Envaya's SMS feature allows you to use Envaya from any mobile phone, almost anywhere in the world, even where there is no internet connection. Currently, you can do the following via SMS and MMS:

• publish short news updates and photos to your organization's website 
• subscribe to news updates from any organization on Envaya
• search for organizations on Envaya by name or geographic location
• view contact information (name, location, phone number, email, website) for any organization on Envaya
• read news posted by any organization on Envaya
• post comments on news updates from any organization on Envaya
• read comments on news updates

Standard message and data rates may apply for sending text messages to Envaya.

To use Envaya via SMS, text the following commands to one of Envaya's SMS numbers: 

(Tanzania) 0763 077677 
(International) +1 484 544 4443

 

The sections below explain the commands that you can use on Envaya SMS.

P: Publish a News Update to Your Website

To publish a news update to your website, text: 

P [your message]

Example: "P This is my latest news."

If you are using Envaya's international (+1) phone number, your SMS must be shorter than 160 characters. When using other phone numbers (such as the Tanzania phone number), your message can be as long as you want.

If your message is published successfully, Envaya will send a reply like this:

Your news update has been published to "N exampleorg" 
and http://envaya.org/testorg/news
If you want to undo, txt "DELETE 58934"

Anyone can see your published news either via SMS or on your organization's website. We encourage you to share your organization's website address and SMS command ("N [username]") with other people so they can see your news.

Note: The "P" command requires logging in to your Envaya account. See "IN" command.

U: Latest Updates

To see the latest updates from all organizations on Envaya, text:

U

The 'U' command returns a response that looks like this:

29Aug
N NYEDACO
I taswo
I Fihata
N TACOMO
28Aug
N yesvijana
N TEYODEN
N zop

Each line shows the username and the type of update (N is news, I is contact information), and is also a command that you can send for more information.

For example, send "N NYEDACO" to see the latest news from Nyengedi Environment Development and Diseases Control, or "I taswo" to see the contact information of Tanzania Support for Widows and Orphans.

Whenever you publish a news update (either via the SMS "P" command or via envaya.org), your organization will move to the top of the list when anyone sends the "U" command.

F: Find Organizations by Name

To search for organizations by name, text:

F [organization name]

Example: "F mwanza youth children network"
Example: "F environment" (any organization with 'environment' in their name)
Example: "F je" (organizations with names starting with 'je')

The 'F' command returns a response that looks like this:

[1/2]
jeanmedia
guluka
ileje
keca
wecocpemba
WEPMO
moeco
cadecttrust
EMNet
WEETU
mcaee
sehap-tanzania
BAENET
pemwa
Txt "I [user]" for details

Each line shows the username of an organization on Envaya that matched your search (in this case, 'F environment'). In this case, [1/2] means that there are too many matches to fit in a single SMS, and this is the first of two pages. If you want to see the second page of results, reply NEXT or 2.

In order to see the contact information any organization, reply with text "I [user]", for example "I jeanmedia". 

In order to see the latest news any organization, reply with text "N [user]", for example "N jeanmedia". 

FN: Search for Organizations Near Geographic Location

To search for organizations near a geographic location, text:

FN [location]

Example: "F pemba" 

The response for the FN command is the same as the F command.

I: View Contact Information for Organization

To view contact organization for any organization on Envaya, text:

I [user]

Example: "I jeanmedia"

The response to the "I" command shows the organization's name, city, website address, email address, and phone number (if it's public). For example:

Journalists Environment and (HIV)Aids Network
Dar-es-salaam TZ
http://envaya.org/jeanmedia
jean_media@yahoo.com
255658053107
Txt "N" for news

Note: if you don't know the username of the organization you're looking for, use the "F" command to find it.

S: Subscribe to Organization's News

Anyone can subscribe to any organization's news on Envaya. When you subscribe to an organization's news, Envaya will automatically send you a SMS notification whenever that organization publishes a news update on Envaya.

To subscribe to an organization, text:

S [user]

Example: "S jeanmedia"

When your subscription is processed, Envaya will send a confirmation message:

Subscribed to "N jeanmedia".
Txt "STOP 3" to unsubscribe.
Txt "SS" to show all subscriptions.

