Messaging & campaigns
SnapContact can send a personalized email or SMS to a segment of your contacts, but it is bring-your-own-key: you connect your own SendGrid, Mailgun, or Twilio account to send through a provider, and without one the app falls back to opening your device's native mail or SMS composer one recipient at a time. There is no demo mode and no hidden sending — a message goes out either through your provider or through a composer you press send on.
Two honest delivery paths
| Path | When it's used | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Provider (BYO key) | You've connected SendGrid / Mailgun (email) or Twilio (SMS). | The campaign sends automatically through the provider's API, resolving {{variable}} placeholders per recipient. |
| Native composer | No provider is connected. | The app queues messages and opens your device's mail or SMS composer per recipient, so you send each one yourself. |
Because the composer fallback uses mailto: / the SMS app, campaign bodies on that path are plain text — mailto: cannot carry HTML.
Personalization with variables
Templates use {{variable}} placeholders (for example a first name) that are resolved per recipient from the contact's details before sending. Opted-out contacts and contacts without an address are filtered out automatically, and every send is recorded against the contact so your timeline stays accurate.
Why bring-your-own-key
Sending email and SMS at scale costs money and requires sender reputation that belongs to you, not the app. SnapContact stays zero-cost by never running a shared sending backend: you bring the provider account you already trust, keep control of deliverability and billing, and the app simply orchestrates the personalized send. When you don't want to connect a provider, the native-composer path means the feature still works for a handful of messages without pretending to send in bulk.
Honest limits
- Bulk automatic sending requires your own provider key; there is no built-in sending quota.
- The native-composer fallback is one-at-a-time and plain text by design.
- SnapContact does not send anything silently — provider sends are explicit, and composer sends require your tap.
Frequently asked questions
Can I send a campaign without setting anything up? Yes, in a limited way — without a provider, the app opens your device composer per recipient. For automatic bulk sending, connect your own SendGrid, Mailgun, or Twilio account.
Does SnapContact send email/SMS through its own servers? No. Sends go through your connected provider, or through your device's composer. There is no shared sending backend.
Why is my campaign body plain text? Because the no-provider fallback uses mailto:, which can't carry HTML. Connect an email provider for richer messages.
Are opt-outs respected? Yes — opted-out and address-less contacts are filtered out automatically.
Is each send recorded? Yes, against the recipient contact, so the timeline reflects what was sent.