SMS Gateway turns Android phones into a private SMS gateway that you host yourself. You install it once on a machine of your choice, connect one or more phones with their SIM cards, and you get a dashboard, an API and automations to send and receive SMS. Your messages, contacts and logs stay on your machine.
What you need
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| A machine | A free Oracle Cloud instance, a rented VPS, or a computer on your premises. Linux amd64 or arm64, or Windows and macOS with Docker Desktop |
| Administrator access | root or sudo on Linux, an administrator PowerShell on Windows. Docker is installed for you if it is missing |
| One or more phones | Android 8 or later, each with an active SIM card and an SMS plan, kept on charge |
| A license | Bought on sms-gateway.araylab.com; the key is shown in your customer area |
Where to install it
| Your situation | Choose |
|---|---|
| You want no monthly cost and are comfortable with a cloud console | Oracle Cloud Always Free |
| You already rent a server, or want the simplest reliable setup | VPS |
| Data must not leave the building, and phones stay in the office | Local server |
A server reachable from the internet with a domain name (Oracle Cloud or VPS) is the most comfortable choice: HTTPS is automatic and phones work from anywhere, 4G included. A local server keeps everything inside your network, but the phones must stay on that network.
The path
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Buy. Sign in on the site with the link you receive by email, and pay through Gumroad. Your license key appears in your customer area, with the installation instructions and the link to the Android app.
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Install. One command, for example:
curl -fsSL https://sms-gateway.araylab.com/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- --domain sms.example.com --yesThe script installs Docker if needed, starts the gateway, then shows the dashboard address and a setup code.
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Create the first account. The dashboard asks for the setup code, a name, an email address and a password of at least 12 characters. Then sign in with that account.
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Activate the license. Paste your key into the window that appears.
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Pair a phone. Install the app on the phone, then scan the QR code shown in Devices > Pair a device. The phone appears online with its SIM cards.
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Send a first SMS from Quick send.
Every step, the options of the command and troubleshooting are in Installation.
Right after installing
| To do | Where |
|---|---|
| Check the time zone, the sending window and notifications | Settings, see Settings |
| Set a daily quota on each SIM so the carrier does not block it | Devices, see Devices |
| Invite your colleagues with the right role | Settings > Users and roles, see Users and roles |
| Schedule a backup | See Backup and restore |
What never leaves your machine
No SMS, no contact and no log passes through our servers. The only exchange with us is the license check: your key (sent encrypted, stored on our side as a fingerprint only), the version of the gateway, a fingerprint of the machine and the number of phones. Nothing else. Details in Security.
If our license server becomes unreachable, nothing stops: an outage on our side is never treated as an invalid license, and after twelve months of ownership the gateway no longer needs to contact us at all. See License.