Reach your members where they actually look — their phone. Carrier-grade text messaging built into WATCHDESK, with real opt-in compliance and an auditable trail on every single send.
Email gets buried and app notifications get muted, but a text gets read in minutes. The catch is that bulk texting done wrong gets your number flagged, annoys members, and leaves you with no record of who got what. WATCHDESK SMS is the firehouse-grade alternative: real consent handling, carrier-compliant sending, and a logged, billable trail behind every message.
The plumbing that powers staffing alerts, paging, and CAD dispatch — all on one compliant, auditable SMS backbone.
Members opt in or out per category from their own profile. STOP, START, and HELP keywords are honored automatically, and a global suppression list is checked before every send.
Each message is recorded with recipient, status, and segment count. Sysadmins can drill into any “send” to see exactly who it reached and what it cost.
A CAD dispatch text never waits behind a 200-member bulk page. Urgent messages jump a priority queue so the call goes out first, every time.
Built on a carrier-grade provider with proper A2P 10DLC brand registration, E.164 number normalization, and rate-limited delivery so your number stays in good standing.
Usage is metered by segment and rolled up per station, so there are never any surprises about volume or cost.
Inbound replies are captured and acted on — opt-outs are processed instantly and confirmations are sent back, with no manual list-scrubbing.
Every blast is a logged “send” you can open and inspect — recipients, delivery status, and cost.
Members opt in to the categories they want — staffing, paging, or CAD dispatch.
A staffing change, page, or dispatch fires a text to everyone eligible.
Carrier-grade, rate-limited delivery with the urgent lane jumping the queue.
Recipient, status, and cost are recorded for a complete audit trail.
SMS is the delivery layer underneath every WATCHDESK alerting feature.
SMS Notifications is a premium add-on you can enable independently. Sign in to get started, or see how it fits with everything else WATCHDESK does.