Provided information on MMS - Sending Images & Special Characters
Answer
Mobile Commons supports the sending of MMS messages. You can send jpegs, pngs, gifs and even text with special characters as an MMS. Mobile Commons supports sending MMS not only through the web interface, but also from the API. Mobile Commons also supports the receipt of MMS from your subscribers, simply head to the inbox and filter for "MMS". From the inbox you are also able to bulk export your incoming MMS.
Not all phones are able to receive MMS messages. Please see our article on SMS Failover for some send options to accommodate those subscribers.
Adding an Image
- Click on the Attachments sub-tab under the Text Messaging tab
- Click Create New Attachment in the upper right-hand corner
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Click Browse and find the file on your computer. You can give the file a name so it’s easier to remember which one it is later.
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We support the following types of images and attachments:- jpeg
- jpg
- gif
- png
- mp4
- 3gp
- vcf (file format for contact cards)
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Click Upload
Add MMS to your message
Now that you have your MMS attachment uploaded, you can add it to any of your opt-in paths or broadcasts. In this example, we will add it to a broadcast.
- In the conversation view, type out the message you want to send out to your subscribers, and then on the right hand side menu, scroll down to Attach Media and find the MMS you want to attach and then click Save & Continue
Choose your recipients on the following page
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Confirm the message and schedule the broadcast!
Receive MMS (Picture, GIF) Messages From Your Subscribers
MMS is good for more than just sending out images. You can also ask your users to send in MMS messages of their own. Incoming images show up in the Mobile Commons Inbox. You can also bulk export your received MMS messages by hitting "MMS Export" on the top right after you've ran an MMS search.
We support the receipt of the following types of incoming messages:
- .bmp
- .jpeg
- .jpg
- .pjpg
- .gif
- .png
- .3gpp
- .mp4
Important Facts and Best Practices:
- MMS is only supported on these carriers:
- AT&T
- Verizon
- Sprint
- T-Mobile
- Cricket (Leap Wireless)
- United States Cellular Corp (US Cellular)
- Alltel-Allied
- MetroPCS (GSM)
- We support these types of files:
- Still pictures
- Animated GIFs
- Variables to Factor:
- Carrier support for MMS.
- Carrier file size limits.
- Carrier file size limit by media type.
- Handset file size limits.
- Handset media format requirements.
- Handset OS/MMS media player.
- Delivery speed dependent on bandwidth available and file size transmitted.
- Media file size for quality.
- Media quality: resolution for images, playback bitrate for video, sample frequency/bitrate for audio File dimensions (pixels).
- Video/audio time length.
- Video content’s effect on compression (quick edits, high-density colors).
- Handset screen dimensions.
- Transcoding and compression used.
- List size that the message will be sent to.
- Total delivery time when sending to large lists.
- While the platform does not have a file size limitation, carriers employ their own file size limitations, from 500 KB to around 1 MB. In addition, some user's phones or text messaging apps employ their own file size limits. Use your best judgment and do not upload large files (whether they are GIFs, videos or pictures). The Mobile Commons platform will automatically transcode and reduce the file size of any items uploaded to meet general carrier requirements. But the bigger the file when uploaded, the more transcoding the platform will need to do (meaning it will take longer to upload). Larger files will take a longer time to send to subscribers. Animated GIFs may have frames removed to accommodate creating a small enough file to send to most phones. To avoid image degradation your image should be at or under 500Kb.
- For MMS dimensions, we recommend:
- Always test photo/GIF sizes on the latest devices (iPhones, Androids, etc.). There are over 5,500 handsets being used by consumers, so actual results may vary.
- 1080w x 1920h is HD best source quality. Do not put any “content of interest” (logos, text, barcodes) in the top 218 pixels (11.4%) or bottom 150 pixels (7.8%) to make sure no content is cut off in full-screen view/mode.
- Alternate size is 640w x 1138h. This is good for vertical/portrait mode images. Do not put any “content of interest” in top 129 pixels (11.4%) or bottom 89 pixels (7.8%) to make sure no content is cut off in full-screen view/mode.
- Alternative sizes to try:
- For horizontal (landscape), we recommend 1,280 pixels wide and 720 pixels high.
- If you don't want important text or "content of interest" to be cut off in the thumbnail image (the image that will be displayed on most phones before an end user taps on the photo):
- For Vertical 1080w x 1920h: Do not include important text or content of interest in the top or bottom 268 pixels (14%) and the left or right 86 pixels (8%).
- For Horizontal 1920w x 1080h: Do not include important text or content of interest in the top or bottom 86 pixels (8%) and the left or right 172 pixels (9%).
- For Vertical 640w x 1138h: Do not include important text or content of interest in the top or bottom 160 pixels (14%) and the left or right 51 pixels (8%).
- For Horizontal 1138w x 640h: Do not include important text or content of interest in the top or bottom 51 pixels (8%) and the left or right 102 pixels (9%).
- Do not put important text/"content of interest" around the edges. Depending on the phone, the user might not be able to zoom in on the picture to read the text, or even see it in the thumbnail they receive. See the above (Bullet #5) for more guidelines.
- Do not add MMS to urgent messages. Your broadcasts will be 20 times slower in sending when you add MMS. So for a larger list, like 100,000 subscribers, it would take at least 5 hours for the message to send to everyone on the list.
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Question: Product How-To / Training
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