Your texting number and how texts work
Updated September 30, 2026
With LOCLbox Pro you get a dedicated local number for your business. Booking confirmations, reminders and receipts go out from it automatically, and when a client texts it back, the message lands in your Messages inbox. Your own phone number stays on your page either way.
Step by step
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Activate your number
Go to Settings > Profile and find the Text Messaging card. Press Activate texting number and confirm. We match your area code when we can. The card then shows Your dedicated texting number.
If you are on the Free plan without the No-Show Protection add-on, the card offers Pro instead. The No-Show Protection add-on also includes a number, for appointment texts only: two-way texting is part of Pro.
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Read and answer texts in Messages
Open Messages. Each client has one conversation. When you reply you can choose Text, which sends an SMS from your number, or Portal, which posts to the client's private LOCLbox message page and does not use a text.
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Keep an eye on your included texts
Pro includes 500 texts a month. A text longer than 160 characters counts as more than one, which is standard for every carrier. If you run out, buy more in Settings > Billing (500 texts for $10), or reply through Portal. Automatic confirmations and reminders keep going out either way (by email instead, if you chose "Text until my included texts run out, then email").
What clients see
- Texts from your number start with your business name, for example "Your Business: you're confirmed for...". Texts from the shared LOCLbox number name both LOCLbox and your business, for example "Your Business via LOCLbox: ...".
- Clients only get texts if they agreed to them when they booked. The agreement checkbox starts unchecked.
- A client can reply YES (or C) to confirm, NO to cancel, or R to get a link to reschedule. Ask clients to use NO rather than CANCEL: CANCEL is also a carrier stop word and can stop all texts to them.
Opt-outs: STOP and START
- If a client replies STOP (or STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, END or QUIT), they are opted out at once and LOCLbox sends them nothing more from your number. Our texting provider sends them the confirmation.
- If they reply START or UNSTOP, texts resume.
- You cannot text a client who opted out. Reach them by email or through their private page instead, and never ask them to opt back in just to receive promotions.
Reminders without Pro
Before you activate your own number, a Pro account also sends confirmations and reminders from the shared LOCLbox number, and they count toward your included texts. Once your number is active, everything moves to it. On the Free plan, the Text Appointment Reminders add-on sends confirmations and reminders from a shared LOCLbox number. Text reminders start once LOCLbox's shared-line verification is approved; until then clients get these by email. Clients cannot confirm or cancel there by keyword; if they text back, the message lands in your Messages and they get a secure link to reply to you. See How appointment reminders work.