AI SMS with Bland
AI SMS is here—and it changes the game for how your users can interact with your AI agent.
Voice alone isn’t always the right channel. Sometimes, you need the precision and flexibility of text. With AI SMS, every phone number you own or purchase through Bland can now send and receive texts and handle calls, letting you build more natural, multi-channel experiences.
This guide will walk you through what AI SMS is, how it works, and how you can start building with it.
What is AI SMS?
AI SMS brings your AI agent to life over text. You can now create SMS contacts just like voice ones—meaning a user can call or text the same number and get smart, dynamic responses.
Every message sent or received via SMS costs $0.015. But beyond just sending text, Bland has optimized SMS handling to work with voice pathways. That means prompts with backchanneling (like “mmhmm” or “okay”) and long pauses are stripped out for cleaner, more natural texts.
When the conversation ends, the agent stops responding automatically. To start over, just delete the conversation from the dashboard or wipe the message thread on your phone.
How to Set Up an AI SMS Contact
Getting started is simple:
- Head to the SMS page on your Bland dashboard.
- Click Configure SMS for Phone Numbers.
- Choose any number you own, and select Setup SMS.
- You’ll then set a prompt or pathway—just like you would for a call-based contact.
Once saved, you can send yourself a test SMS. If you don't receive it immediately, give it a few minutes; newly set-up numbers may take time to register with the carrier.
You can manage all ongoing SMS conversations right from the dashboard.
Reusing Your Voice Pathways for SMS
Already built a great voice pathway? You don’t need to start from scratch.
- Visit the voice pathway you want to use.
- Click Clone current pathway and turn it into an SMS pathway.
- Update the inbound number by clicking Set Inbound Number to SMS Pathway.
- Send yourself a test SMS and review the logs right from the pathway editor.
Testing and iterating your SMS flow works just like testing voice.
Syncing Changes Between Voice and SMS Pathways
Say you’ve updated your voice pathway and want the same changes in your SMS version. No need to re-do anything manually:
- Click Sync from within your SMS pathway.
- Select the pathway you want to sync from.
- Resolve any differences in global prompts, nodes, or labels.
- Confirm the changes—and done. Your AI SMS setup is now up to date.
A2P Registration and BYOT
In the U.S., all SMS-enabled numbers need to be tied to an A2P (Application to Person) campaign.
If you’ve bought your number from Bland, good news: it’s already linked to a Messaging Service SID automatically.
If you’re bringing your own number (BYOT), you’ll need to register an A2P campaign via Twilio and provide the Messaging Service SID when setting up SMS in Bland. Native A2P setup within Bland is coming soon.
What’s Next for Bland’s AI SMS
Upcoming features include:
- Transfer Chat Node – transfer SMS conversations to live agents.
- In-app A2P Campaign setup – no need to leave Bland to get compliant.
- Batch SMS sending – perfect for outbound campaigns.
- SMS-specific analytics – so you know what’s working and what’s not.
With AI SMS, Bland becomes a complete communications layer—voice and text, powered by your workflows and pathways. Start building your first AI SMS experience today and give your users the power to text your AI like it’s a real person. Learn more about using SMS on our docs.
Interested? Sign up on our enterprise form to talk to someone from Bland and explore your potential use-case.
