Everything head coaches and team directors need to set up RallyText and start communicating with their team in minutes.
Step by step
Getting Started
Follow these six steps to get your team fully set up. Most coaches complete this in under 10 minutes.
1
Set up your team
Your Team Code was chosen at signup and is shown in Settings (share it — it's what members text to join). Set your Team Name there too. Keep the code short and memorable (e.g. HAWKS or DEMO).
2
Set your phone number
Your team's dedicated SMS number is shown in Settings → Team Phone Number. This is the number members will text to reach your team, and the number all broadcasts come from. Share it with your roster so they know to save it.
3
Invite your coaching staff
Go to Settings → Staff Accounts → Send Invite Email. Each staff member receives an email with a link to create their own dashboard login. They'll have access to the same tools you do, based on their assigned role. Invite links expire, so ask for a fresh one if it stops working.
4
Add your roster
Go to Roster and click the ↑ Import button to bulk-add members. Download the CSV template, fill in names, phone numbers, roles, and emails, then upload it back. You can also add members one at a time using the Add Member form.
Phone numbers can be entered as (608) 555-1234, 608-555-1234, 6085551234, or with a country code like +16085551234 — all of these work. The one thing every format needs is the area code; a number missing its area code (e.g. just 555-1234) will be rejected as invalid.
5
Send verification texts
After adding your roster, click Send Verification on each member's card. This sends them a confirmation text so their number is verified and they're ready to receive broadcasts. Members won't get team messages until they're verified.
6
Send your first broadcast
Go to the Compose tab, pick who should receive it (everyone, a group, coaches only), write your message, and hit send. That's it — no separate app, no scheduling required for a one-off message. Consider sending a short test message to yourself first so you know exactly what your roster will see.
Coaches can text these keywords from any verified phone number to the team's number. No app required — just standard SMS.
ALL <message>
Broadcast a message to everyone on the roster — athletes, families, and coaching staff.
COACHES <message>
Send a message to coaching staff only. Useful for internal logistics or pre-practice notes.
LEADS <message>
Message team leadership only — head coach, assistant coaches, and team director. Volunteer coaches are not included, unlike COACHES.
BOARD <message>
Broadcast to everyone marked as a board member (see Board Members under Roles).
ATHLETE <firstname> <message>
Text one athlete directly, with their guardian(s) copied automatically for Safe Sport. Add a last initial (ATHLETE Anna J …) if two athletes share a first name.
ABSENCE ALERTS ON / OFF
Turn absence alert texts on or off for yourself. Off by default for every role; any coaching role can turn them on.
FAMILY <lastname> <message>
Send a message to a specific athlete's family. The system matches by last name and delivers to their linked guardian(s).
ONE COACH <firstname> <message>
Message a specific coach by first name. Keeps the conversation out of the full broadcast channel.
SUMMARY <notes>
Submit your practice group summary. Your notes are collected and compiled into the team's report for directors.
PRACTICE SUMMARY
Prompt all coaches to submit their practice summaries. Sends a reminder text to the full coaching staff.
REPORT
Get the current practice summary report sent back to you by text — a compiled view of all submitted coach summaries. (Not the same as REPORTS, which lists open public reports; see below.)
FAMILY <lastname> URGENT <message>
Family emergency. Alerts the athlete and their guardian(s) with a 🚨. If no guardian replies within 10 minutes, RallyText automatically escalates to the athlete's emergency contacts. Call it off with CANCEL URGENT <lastname>. See the full guide below.
COACH <firstname> URGENT <message>
A coach needs help. Immediately notifies the team's leadership coaches and that coach's own emergency contact (if on file). Call it off with CANCEL COACH URGENT <firstname>.
EC: Name, Phone
Save your emergency contact. Example: EC: Jane Smith, 555-123-4567
EMAIL: your@email.com
Add or update your email address on file. Used for practice summaries and broadcast emails.
Keywords for optional tools
These work once the tool is turned on: public report lines and report keywords (Settings → Audience and each group), trail status and volunteer hours (Settings → Team), and events (Events). Texting a command to your number needs a two-way plan; Pay As You Go can't receive texts.
#7 <message>
Reply to a public report (use the report's number). Texts the reporter back from your team number and copies the other leads. Report leads and HC/AC/TD.
#7 ASSIGN <name>
Hand report #7 to a group member; they get the details by text. #7 DONE closes it.
UPDATE or REPORTS
Get a summary of open reports by text. Report leads and HC/AC/TD.
STATUS
Anyone (members or not) gets a summary of every trail system, up to 3 times an hour.
