Glossary > SMS Billing Flow
SMS Billing Flow (or Short Messaging Service Billing Flow in short) is a mobile payment option allowing customers to make purchases or subscribe to services using text messaging with charges applied directly to their phone bills.
SMS Billing Flow allows users to make payments using their mobile phones by texting a shortcode with their purchase amount, either deducted from the prepaid balance or added directly to their monthly bill. It is commonly used for digital goods, subscriptions, and in-app purchases; for instance, a user could subscribe to a premium service by texting a keyword directly to a designated number; the cost will then be deducted directly from the user’s mobile account.
When users send an SMS for purchases, their billing system checks their mobile phone number before applying charges directly to their account without entering credit card data—providing safe and effortless billing flow solutions in areas with low credit card penetration and providing accessible payment solutions. Adding additional lives in mobile games would simply require texting a specific code through an SMS with costs deducted directly from the phone balance; making this payment method an attractive alternative in regions lacking accessible banking infrastructures such as SMS billing flow is ideal in areas with low credit card penetration providing accessible payment alternatives.
Users subscribe to weekly ringtone services by texting “RING” to a shortcode; their subscription costs $2 weekly, which will automatically be added to their phone bill.