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Is SMS the last bastion of app fatigue?

1 points by miraclebob 5mo ago

I've long been intrigued with SMS as a user interface. It's accessible, minimal, and hasn't really changed much. I've had lots of ideas and even implemented some personal solutions built on SMS. Human-in-the-loop tools, budget tracking, bookmarking links etc. Most apps at their core are just user input/output. I think it's cool to think of all sorts of tools that could fit into SMS as the only user touchpoint. But every time I think of how it would scale it turns into an annoying mess. Setting up Twilio and co for scale is a PITA. You hit a wall real quick with how complex features can be. Is SMS integration destined to just be marketing campaign soup? I have to imagine other people like the idea of getting access to tools without installing yet another app. Are other SMS-replacement-apps really just more normalized over sms now (whatsapp and co)? Do people not have app fatigue after all? What are your thoughts on the state of SMS dev? Any cool projects or ideas in the space?

chris_money202 5mo ago
I think the big problem is on most "dumb-ish" phones the SMS app can't access critical information of the phone like location. So let's say I wanted to just text an uber to pick me up and drop me off, I now need to go into a location app to get the address or coordinates, so I might as well just use the uber app directly that combines address lookup with ordering the ride. Probably many other examples where you can't get the exact info you need in order to communicate to a system over SMS without another app providing it.
- miraclebob 5mo ago
  Totally fair. Tons of cases where apps offer far and away more convenience. No question that smartphones and millions of apps have their place. But just as people might find the hackernews site refreshing in its minimalism and straightforward uses, maybe there is room for a renaissance of sorts for more sms integration out there :shrug: Back in 2015-18 when chatbots were getting mainstream and Alexa was cool, twilio really pushed its chatbot integration. Intent handlers based on sms input, etc. Maybe with everyone and their dog sticking agents behind their APIs, we might get better natural language access to our favorite apps APIs via sms input output. Sometimes I’d prefer a text over a notification pop up where I then open an app and get lots of noise and info in my face
  - chris_money202 5mo ago
    It would be cool, if you get a platform working for this, it's guaranteed to work on any phone too which is nice. Probably would want something where the platform handles auth and payment through the SMS service tied to your phone number. Initially have to go to a webpage or portal to sign up and register a CC, and from there platform handles the rest, allows companies to register SMS "apps" on the platform that users can "download"/register/interact with via SMS.
PostShuttle 5mo ago
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