SMSPipe - Secure SMS Gateway API using spare Android phones (Bypasses 10DLC / No Twilio message fees)

Posted by Unusual_Act8436@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 12 comments

Hey everyone,

I built SMSPipe to solve a personal headache: handling 10DLC compliance delays and high carrier fees just to get simple uptime alerts from my monitoring scripts.

It securely links a spare Android phone to an HTTP API. When you send a POST request, the phone transmits the text via its local SIM plan.

Quick details:

App: Official client is live on the Google Play Store.
Security: Uses token-based API authentication and encrypted payloads.
Automation: Zero-dependency integration for Bash, Python, or PowerShell scripts (Nagios/Zabbix alerts).
Testing: The free tier includes 100 free SMS to test local carrier latency and API stability.

I'd love to get some technical feedback from fellow sysadmins on performance, battery management for always-on devices, or edge cases!

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VA_Network_Nerd@reddit

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InternetStranger4You@reddit

Interesting idea/workaround. I bet this breaks carrier TOS and some FCC regulations somewhere.

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Thanks for the feedback. There are already several similar applications that implement essentially the same functionality, so the concept itself is not unique. Any potential issues related to carrier terms of service or regulatory compliance would depend on the specific implementation and how it is used.

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mixduptransistor@reddit

I'd love to get some technical feedback

Your AI bot forgot to post a link

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Unusual_Act8436@reddit (OP)

haha with ai you are not sure what is bot or not :p - Did not add a link because it violates the subreddit rules (marks it as an ad). App is called SMSPipe in case you need to test it! thanks

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mixduptransistor@reddit

That kind of was my point, this is spam and violates rule 3

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Unusual_Act8436@reddit (OP)

just asking for feedback..

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stupv@reddit

Yeah...but this is /r/sysadmin not /r/vibecoding or /r/selfhosted or any other sub where app dev feedback would be relevant.

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Unusual_Act8436@reddit (OP)

Fair point, but sysadmins frequently need out-of-band alerting for infrastructure monitoring.

If a primary network drops, you can trigger a simple Bash/curl script to send emergency SMS alerts through an independent mobile device. It's built for low-cost uptime and server notifications.

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mixduptransistor@reddit

So are you looking for feedback or making sure sysadmins have access to an out of band alerting tool?

Regardless, a plain reading of rule 3 means you posting this even to "get feedback" is advertising. You even modified your post to get around a technical limitation

I think you'll find this community in particular is going to have an extremely low bar when it comes to trying to get around the rules, and to being advertised to

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JwCS8pjrh3QBWfL@reddit

The FCC has entered the chat

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Unusual_Act8436@reddit (OP)

Haha fair point, but this isn't for bulk marketing. It's for small businesses sending client reminders and devs running lightweight apps.