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How to share your apps over text message

How to share your apps over text message

The best thing about coding apps in Bitsbox, after the sense of satisfaction you get, is sharing them with friends and loved ones. And now that's gotten a lot easier. We're proud to announce that you can now share apps via text message. What? I know, we're excited too. Let's talk about how you can do this.

How to: the Nitty Gritty

When you're in the editor, making tweaks to your latest amazing app, you'll want to click the little three-prongy icon thing.

The share icon

This opens what we call the Share Panel.

The share panel

If you've been sharing apps via email for a while, you may notice that the Share Panel looks a bit different. We've recently revamped it to make more room for this new feature, and just to spruce things up a bit. But we're here to send an app, so let's get to that.

Just click on the link that says "Text this app..." and you'll open a new panel.

The send text panel

There's only one field to enter, so just type in that phone number and hit the Send button, and away it goes. In mere moments, Grandma should be getting a text message with a link to your latest app masterpiece.

Dealing with Over-enthusiastic Sharers

It's a little-known fact that my unofficial job title around the office is Chief Paranoia Officer. It's just part of how my brain works: I'm good at thinking of ways things can go wrong and planning for them. Adults, you might be thinking to yourselves "what if my little angel sends Grandma fifty messages a day?" Or five hundred? Ack! Fortunately, the recipient of any of these messages can reply with STOP to unsubscribe from any further messages. Two notes: this will stop all messages from our system, even from different users. And if you change your mind, you can reply again with START, and it will turn everything back on.

One more administrivia type thing. For the moment, this feature only works for US numbers. The reasons have to do with technical implementation details and cost. If we get enough requests for international texting, we may revisit that decision.

That's it! Get to Sharing!

Okay, thanks for bearing with me through all the little details. We hope that you're as excited about this new feature as we are. Get out there and share your apps. I just know that your friends and family will love them as much as you do.

Jeff Bull
About the author: Jeff is a lifelong coder and a meticulous woodworker. He spent 8 years as the Senior Software Craftsman at Bitsbox.
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