Introduction

Connecfy is an API and infrastructure layer that sends and receives SMS through real SIM cards installed in Android phones you or Connecfy connect as gateways. There is no telecom-grade SMPP connection or carrier aggregator underneath — the SIM in a phone is the sending mechanism, and Connecfy is the queue, routing, and API in front of it.

Architecture

A message you send through the API takes this path:

Nothing in that chain is push-based. The gateway app polls for outbound work and reports results back the same way — there's no persistent socket or carrier webhook. That's a deliberate tradeoff of the SIM-gateway model: it works with any prepaid or postpaid SIM in any country Android runs in, at the cost of a queue-and-poll latency of up to about 20 seconds instead of true real-time dispatch.

Receiving works in reverse: a text arrives on the SIM, the Android app picks it up via SmsReceiver, and reports it to Connecfy on its next check-in. It shows up wherever your account reads messages — the dashboard today; see Receiving SMS for the one real limitation on this path.

The five things that matter

Account

Your Connecfy login. Owns SIMs, API keys, a billing plan with a monthly SMS/device allowance, and every message sent or received through anything it owns.

SIM (device)

A physical SIM card in an Android phone running the Connecfy app, paired to your account. This is the thing that actually transmits — see SIM Cards. If your account has none paired, sends are auto-routed to Connecfy's own shared pool so you can start before buying hardware.

Gateway

The Connecfy Android app itself — the software that polls for work, drives the SIM, and reports status back. "SIM" and "gateway" are often used interchangeably in these docs; the SIM is the resource, the gateway is the software making it usable remotely.

API key

The credential your server uses to call the Connecfy API — a bearer token, generated from the dashboard, shown once. See API Keys.

Message / status

Every SMS — sent or received — is one record with a direction and a status. Outbound moves queued → sending → sent → delivered (or failed); inbound arrives directly as received. See Message Lifecycle.

Where to go next