If you need to contact an adult to help their child, and you are in the US or Canada, you can send them a pre-written text message from a manned or roster station. Replies are not received.
The daily texting limit is 10% of your daily check-in limit. Although you won't be prevented from sending texts if you go over that limit occasionally, you may receive an email if the overages are excessive or frequent.
Tip
Want to see other ways to use texting in Planning Center? Check out our Texting Reference Guide!
From a station, navigate to the child whose adults you need to contact and select the messaging icon.
Choose a recipient and a message to send, and then select Send Message.
Recipients include all household adults and trusted people for the child. The text message will be sent to the mobile phone number on their profile. If no mobile phone number is listed, the text will try to be sent to other phone number types. Check profiles with a People list to ensure the people have phone numbers.
Caution
If a recipient cannot be chosen, make sure their phone number is ten digits.
People don't have to opt in to receive these messages, and they are limited to the following:
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Come: Please come to [Location] for [First Name].
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Feeding: [First Name] is hungry in [Location].
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Diaper/Bathroom: [First Name] in [Location] needs assistance with a diaper change or bathroom break.
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Medical Emergency: [First Name] is having a medical emergency in [Location].
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Doing Great: [First Name] is doing great!
If you have enabled Confirm check-ins for your roster station and want to send a message to someone who is not confirmed in the class yet, you can select the message icon, and you'll see this message.
Once you send a message, you can go back to the Send Message box and expand the Message History to see the information about the sent message.