STATUS <system> OPEN | CLOSED | CAUTION | MUDDY | GROOMED [note]
Set a trail's status and text its subscribers. Staff with send permission can post for any trail; a lead of a trail's updates group (Groups → tick Lead) can post for that trail without a login.
GROOMED <system> [classic | skate | fat bike ...] [conditions]
Post a grooming report for one trail system and text its subscribers. Same rule: staff for any trail, or a lead of that trail's updates group.
<system keyword> (e.g. SOUTH)
Subscribe to one trail system's updates.
HOURS <hours> [date] [note]
Log volunteer hours, e.g. HOURS 3 yesterday trail sweep. HOURS alone replies with your season total; HOURS UNDO removes your last entry from today.
<event keyword> (e.g. MTF)
Join an event's updates and pick races by number. MTF RACES changes your picks; reply STAY when asked to keep hearing from the team after the event.
MTF <race> <message> / MTF <message>
Staff (HC/AC/TD): send to one race's followers, or to everyone following the event.
Heads-up for non-sports orgs: signup keywords swap to match your org type. A business team uses EMPLOYEE/MANAGER instead of PARENT/ATHLETE; a theatre troupe uses CAST/CREW; a scout troop uses SCOUT/COMMITTEE; and so on. The behavior is the same — only the words change.
🚨 Urgent Messages — full guide (PDF)
A printable one-pager for coaches, team leaders, athletes, and families: exactly how FAMILY and COACH urgent messages work, the 10-minute escalation safety net, and what families should do when they get one. Share it with your staff and roster.
Members don't need to create an account or download an app. They're subscribing to receive texts and emails — three easy paths get them signed up.
🔗
Via invite link
Share the unique link from the Invite Codes tab. Members open the link, fill in their name, phone, and email, and they're in. No password or account needed.
💬
Via SMS
Members text your team code (e.g. DEMO) to your team phone number — just the code by itself, with nothing else in that line of the text. The system guides them through a short two-step sign-up flow entirely over SMS.
📱
Via team code in the app
Share your team code and direct members to rallytext.app/join/<code>. They fill in the form on that page to join.
Invite Codes — QR codes and role-specific links
The Invite Codes tab is a web-form join system, separate from texting a keyword — good for flyers, registration tables, or a link on your team's own website.
🔲
Generate a role-specific QR code
Pick a target role (Guardian, Athlete, or General) and click to generate a QR code and short link. Scanning it opens the join form with that role already selected — no guessing for the person signing up.
⏳
Codes expire — you choose how long
Pick an expiration (7, 30, 60, or 90 days) before generating a code. Each code can be used by multiple people until it expires or you revoke it.
🚫
Revoke anytime
Click Revoke on any active code to invalidate it immediately — useful once a registration event is over.
📊
Track scans and conversions
Each code shows scan count, joins, conversion rate, and days remaining, so you know which flyer or table actually worked.
Permissions
Roles Explained
Each member on your roster is assigned a role that controls what they can do and what messages they receive.
Role
Access level
What they can do
Head Coach
Full
Full dashboard access — broadcast, manage roster, invite and manage staff.
Assistant Coach
Full
Same as head coach — full broadcast and roster management access.
Team Director / Board
Full
Full dashboard access; receives all practice summaries from coaching staff.
Coach / Volunteer
Limited
Can submit practice summaries via SMS; receives all team broadcasts.
Athlete
Receive
Receives all team broadcasts; can text ABSENT to submit an absence.
Guardian / Parent
Receive
Receives broadcasts for their athlete; can submit absences on their athlete's behalf.
Emergency Contact
Receive
Receives ALL broadcasts only. Linked to a specific athlete — not to the team generally.
Follower (the FOLLOW role)
Receive
Cannot send or reply. By default, Followers only receive messages sent to a group they're a member of — not your team's general broadcasts, unless you turn on Settings → Audience → Followers receive general broadcasts. Joins by texting FOLLOW to your team code, via an invite link, a Join Keyword (see below), or automatically through a group's auto-join keyword (see Groups below). A coach can also move any existing roster member to Follower from Roster → Edit Member → Role.
Managing Staff & Transferring Ownership
Staff invites and removals follow the role ladder: Team Director > Head Coach > Assistant Coach > Coach. You can invite someone at or below your own role, and you can remove someone at or below your own role. An assistant coach can invite another assistant or a coach, but not a head coach or director.
