SMS notifications

Enable SMS for shift changes, leave decisions, and other time-sensitive events.

Written By Chris Germon

Last updated About 1 month ago

What's new

SMS joins web, push, and email as a notification channel. The toggle is in Settings β†’ Notifications, next to the existing Email column.

Which notifications support SMS

SMS is reserved for short, time-sensitive notifications. List-style notifications (weekly outstanding lists, overdue summaries) stay email-only. SMS is available for:

  • New shifts published / updated / removed
  • Timesheet reminder + timesheet rejected
  • Urgent leave request (both directions)
  • Leave approved / rejected
  • Manager: new leave request
  • Payroll day

What the SMS body looks like

SMS reuses the push notification copy β€” same short-form intent, no separate template to maintain. Merge tags work the same way as email (e.g. "Hi {{first_name}}, your leave request for {{start_date}} was approved.").

On beta vs production

Beta's SMS sender is disabled (placeholder AWS credentials), so toggling SMS on beta won't actually send a text β€” but the configuration UX and dispatch path are wired end-to-end. On production once real AWS SNS keys are configured, the same toggle delivers an actual SMS.