Messaging & inbox

Texting clients

Get a texting number, understand carrier registration, and how consent works.

5 min readUpdated July 24, 2026Requires Send communications

Clients answer texts. They do not answer emails in March. Texting is available, and there are two things to understand before you start: registration, and consent.

Where to find it

SettingsConnections

Texts themselves live in the SMS channel of your inbox.

Getting a number

Choose Get a new number for texting, optionally specifying an Area code so your number looks local.

Your phone service doesn't change. This is a separate number for texting, not a replacement for your office line. Nothing about your existing phone setup is affected.

Carrier registration

US carriers require every business to be registered before it can send texts. This isn't a LedgerOS rule — it's how business texting works everywhere in the US.

You'll enter Your business details, which go to the carrier for verification.

The details must match your IRS records exactly. A name or EIN that doesn't match is the most common cause of a rejected registration, and re-submitting costs days you probably don't have in season.

While it's pending you'll see Awaiting carrier approval. Registration takes time — do it well before you need it, not the week you want to start chasing documents.

You cannot text a client who hasn't agreed. Two ways to get consent:

The client opts in from their portal.
Your team records verbal consent on a call.

LedgerOS never texts someone who hasn't agreed, and anyone who replies STOP is removed automatically and permanently.

The consent count is shown alongside your texting status, so you can see how much of your book you can actually reach.

Building consent takes a season. Add the portal opt-in early and record verbal consent when clients call, so that by the following March you have a list worth texting rather than a feature you can't use.

Sending a text

From the SMS channel, choose New text, pick the Client, and write the Message.

Where a client has no phone on file you'll see No contacts on file rather than a silent failure.

Threads awaiting your reply are flagged, so the SMS channel shows what's waiting on you.

What texting is good for

Nudging a document request that's gone quiet
Confirming an appointment
"Your return is ready to sign"

What it's not for: anything with detail, anything requiring a document, and anything you'd want a written record of in a specific form. Text to prompt action, then move to email or the portal.

Notes and limits

Texts are billed by segment. Long messages count as several.
A client who replies STOP cannot be texted again unless they re-consent.
Texting is per firm, not per staff member. Replies come back to the firm.
Registration is a one-time process per firm.

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