Group Texts: Connect Inbox
When a group or team leader sends an Inbox message, opted-in members receive a text notification.
When you enable texting for a group or team, leaders can notify opted-in members via text each time they send a message from the Realm Inbox. The text includes the message subject, the name of the group or team, and the sender's name. If the message is too long for texting, the recipient will receive a link to their inbox. If the leader includes a custom link, it is also included in the text.
What triggers a text notification
A text is sent only when a group or team leader creates the initial Inbox message. Members do not receive follow-up texts for replies. Realm can also send system-generated texts to volunteers for assignments and serving reminders.
Group participants and volunteers cannot send texts to each other or to the group leader through Realm.
Inbox message reply options
When a leader creates an Inbox message, they choose how replies work:
- Sender Only — Only the leader sees replies (this is the default)
- Entire Group/Team — Everyone sees replies
- Disabled — No one can reply
When replies are enabled, members must log in to Realm to reply to the Inbox message. Replies cannot be sent by text.
Character limits
Each text can contain up to 320 characters, including the group or team name and sender name. If the message includes unicode characters — such as curly quotation marks, em dashes, or emoji — the limit is reduced to 140 characters. Messages that exceed the limit are truncated.