Trigger: SMS Received

This trigger will fire when an incoming SMS is received. You can specify a particular contact that the incoming SMS should be from, or alternatively you can specify that the message should be from Any Contact, a Non Contact, or Any Number. You can also match against the incoming text content so the trigger will only fire when the SMS text matches or contains the required text.

Options

Select Contacts - Choose specific contacts from your contact list. You can select multiple contacts or exclude selected contacts.
Select Groups - Choose contact groups to match against
Select Number - Enter a specific phone number (supports wildcards and Magic Text)
Any Number - Trigger for SMS from any sender

Content Matching Options

Any Content - Trigger for any SMS content
Matches - Only trigger when the SMS text exactly matches the specified text
Contains - Trigger when the SMS contains the specified text anywhere in the message
Excludes - Trigger when the SMS does NOT contain the specified text

Advanced Options

Enable Regex - Use regular expressions for advanced pattern matching on SMS content
Ignore Case - Case-insensitive matching (enabled by default, not available with regex)
Enable Regex for Phone Number - Use regular expressions for phone number matching
Exclude Number - Exclude the specified number instead of matching it
Exclude Contacts - Exclude the selected contacts instead of matching them
Monitor Inbox - Alternative detection method that monitors the SMS inbox (useful if standard detection fails)
Subscription ID - On dual-SIM devices, optionally restrict to a specific SIM

Requirements

RECEIVE_SMS permission
READ_CONTACTS permission (if using contact selection)

Magic Text Variables

When this trigger fires, the following Magic Text values are available:

{sms_number} - The sender's phone number
{sms_name} - The sender's name (if in contacts)
{sms_message} - The full SMS message content

Examples

Example 1: Auto-reply while driving

Automatically reply to incoming SMS while driving:

Triggers

SMS Received: Any Number - Any Content

Actions

Send SMS: "I'm currently driving and will respond later" to [sms_number]

Constraints

Bluetooth Connected to car

Example 2: SMS command processing

Process specific commands received via SMS:

Triggers

SMS Received: Any Number - Contains: "LOCATE"

Actions

Get Location
Send SMS: "Device location: [last_loc_link]" to [sms_number]

Example 3: VIP notification

Special notification for messages from important contacts:

Triggers

SMS Received: (Select VIP contacts)

Actions

Edge Notification Light
Speak Text: "Message from [sms_name]"

Example 4: Two-factor authentication helper

Extract and copy verification codes:

Triggers

SMS Received: Any Number - Contains (Regex): "\b\d{6}\b"

Actions

Copy to Clipboard: (extracted code)
Display Notification: "Verification code copied"

Notes

This trigger only works with real SMS messages. It cannot detect RCS (Rich Communication Services) or "Chat" messages. If this trigger does not work, please try disabling RCS/Chat in your messaging app.
If standard SMS detection fails, try enabling "Monitor Inbox" in the trigger options
On dual-SIM devices, you can restrict the trigger to messages received on a specific SIM
You can combine contact selection with content matching for precise filtering
Using "Exclude" options allows you to create rules like "any contact except these" or "any content except this"

See Also