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Mobile Message

Mobile Message is an Australian SMS API — popular with AU churches because it offers local numbers and competitive AU pricing where Clearstream and Text In Church are US-centric. Mobile Message doesn't have a first-class Zapier app today, but it does publish a public REST API, so you can wire B1 events to Mobile Message texts through Webhooks by Zapier (or Make's HTTP module) in a few minutes.

Before You Begin

  • A Mobile Message account with a registered Sender ID and API credentials (API username + password under Account → API Settings)
  • A Zapier account (or Make)
  • A B1Admin user with Edit Settings permission

What You Can Wire Up​

Mobile Message's API is "send SMS"-shaped — no triggers, just outbound text. So the recipes are all B1 → SMS:

DirectionB1 triggerOutcome
B1 → Mobile Messageperson.createdWelcome text to the new person
B1 → Mobile Messagedonation.createdThank-you text to the donor
B1 → Mobile Messageform.submission.createdPage the on-call team
B1 → Mobile Messageevent.createdReminder broadcast to a list

Setup​

1. Mint a B1 API key​

Settings → Developer → API Keys → New API Key:

  • settings:write — for the trigger webhook to register
  • people:read — to look up the recipient's phone number from a personId

2. Build the Zap with Webhooks by Zapier​

  1. Trigger — B1.church: pick the event you want (e.g. New Donation).
  2. Action — B1.church: Find Person (using data.personId) to get the phone number and name.
  3. Action — Webhooks by Zapier: POST. Configure as below.

The POST step's settings:

  • URL — https://api.mobilemessage.com.au/v1/messages
  • Payload Type — JSON
  • Data — 
    {
      "messages": [
        {
          "to": "{{step2_phone}}",
          "message": "Thanks for your gift, {{step2_first_name}}!",
          "sender": "YourChurch"
        }
      ]
    }
  • Headers — Content-Type: application/json (Webhooks by Zapier adds this automatically)
  • Basic Auth — set the Basic Auth field to <api_username>|<api_password> (Zapier converts that to the right Authorization: Basic … header)

Turn the Zap on. Send a test gift in B1Admin to verify a text arrives.

Common Recipes​

Event reminders the morning of​

  • Trigger — Schedule by Zapier (daily, 7am)
  • Action — B1.church: Find Events for today (or use a Find step with a fixed date filter, or store today's event list in a Google Sheet)
  • Action — Webhooks by Zapier: POST to Mobile Message with the event list to a registered subscriber group

Use the batch endpoint for a list broadcast​

Mobile Message's /v1/messages endpoint accepts up to 10,000 messages per call. To broadcast to a B1 group:

  • Trigger — B1.church: New Form Submission (filter to a specific form)
  • Action — B1.church: List Group Members for a target group (via a Webhooks by Zapier — GET step on /membership/groupmembers?groupId=…)
  • Action — Formatter by Zapier → Utilities → Line-itemize the response into a messages array
  • Action — Webhooks by Zapier: POST the full array to /v1/messages

Make alternative​

If you prefer Make, drop the HTTP — Make a request module after the B1 Watch Events trigger, configure it the same way (POST, Basic Auth, JSON body). See the Make overview for the B1 side.

Limits & Notes​

  • Basic Auth is the only authentication method — Mobile Message issues a username and password from the dashboard. Treat both as secrets.
  • sender must be a registered Sender ID on your Mobile Message account, or the send will return 400 Invalid sender. AU regulations require sender registration.
  • AU phone numbers can be 0412345678 (local) or +61412345678 (international). The API accepts both, but normalise on +61… if you're sending overseas as well.
  • Up to 10,000 messages per request — useful for broadcasts, but a single B1 webhook delivery will rarely emit a list that big; reserve the batch endpoint for scheduled bulk Zaps.

Troubleshooting​

  • POST returns 401 Unauthorized — Basic Auth credentials are wrong. Re-copy from the Mobile Message dashboard Account → API Settings. Note the username is your account email by default, not a separate API key.
  • POST returns 400 Invalid sender — the sender value isn't a registered Sender ID on your account. Register it in the Mobile Message dashboard first.
  • Text arrives but is truncated — Mobile Message splits messages over ~160 characters into multiple parts; you're billed per part. Check the response body — it tells you the part count.

See Also​