Later, whenever the user publishes a news update, Envaya will send you a text message like this:

jeanmedia published news.
Txt "N jeanmedia 6" or open http://envaya.org/jeanmedia/news.
To stop these notifications, txt "STOP 1"

SS: Show Subscriptions

To see all the organizations that your phone has subscribed to, text:

SS

As an example, the result of this command might look like this:

1:N jeanmedia
2:N cfp
4:N mycn
Txt STOP [id] to cancel any subscription

In this example, the first line means that you are subscribed to jeanmedia's news updates, and you can text "STOP 1" to unsubscribe.

STOP: Unsubscribe

If you want to unsubscribe from a notification, text:

STOP [id]

Example: "STOP 2"

If you want to unsubscribe from all notifications, text:

STOP ALL

N: View Latest News from Organization

To view the latest news posted by any organization on Envaya, text:

N [user]

Example: "N jeanmedia"

The response to the 'N' command shows the latest news update, along with the date and the number of comments.

[1/60]
2Jun
2cmt@"G[num]"
Wananchi watakiwa kutunza mazingira Na ASIA KILAMBWANDA, 
Mtwara Wananchi Mkoani Mtwara wametakiwa kutotupa taka 
hovyo hususani katika maeneo ya pwani ya bahari ya bandari 
ya Mtwara na badala yake watunze na kuhifadhi maeneo hayo
kwa kuwa ni sehemu ya vivutio vinavyoingi za
MORE

If the news update is too long, only the beginning will be shown. Text "MORE" to see more of it.

To see older news updates, text "NEXT" or the page number.

The phrase "2cmt" means that there are two comments on this news update. If there are no comments on a news update, it will say '0cmt:"C [msg]"' instead.

To view and add comments, use the "G" and "C" commands described below.

G: View Comment on News Update

When viewing a news update, The phrase '2 cmt@"G[num]"' means that there are two comments on this news update, and you can view any comment by texting:

G[num]

Example: G1 (show the first comment)
Example: G2 (show the second comment)

The reply will look like this:

Example Name
Dar es Salaam
26Aug
Thanks so much!

Note: the "G" command is only available after you use the "N" command to view a news update.

C: Add Comment on News Update

To add a comment, text:

C [msg]

Example: C Good job!

Note: the "C" command is only available after you use the "N" command to view a news update. Also, you can add a comment to a news update even if "C [msg]" is not shown.

NAME: Set the name shown in your comments

Whenever you post a comment, your name is shown at the top of the message. To change how your name appears, text:

NAME [your name]

Example: NAME John Doe

LOC: Set the location shown in your comments

Whenever you post a comment, your location (e.g. city, country) is shown at the top of the message. To change how your location appears, text:

LOC [your location]

Example: LOC Dar es Salaam

L: Change Language of SMS System

To change the language of the SMS system, text:

L [lang]

for Swahili: "L sw"
for English: "L en"
for Kinyarwanda: "L rw"

IN: Log in to Envaya account

To log in to your Envaya account, text:

IN [your username] [your password]

Example: "IN exampleorg secretpassword"

Note: Most commands do not require logging in. However, you must log in to publish news with the "P" command. Once you log in once, your phone will stay logged in forever until you log out.

OUT: Log out of Envaya account

To log out of your Envaya account, text:

OUT

NEXT/MORE/#: Page Navigation

If the response message starts with [#/#], that means there is more than one page of items. The first number is the current page, and the second number is the total number of pages. To go to the next page, text NEXT (or X for short). To jump to any page, just text the page number.

For example, text "4" to see the 4th page of results.

If the response message ends with "MORE", that means that the response was too long to send in a single SMS. If you want to see more of the message, text MORE.

H: List available commands

To see the list of available commands, text:

H

HELP or MENU will also do the same thing.

The response to the help command will look like this:

Envaya SMS
NEXT=next page
1-2=goto page
P=publish news
F=find orgs
I=contact info
N=latest news
OUT=log out

Note: the list of available commands may change depending on your previous commands.