How to Send a Text from Email

Last Updated: September 10, 2020

For many, sending texts on your phone is not as much fun as it is a necessary part of modern communication. If you would rather use a full-sized keyboard, there are ways you can use email to send your text messages (SMS) and Multimedia Messages (MMS).

Steps

1
Get the recipient's carrier. Each carrier (Verizon, AT&T, etc) has a specific email gateway that you will have to go through in order to email a text message. If you don't know the person's carrier off the top of your head, you can enter their 10 digit phone number into a carrier lookup system such as CarrierLookup or FoneFinder.
2
Enter the phone number in the "To" field of your email. Be sure to enter the full 10-digit number, followed by the specific carrier gateway address. Here is a list of some of the most common carrier gateways:
- AT&T: number@txt.att.net^{[1]
  X
  Research source} for a normal text message (SMS), or number@mms.att.net^{[2]
  X
  Research source} for a multimedia message (MMS)
- Verizon: number@vtext.com^{[3]
  X
  Research source} for both SMS and MMS messages
- Sprint PCS: number@messaging.sprintpcs.com for both SMS and MMS messages
- T-Mobile: number@tmomail.net for both SMS and MMS messages
- Virgin Mobile: number@vmobl.com for both SMS and MMS messages
- These gateways do change periodically, and are not always published for non-subscribers.
3
Enter your text in the body of the email. Although you can technically include a subject, doing so will take away from the body of your text, as most text messages have a 160-character limit.
- Texts that exceed the character limit will be broken up into multiple messages. While your emails will be free, the recipient will be charged per message (unless they have unlimited texting).
- Upload an image or short video to the email if you wish to send it as an MMS.
4
Send your text. Click on the send button as you normally would for sending an email. The recipient should receive the text in about 30 seconds, and will see it on their phone as a normal text conversation. They will be able to respond to you as they would to any other text.
5
Open their response. When you receive a reply, it will be sent to the account from which you originally emailed the text. However, unlike a normal text or email message, it will be received as a text file attached to a blank message. Click to open the attachment, or save it to your desktop and open it with a text reader or word processor.

Community Q&A

Question

Can it be done anonymously?

Community Answer

It can only be done anonymously if you don't have the information for your email account. If you make an email with no information about yourself than, that's the best way. However, if you use your standard email that people associate with you, then they'll know who is sending it.
Question

If someone is texting me via email, do I get charged data on my mobile for receiving and sending text messages back?

Community Answer

It depends upon your plan. If you are normally charged for sending and receiving text on a per-call basis, then yes, there’s a charge. If your plan has a certain text or data allowance, as long as you’re within the maximum limits, there should be no additional charge.
Question

How do the text email messages show up on a mobile bill?

Community Answer

If you have a WiFi connection, then it would simply come out of your allowed WiFi data for the month. However, you're using mobile data on a phone contract, or pay-as-you-go, it would be included on that bill.
Question

How do I determine the carrier for a cell phone number?

Community Answer

Thanks to number portability, you can't. Certain batches of numbers were originally delegated to specific carriers. But nowadays people can easily take their numbers with them from carrier to carrier.
Question

Will my name show on the text?

Community Answer

Yes. Either your phone number or your name will show so that whoever you are talking to will know who you are.
Question

Will it show up as a sent email if you text the other person?

Community Answer

Yes, it will be in your Sent folder of your e-mail.
Question

What if you don't know the phone carrier?

Marc

Community Answer

You can use FreeCarrierLookup.com. It will tell you the carrier name for any phone number and give you the email-to-sms gateway address as well. It's free for up to 30 queries per month.