Ryan D Johnson's dashboard

A comment on the question "sms just says gmail" in innerfence:

The normal messages from gmail have a colon right at the place where you're seeing them cut off. So try having somebody text your phone and put a colon in the message like "First Part: Second Part". Also, what kind of phone do you have? – Ryan D Johnson, on March 02, 2009 23:24

Ryan D Johnson replied on March 02, 2009 22:48 to the question "sms just says gmail" in innerfence:

Ok, I have a theory.

Normally the messages look like

Gmail - you@gmail.com: Your message here.

People having this problem seem to be seeing it cut off at the colon ":".

It's possible the phone or carrier thinks there's something special about text messages with a colon in them.

Could somebody who's seeing this problem try sending a text message (not using Infinite SMS) to the friend who's seeing blank messages that has a colon in it.

For example, send "Hello: Goodbye" to your friend and see if they get both parts.

If they only get "Hello", the problem seems to have nothing to do with Infinite SMS or Google Talk. But maybe we could let Google know that colon is an unfortunate separator character.

A comment on the question "Why wont i receive texts when im offline?" in innerfence:

Did you try this:

http://www.innerfence.com/apps/infini... – Ryan D Johnson, on March 01, 2009 01:40

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 28, 2009 22:26 to the question "When updating will it erase SMS?" in innerfence:

Not unless you delete the app.

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 28, 2009 21:52 to the idea "Spam limit" in innerfence:

Hi, Bob.

Google provides the text messages to you for free. But most people you’re sending to will still have to pay for the messages. That’s why Google has some rules to prevent abuse like sending someone you don’t like a lot of messages so they have a big phone bill. The basic idea is:

Once someone replies to one of your texts, Google will know they’re your friend and it’s ok to let you send them more messages.

So the best way to avoid hitting the limits we talk about below is to always identify yourself when you’re sending a text to someone you’ve never sent to before. Ask for a reply. Remember that it’s going to come from a weird (406) area code phone number. Here’s an example:

Hey, it's Ryan Johnson. I'm using a new texting thing. Please send something back so I know you got this.

You can read more here:

http://innerfence.com/sms/faq#limits

/rdj

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 28, 2009 21:03 to the idea "Reminder alert when text is received and not read." in innerfence:

Hi, Mike.

We'll think about that idea when we're planning future versions.

/rdj

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 28, 2009 18:10 to the praise "Moving beyond..." in innerfence:

Hi, Ravi.

The cell phone you want to exchange messages with has to have a US number. That's why the first line of our app description says you can send to the "50 US states".

However, you can use Infinite SMS on an iPod or iPhone over the internet from anywhere.

So you could use Infinite SMS in Australia, for example, to exchange messages with someone in the US. Your messages would be free, and for the person in the US there are no international texting charges, just ordinary ones.

If you want to ask Google about support for other countries, you could do that in their forum:

http://innerfence.com/sms/faq#google_...

/rdj

Ryan D Johnson set one of Ryan D Johnson's replies as an official response to "Port fix!" in innerfence

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 27, 2009 03:43 to the idea "Port fix!" in innerfence:

We've just submitted 1.3 to Apple, which has this change. You can read about the other features and when we expect it to be available here:

http://innerfence.com/sms/faq#v13

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 26, 2009 22:41 to the question "Data usage with Infinite SMS" in innerfence:

Hi, Keith.

The protocol isn't that straightforward. It's called XMPP, and there can be "Presence" traffic which is not related directly to messages you're actively sending and receiving.

/rdj

Ryan D Johnson set one of Ryan D Johnson's replies as an official response to "Port fix!" in innerfence

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 25, 2009 22:46 to the idea "Port fix!" in innerfence:

Actually, great news.

Your comment spurred me to re-examine this, and it seems like I have it working now. So 1.3 should be able to tunnel out of firewalls on port 443.

Thanks for bugging me, Jojo.

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 25, 2009 22:10 to the idea "Port fix!" in innerfence:

Hi, Jojo.

It is possible to connect to Google Talk over port 443, which is the standard HTTPS port. This would reduce the likelihood of it being blocked (unlike port 5222 which is routinely blocked).

The way that you connect to that port works a bit differently, and I haven't found good documentation. I played around with it for a couple of minutes to see if I could get it to work for v1.3, but it wasn't as straightforward as I hoped.

So we're definitely thinking about this, but don't look for it in 1.3.

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 25, 2009 19:56 to the problem "Can only send texts to people I've already sent messages to directly through Google." in innerfence:

Hi, Chelsea.

We've never heard of anyone else with this problem.

Could you take a screenshot or tell me the exact text of the error message you get?

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 25, 2009 19:55 to the question "Not receiving some messages.." in innerfence:

Hi, Marcos.

We're aware that there are some issues. I think in the current version if the sleep notifications only work consistently with the iPhone. We've heard that if you leave your iPod plugged in and charging that the notifications may work. In version 1.3 we're adding a flag that will hopefully help the iPod stay connected in sleep mode.

Thanks for letting me know your experience.

A comment on the problem "can no text" in innerfence:

Hi, JJ. Your text message will come from a (406) area code number that Google owns. Your friend just sends a message back to that number and it will come back to your Infinite SMS app. – Ryan D Johnson, on February 25, 2009 15:36

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 25, 2009 00:37 to the question "are you affiliated with google?" in innerfence:

We are not affiliated with Google.

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 24, 2009 20:56 to the question "messages keep coming!!!" in innerfence:

Is this still happening? If so, please email support@innerfence.com:

• Your phone make and model (like Motorola Razr or Apple iPhone)
• Your wireless carrier (like AT&T or T-Mobile)
• Your phone number

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 24, 2009 19:17 to the question "messages keep coming!!!" in innerfence:

Had you ever received a message from anyone at that number?

Try texting back "BLOCK" in a message by itself.

Here's a thread from someone with a similar problem on the Google forums (they're not using Infinite SMS).

http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-...

Ryan D Johnson replied on February 23, 2009 18:13 to the question "Incoming texts are coming through gmail offline chat, not SMS" in innerfence:

Hi, Meg.

The way the Google decides where the messages go is complicated and involves lots of factors, some of which aren't obvious. But please trust me when I tell you that what you're talking about only works sometimes. Most of the time it doesn't work. It has to do with what order you do things in, what's open when, whether you've closed certain things, your away status, etc.