How to integrate SMS notification in Bubble.io: Step-by-Step Guide

Go to twilio.com and create an account. After verification, Twilio gives you a trial account with a test phone number. Go to the Twilio Console dashboard and find your Account SID and Auth Token — you will need both. To get a dedicated phone number, go to Phone Numbers → Buy a Number and choose one with SMS capability. In trial mode, you can only send SMS to verified phone numbers. Upgrade to a paid account to send to any number.

In the Plugins tab, open the API Connector. Add a new API called Twilio SMS. Set Authentication to HTTP Basic Auth. Enter your Account SID as the username and Auth Token as the password. Add a new call named Send SMS. Set the method to POST. Set the URL to https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/[account_sid]/Messages.json with account_sid as a Private parameter set to your Account SID. Set the body type to form-data (not JSON). Add three body parameters: To (the recipient phone number), From (your Twilio phone number), and Body (the message text). Mark From as Private if it is always the same number.

1POST https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/[account_sid]/Messages.json
2
3Authentication: HTTP Basic Auth
4  Username: [Account SID]
5  Password: [Auth Token]
6
7Body (form-data):
8  To: +1234567890
9  From: +0987654321
10  Body: Your order #1234 has been confirmed!
11
12Response:
13{
14  "sid": "SMxxxxx",
15  "status": "queued",
16  "to": "+1234567890",
17  "from": "+0987654321",
18  "body": "Your order #1234 has been confirmed!"
19}

Go to the Workflow tab on any page where you want to trigger SMS. For example, on an order confirmation page, create a workflow for When Button Confirm Order is clicked. After creating the order record, add the action Plugins → Twilio SMS - Send SMS. Set To to the customer's phone number (e.g., Current User's phone_number), From to your Twilio number, and Body to a dynamic message like Your order # followed by the order number and has been confirmed. You can use dynamic data to personalize the message.

Add a phone_number field (text) to your User data type. Create a SentMessage data type with fields: recipient (text), message_body (text), twilio_sid (text), status (text), sent_at (date), related_to (text — describes what triggered it). In your SMS workflow, after the Twilio API call, create a SentMessage record storing the recipient, body, and Twilio's returned SID. This gives you a log of all sent messages for troubleshooting and auditing.

Set up these common notification triggers. Order confirmation: send after Create Order. Appointment reminder: use a backend workflow scheduled 24 hours before the appointment's date. Password reset code: generate a random 6-digit number, save it to the User, and send it via SMS. Delivery update: trigger when an order's status changes to Shipped. For each, customize the message body with relevant dynamic data. Keep messages concise — SMS has a 160-character limit per segment. For large-scale SMS systems or complex notification logic, RapidDev can help build robust messaging infrastructure.