Webtext – The o2sms for iPhone

Posted: January 13th, 2009 | Tags: , | 17 Comments »

Today, my first iPhone app was released to the App Store. Webtext, an SMS (text messaging) client for the the iPhone.

Like o2sms, it allows customers of o2 Ireland, Vodafone Ireland and Meteor Ireland to use their free “web text” allocation to send messages nationally (internationally in the case of o2). Unlike o2sms, this application supports many other providers (hence the move away from the name “o2sms”), so users in other countries can use their local provider’s web text allocation.

What’s more, Webtext supports actual proper bulk SMS providers, like Clickatell and VoipBuster. These providers expose an API, which is infinitely more robust than screen scraping. I bought a tenner’s credit on Clickatell and I’m using it to send international messages from Spain to Ireland. This reduces the cost from €0.60 to €0.03 per message, and all from the comfort of a familiar looking app. It even appears to come from my real number, so replies arrive as normal.

I’m aware of Vincent Coyne’s Eirtext. I think Webtext improves on his effort by providing a familiar interface and by supporting many more providers. 

This app is free for the next while. Check out Webtext and let me know what you think (and leave some positive reviews in the App Store)!

17 Comments on “Webtext – The o2sms for iPhone”

  1. 1 David Coallier said at 16:59 on January 22nd, 2009:

    Very nice! Can’t wait to try this!

  2. 2 McCoogy said at 12:05 on January 26th, 2009:

    When you say, ” It even appears to come from my real number, so replies arrive as normal” I assume you don’t mean webtexts are integrated with normal SMS on the iPhone so you see a threaded conversation.

  3. 3 mackers said at 14:08 on January 26th, 2009:

    No, replies arrived in the normal SMS application.

    What I mean to say is, the recipient receives the message from your number as normal, not from some random gateway number.

  4. 4 Dave Corcoran said at 20:47 on February 7th, 2009:

    Impressive stuff Mackers. Was it difficult to do? Are the nice people at the app store quick at certifying apps?

  5. 5 mackers said at 15:37 on February 9th, 2009:

    Yeah, it was a pretty steep learning curve. Especially the whole learning objective-c part =)

    The nice people at the app store are singularly glacial in approving apps and app updates.

    Do you have an iPhone? Are you thinking about writing an app?

  6. 6 Dave said at 20:11 on February 9th, 2009:

    I do. And I’m posting this from my iPhone.

    Unfortunaltely I don’t have a mac and so can’t develop any iPhone apps. And although I do like my phone I don’t like the ultra closed nature of the platorm. There would be so many more cool apps if it was open.

    Ok enough ranting. Once again cool app. Now if you could just do a decent tube app next it would be much appreciated. :)

  7. 7 mackers said at 12:18 on February 10th, 2009:

    If you jailbreak it, you can do anything with it. And you right, the coolest apps are for jailbroken phones only.

    A tube app is a good idea, although maybe I’ll start with a dartmaps type thing. One line should be easier to do :)

  8. 8 Teresa said at 04:01 on February 17th, 2009:

    Hi! I’ve downloaded the app and checked out many of the listed providers (zamoosh, aql etc). I’m on an iPhone in the US on At&t. Am having difficulty understanding if any of the providers actually provide free SMS. Help please

  9. 9 mackers said at 12:06 on February 17th, 2009:

    Hi Teresa. No, there are currently no free SMS providers available in the US.

    The cheapest is usually about $0.03 per message.

  10. 10 Niall O Broin said at 19:41 on March 10th, 2010:

    I presume webtext is as broken as o2sms is now with o2.ie, after their latest change? I’m glad I came across this app. before I ponied up for Eirtext Pro, as I reckon you have first call on my pennies for the years of o2sms.

  11. 11 mackers said at 15:26 on March 11th, 2010:

    Unfortunately, yes.

  12. 12 Niall O Broin said at 21:39 on April 4th, 2010:

    Thanks for the fixed O2SMS. Has webtext been updated or is it in the app. store queue?

  13. 13 hannah said at 16:28 on April 7th, 2010:

    I cant get the o2.ie working for me, it just says provider error… I have set up all my settings… Are you ment to use your mobile number and password like when you sign into my o2?

  14. 14 mackers said at 16:40 on April 7th, 2010:

    Should be working now!

  15. 15 hannah said at 18:02 on April 7th, 2010:

    Thanks! :D

  16. 16 Mark said at 17:30 on June 7th, 2010:

    A magnificent application, thank you sir!

  17. 17 Ian said at 14:37 on June 30th, 2010:

    Can you add support for other bulk SMS providers namely smsbug? Great app though was the first one I bought!

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