Frequently asked questions

snow³ is a collection of independently developed apps for work and everyday tasks. FreeSMS is available now: it turns your Android phone into an SMS gateway.

Connect an Android phone with your own SIM card. Messages from the dashboard or API join a queue, and the app sends them through your mobile carrier. Recipients only need a phone that can receive SMS.

You need a phone running Android 8.0 or later, a SIM card that can send SMS, an internet connection and a power supply. Sign up for FreeSMS, install the app, connect your phone using the QR code or link in the dashboard, and allow it to run in the background without battery restrictions.

Free costs RUB 0 and includes one phone and up to 10 SMS per day. Pro costs RUB 2,000 per month and includes one phone and up to 200 SMS per day. Maximum costs RUB 10,000 per month and includes up to three phones with no daily service quota. Your mobile carrier charges for SMS according to your SIM plan. Sending rate limits and Android restrictions apply on every plan.

Messages entered in the dashboard or imported from a file take priority and can be sent around the clock, at most once a minute. API messages are sent between 10:00 and 19:00 in the sender’s time zone selected in account settings, at random intervals of one to three minutes. The API allows up to three messages to the same recipient per 24 hours; manual messages do not have this per-recipient limit. Plan quotas and phone restrictions still apply.

When the waiting connection is active, the phone is notified of new messages immediately. The current app also checks every five minutes as a fallback. This interval is not guaranteed if the phone is offline or Android stops or restricts the app in the background. The queue becomes available once the connection and app resume.

Yes. There is an API with Bearer token authentication, as well as a MegaFon-compatible API with Basic authentication. Create your key in the FreeSMS dashboard. The API lets you queue messages and check their status. See the service documentation for endpoints and examples.

Open the queue import option in the dashboard. Supported formats are TXT, DOC, DOCX, XLS and XLSX. Put the phone number first, followed by the message; the text can continue on a new line. In a spreadsheet, use the first column for the phone number and the second for the message. You can preview the messages and validation results before adding them to the queue.

Replies appear in the inbox when you enable reply forwarding in the phone app settings. Only new replies from numbers you have messaged in the past 30 days are forwarded. Free shows the first 10 characters; Pro and Maximum show the full reply with digits masked. Previously received messages stored on the phone are not imported.

Groups of digits are replaced with [xxxxxx] before replies are forwarded and displayed in the dashboard. Messages from short codes, named senders and blocked banking or service senders are discarded. The original incoming SMS remains on your phone. The app handles its own test SMS separately to check the connection.

Free allows one favourite number. Pro and Maximum allow three per connected phone. Manual messages to these recipients, including file imports, do not count towards your daily plan quota. The one-minute interval and phone restrictions still apply. Favourite numbers do not remove any API limits.

The service accepts up to four SMS parts: up to 70 Cyrillic characters in one part or 268 in four, and up to 160 basic Latin characters in one part or 612 in four. Some characters take up more space. The dashboard shows a part counter. Long messages use multiple SMS units on your carrier plan and are sent less frequently because of Android restrictions.

FreeSMS is for service notifications such as order updates, collection notices and appointment reminders. Advertising, spam and unsolicited bulk messages are prohibited.

This status means the phone reported sending the message. It does not guarantee delivery or that the recipient has read it. If delivery is unknown, check the result on the phone: sending again manually may create a duplicate SMS.