How it works

EmailOnText turns your inbox into text messages. When an email arrives, you get a short SMS summary — and you can reply or send new emails just by texting back. Here's exactly what that looks like.

1. You get an email as a text

To: you@gmail.com From: Bob Smith bob@work.com Invoice #204 is due Friday — reply to confirm receipt. 📎+2 | Reply: R 481920

The whole alert fits in one text. 📎+2 shows how many attachments the email had (only appears when there are some), and Reply: R 481920 is the message number you use to reply to it.

2. Reply to the latest email

R On my way, thanks!
Sent to Bob Smith <bob@work.com>

Text R followed by your message to reply to the most recent email. You'll get a Sent to … confirmation back.

3. Reply to a specific email by number

R 481920 Confirmed, received.
Sent to Bob Smith <bob@work.com>

Use the number from the alert (Reply: R 481920). Just the plain number — no #.

4. Send a brand-new email

S alice@acme.com Running 10 min late
Sent to alice@acme.com

Text S, the recipient's address, then your message. The email goes out with no subject line.

5. Send with your own subject

S alice@acme.com | Lunch | Pushing to 1pm
Sent to alice@acme.com

Separate the recipient, subject, and body with | to set a custom subject line.

6. Choosing which inbox to send from

S alice@acme.com Hi there
Send from which email? Reply with the number: 1 you@gmail.com 2 work@company.com
2
Sent to alice@acme.com

Only happens if you have more than one Gmail connected. Reply with the number within 5 minutes and your email goes out.

7. Pausing and resuming alerts

STOP
EmailOnText: You're unsubscribed and will get no more messages. Reply START to resubscribe.
START
EmailOnText: You're resubscribed to EmailOnText alerts. Reply HELP for help, STOP to unsubscribe.

Text HELP any time for the command list, STOP to pause all messages, and START to turn them back on.

Command reference

You textWhat happens
R your messageReply to the most recent email
R 42 your messageReply to email #42 (the number from the alert)
S email@x.com your messageNew email (no subject)
S email@x.com | Subject | BodyNew email with a custom subject
HELPGet the command list
STOPStop all messages
STARTResume messages
Good to know: commands aren't case-sensitive, and the emails you reply to or send can be as long as you like — the 160-character limit only applies to the summary we text you. If something goes wrong, you'll get a reply starting with Error: (for example, Error: Message #42 not found).