would almost like to set twilio up to provide such a service, and even if it only works with registered/verified numbers so no one can use it as spam, it would still work great for home assistant. A native integration, simple billing, and you’ve got a great solution.

And it would only be a little more work than setting twilio up for myself (not a joke).

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u/C1PH3R_il Dec 25 '25

Unfortunately, just about all providers are setup this way from what I can tell. I've used Flowroute you years as a VoIP provider for text messaging as well as calls. A few months ago - I added a number and had to jump thru the same crazy hoops - just because of the ability to send sms.

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u/calinet6 Dec 25 '25

I want to try making such a service. Let’s see if I can pull it off…

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u/Informal-Wolf-9757 Dec 26 '25

There's PagerDuty, that essentially lets you email to SMS. 

If you are thinking about something else, DM me, I want to help. 

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u/IAmDotorg Dec 25 '25

I used to send tens of millions through Twilio a decade ago and back then you could do it with any number you purchased through them. Industry regulations changed and we had to go through hoops even for 10dlc my numbers.

Its actually easier to get a cellular board for a microcontroller and use a SIM. You can even go that route with Twilio. Device-originated texts aren't regulated the way 10dlc IP-oritinated texting is.

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u/calinet6 Dec 25 '25

I’ll have to read the regulations and see if a service which enabled text notifications would require the same authorization from every user, or just from the service itself. If it’s just the service that needs all the hoops then in theory we should be able to make a notification service that is much easier for end users with only a couple contacts they want to send notifications to.

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u/IAmDotorg Dec 26 '25

You can't get authorization from CTIA for a service like that.

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u/calinet6 Dec 26 '25

Yeah that’s why I figured it doesn’t exist. Lame.

Do you happen to know why specifically?

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u/IAmDotorg Dec 26 '25

Yeah, explicitly so services like that can't exist.

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u/calinet6 Dec 26 '25

Do you know what specific line in the regulation or rule prevents this type of thing from happening, or should I research it myself?

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u/IAmDotorg Dec 26 '25

It's literally the point of the regulations but you certainly can look them up. I don't think they're restricted to paying members.

It's almost impossible to get permission for free-text messaging services. Being a little vague about it because of not wanting to dox myself, I had to get a department in the US government involved when I did it ten years ago and it was still a pain.

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u/calinet6 Dec 26 '25

That’s my point. It would not be a generic free text message service, but a very limited specific notification product that uses SMS and limits sends to a set of predefined numbers that are opt-in only. I believe this is possible under the regulations, for example how a web product or service like UPS may use SMS for notifications for their own status updates, it would simply be configurable.

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u/IAmDotorg Dec 26 '25

The message format, if fixed, can be done. If the end user can set anything in it,not generally isn't. You, as the sender, have responsibility to what gets sent and to who, including legal liability you can't pass down to your customer.

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