Mobile Messaging API

Non-standard
This feature is not on a current W3C standards track, but it is supported on the Firefox OS platform. Although implementations may change in the future and it is not supported widely across browsers, it is suitable for use in code dedicated to Firefox OS apps.

This API is available on Firefox OS for internal applications only.

Summary

WebSMS is an API that makes it possible for web content to create, send, and receive Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages.

The API is available using Navigator.mozSms which returns a MozSmsManager object or Navigator.mozMobileMessage which returns a MozMobileMessageManager. See below for a full list of interfaces:

DOM interfaces

SMS interfaces

MMS and SMS interfaces

Sample code and introduction

Specifications

This is a non standard implementation, but it is discussed at W3C as part of the System Application Working Group.

Specification Status Comment
Messaging API Editor's Draft Editor Draft (WIP).

Browser compatibility

For obvious reasons, support is primarily expected on mobile browsers.

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support No support No support No support No support No support
Feature Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) Firefox OS IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support No support 12.0 (12.0) 1.0.1
1.1 for MMS
No support No support No support

Preferences & availability

  • WebSMS is disabled by default and can be enabled setting the preference dom.sms.enabled to true.
  • A comma-separated whitelist of allowed hostnames that are allowed to use the WebSMS API must be specified using the dom.sms.whitelist preference. This string is empty by default.
  • WebSMS is only available to certified apps on Firefox OS (B2G).
  • MMS are available starting with Firefox OS 1.1

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

 Contributors to this page: chrisdavidmills, teoli, kscarfone, Crystalavila87, Jeremie, Sheppy, fscholz
 Last updated by: chrisdavidmills,