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How can we help?

Setup, permissions, limits and billing, in plain English. Still stuck? Email support@textdirectly.com and we will reply within 1 business day.

Getting set up

You need a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) on macOS 13 or later, and an iPhone signed in to the same Apple ID.

  1. Download TextDirectly and drag it to your Applications folder.
  2. Open it. The first time, macOS blocks it. Click Done, open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway next to TextDirectly. Confirm with your password or Touch ID. You only do this once. The download page shows each screen.
  3. On your Mac, open Messages > Settings > iMessage and make sure you are signed in with the same Apple ID as your iPhone.
  4. On your iPhone, turn on Text Message Forwarding for this Mac.
  5. Follow the setup guide in TextDirectly. It asks for your name, lets it control Messages, sends you a test text, and turns on reading replies.
The setup guide shows a green check next to each step once it is working.

Text Message Forwarding

Text Message Forwarding lets your Mac send regular texts (green bubbles) through your iPhone, so you can reach people who do not have an iPhone.

  1. On your iPhone, open Settings > Apps > Messages > Text Message Forwarding. On older iPhones it is Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding.
  2. Turn on the switch next to your Mac.
  3. If your Mac shows a code, enter it on your iPhone.

Keep your iPhone on and connected to the internet while a campaign is sending green-bubble texts.

Permissions

macOS asks you to allow each of these the first time TextDirectly needs it. You can change them later in System Settings > Privacy & Security.

Messages (Automation)

Lets TextDirectly send texts through the Messages app. When macOS asks if TextDirectly can control Messages, click Allow. If you clicked Don't Allow, go to Privacy & Security > Automation, find TextDirectly and turn on Messages.

Full Disk Access

Lets TextDirectly read your Messages history on this Mac, which is how it sees delivery status, replies and STOP requests. Go to Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access and turn on TextDirectly. If macOS offers to Quit & Reopen, click it.

Without it, texts still send but show as “sent” instead of “delivered”, and replies are not captured.

Contacts

Only needed if you import from Mac Contacts. When macOS asks, click Allow. To change it later, go to Privacy & Security > Contacts and turn on TextDirectly.

Your contacts and replies stay on your Mac. See our privacy page.

Green and blue bubbles

Blue bubbles are iMessages, sent to people with Apple devices over the internet. Green bubbles are regular texts, sent through your iPhone and your carrier.

TextDirectly tries iMessage first. If an iMessage fails, it automatically resends it once as a regular text. Green-bubble texts need Text Message Forwarding turned on.

Test mode

TextDirectly starts in test mode, so you can practice building a campaign without sending anything real. A yellow bar at the top of the app reminds you it is on.

When you are ready, turn it off in Settings. Your 7-day Pro trial starts on your first real send, not while you are testing.

Limits and warm-up

Daily limits protect your number. Sending too much too fast is the quickest way to get texts filtered by carriers.

  • Free: up to 45 texts a day at the Careful pace, one campaign at a time.
  • Pro: starts at 100 texts a day. After clean weeks with few STOP replies and failures, it unlocks 150, then 200. If STOP replies or failures rise, it steps back one level.

When a campaign reaches the daily limit, it waits and picks up again the next day. Texts only go out inside your send window, in each person's own time zone, on the days you choose.

If too many texts in a campaign fail, TextDirectly stops the campaign so you can check what is wrong before sending more.

Entering your license key

After you buy Pro, we email your license key. It looks like TD-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. It also appears on the page you see right after checkout.

  1. Open TextDirectly and click Settings in the sidebar.
  2. Under Your plan, paste the key into the License key box.
  3. Click Activate.

A key works on up to 2 Macs. To move it, click Remove from this Mac in Settings on the old Mac first. The app checks your license with our server about once a day. If your Mac is offline, Pro keeps working for a while.

Manage billing

Cancel in one click, change your card or switch between monthly and yearly. In the app, open Settings > Your plan > Manage billing. Or enter your license key here:

Billing is handled securely by Stripe. If you cancel, Pro stays on until the end of the period you paid for, then the app moves to Free.

Troubleshooting

My Mac says TextDirectly can't be opened

This is the one-time approval. Click Done, then go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to TextDirectly. See the step-by-step pictures.

Texts say “sent” but never “delivered”

Turn on Full Disk Access for TextDirectly. Without it, the app cannot see delivery status or replies.

Texts to Android phones fail

Make sure Text Message Forwarding is on for this Mac, and that your iPhone is on and connected. Try sending one text from the Messages app on your Mac to an Android number to check.

Replies are not showing up

Check Full Disk Access. Then open the Messages app on your Mac and make sure the reply appears there. TextDirectly reads replies from Messages on this Mac.

My campaign stopped or is waiting

It is usually one of these:

  • It reached today's daily limit. It continues tomorrow.
  • It is outside your send window. It continues when the window opens.
  • Too many texts failed, so it stopped to protect your number. Check the failed numbers and your Messages setup, then press Resume.
  • The app was restarted mid-campaign. Press Resume.
A permission is on, but the app says it is off

After an update, macOS sometimes needs the permission granted again. In System Settings > Privacy & Security, turn the switch for TextDirectly off and back on, then reopen the app.

My license key will not activate

Copy the whole key, including TD-, with no extra spaces. A key works on 2 Macs. If both are in use, click Remove from this Mac on one of them first. Your Mac also needs to be online to activate.

I did not get my license key email

It usually arrives within a minute. Check your spam folder. If it is not there, email support@textdirectly.com from the address you paid with and we will send it again.

Still stuck? Contact us. We reply within 1 business day.