# Plugin to send 'private' SMS or Instant Messages from Categories
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-to-send-private-sms-or-instant-messages-from-categories/42621
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [15 april 2016 om 16:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-to-send-private-sms-or-instant-messages-from-categories/42621 "2016-04-15T16:58:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JohnEhRedding](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JohnEhRedding)
#### Post date: [15 april 2016 om 16:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-to-send-private-sms-or-instant-messages-from-categories/42621/1 "2016-04-15T16:58:21Z")
Plugin to send ‘private’ SMS or Instant Messages from Categories to ‘outsiders’
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [15 april 2016 om 20:34 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-to-send-private-sms-or-instant-messages-from-categories/42621/2 "2016-04-15T20:34:01Z")
Sorry, I am not following, can you elaborate with an example?
There is already the Invite button on this topic, wherein I can send a one-click join invitation to anyone inviting them to participate in this topic..
---
### Author:  [@JohnEhRedding](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JohnEhRedding)
#### Post date: [16 april 2016 om 14:09 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-to-send-private-sms-or-instant-messages-from-categories/42621/3 "2016-04-16T14:09:50Z")
Many thanks Jeff,
The invite, I infer, can be sent to anyone who does NOT have a username and password.
In reverse can someone with or without a username and password send a Private Message to a specific individual who is a user but is in charge managing a category and activities associated with it. A dumb example may be, if we had an ice cream stand category and someone wanted to message the ice cream stand and pre-order something. Thanks again, John
---
### Author:  [@DeanMarkTaylor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DeanMarkTaylor)
#### Post date: [16 april 2016 om 15:18 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-to-send-private-sms-or-instant-messages-from-categories/42621/4 "2016-04-16T15:18:35Z")
See:
> [@Troubleshoot reply by email](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setup-incoming-emails-e-mail/42026):
>
> If your Discourse does not have incoming email set up, see these topics: [Set up reply by email with POP3 polling](https://meta.discourse.org/t/set-up-reply-by-email-with-pop3-polling/14003)[Configure direct-delivery incoming email for self-hosted sites with Mail-Receiver](https://meta.discourse.org/t/direct-delivery-incoming-email-for-self-hosted-sites/49487)information_source If you already have basic reply via email set up (which is common on hosting plans), and you want to add the ability to start a new topic via email, [see this topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/start-a-new-topic-via-email-e-mail/62977). Logging and Errors All incoming emails are logged and are visible in your admin panel at /admin/email/received.…
---
### Author:  [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)
#### Post date: [16 april 2016 om 15:52 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-to-send-private-sms-or-instant-messages-from-categories/42621/5 "2016-04-16T15:52:26Z")
⚠ this plugin is just a proof of concept that I developed in 2016. It should not be installed on production sites.
For sending SMS messages, if you are willing to use, and pay for, twilio, it is quite easy to integrate with Discourse using the twilio-ruby gem. Here’s an example plugin that replaces email with SMS messages for users who have supplied a mobile number.
[https://github.com/scossar/twilio-notifications](https://github.com/scossar/twilio-notifications)
This hasn’t been tested on the most recent version of Discourse.