The account that originally signed the team up is the team founder. Another staff member can't remove the founder from the dashboard, even a co-head-coach. If your team's founder has moved on and you need to transfer ownership, email support@rallytext.app and we'll move ownership to the right person.
Approvals are real gates. Someone who joins by texting your team code or a Join Keyword and lands in Pending Approval can't send keywords or receive team messages until a staff member approves them, no matter which role they asked for. Until then they get a "Signup pending staff approval. You'll get a text when confirmed." reply to anything they text.
Staff who text STOP. STOP works the same for coaches as for families: it unsubscribes that number from everything sent by your team number, including coach-only channels like COACHES, LEADS, absence alerts, and forwarded member messages. If a coach texted STOP by mistake, they text START to your team number to resume.
Board Members
Board Member isn't a separate role — it's a checkbox on top of a member's existing role. Turn on Settings → Audience → Board members to surface a "Board Member" checkbox on the Roster's Add/Edit Member form, then check it for whoever's actually on your board. Texting BOARD <message> broadcasts to everyone marked as a board member, regardless of their underlying role — the same way ALL or COACHES works, just scoped to that group.
Households
Households group family members together on your roster — e.g. "Smith Family" — without changing who receives what. Create one from Roster → Households → + Household, name it, then add existing athletes and guardians to it. A household's message preference defaults (whether members receive broadcasts, and whether they receive direct-message copies) are used automatically the next time you link a guardian to an athlete in that same household — so you don't have to re-set the same preferences for every parent in a multi-kid family. It's an organizational tool, not a messaging audience on its own.
Organization
Groups & Auto-Join
Groups let you organize your roster into smaller conversations — a specific team, a cabin, a ministry, a committee — each with its own keyword and, optionally, a two-way thread.
🏷️
Give a group a keyword
In Groups → Edit, set a keyword (e.g. YOUTH). Members of that group can text the keyword to post into the group's own thread, separate from your main broadcasts.
✉️
Members without a U.S. phone
RallyText can only text U.S. numbers, but a member can take part by email instead (beta, off by default). See Email for members without a U.S. phone below.
💬
Let members post without the keyword
On an open (two-way) group thread, check Members can post without typing the keyword in the group's thread settings. Then any text from someone in that group goes to the whole group, like a group chat, and, when it's the team's only group, leaders' plain texts go to the group too (with several groups, leaders still start with the keyword). Keywords such as STOP, HELP and ABSENT still work, and a leader's Name: message reply still goes to that one person. One group per team can use this.
➕
Turn on auto-join
First flip the master switch at Settings → Audience → Group auto-join, then enable Auto-join on the specific group you want it for. Once both are on, texting that group's keyword adds the sender straight into it — instead of the normal "you're not in this group" reply. Brand-new numbers are walked through a quick "what's your name?" signup and added to your roster and the group in one step; no role question needed, since the group already implies it.
🎯
Choose the role new joiners get
Set New joiners become on the group to whichever role fits (Member, Follower, etc.). If your team's join code doubles as a group's keyword — e.g. team code YOUTH matching a "Youth" group's keyword — people who text the team code land straight in that group too.
⚡
Skip approval for Follower groups
If New joiners become is set to Follower and you've turned on Settings → Audience → Auto-approve followers, people who join through that group's keyword (including your team code, if it doubles as the group's keyword) are added instantly — no approval step. Groups set to any other role still land pending your approval, same as always.
Groups also show up on the keyword cheat sheet your coaches can open from the compose screen, so everyone knows which keyword goes to which group.
Two-way Group Threads — members reply, everyone sees it
Set a group's Thread mode to Open and its keyword becomes a shared conversation: any member of that group can text the keyword followed by a message, and everyone else in the group receives it — not just staff. A thread only turns "active" (visible on the Group Threads dashboard page) once someone actually texts the keyword in; saving the keyword in Edit Group doesn't create it by itself.
💬
How members post
Text the group's keyword followed by the message, e.g. YOUTH practice moved to 6pm. Everyone else in the group gets it formatted as [YOUTH] Name: practice moved to 6pm so it's clear who sent it. Staff can add a short prefix (e.g. your team code) via Settings → Audience → Group thread label prefix so posts read [MTBWI YOUTH] Name: ….
🔕
PAUSE, SUMMARY, and RESUME
Any member can text KEYWORD PAUSE to mute that group's messages for 24 hours, KEYWORD SUMMARY to switch to a once-a-day digest instead of individual texts, or KEYWORD RESUME to go back to normal. These are optional, member-controlled — nothing staff need to set up.
💡
The usage hint footer — and how to turn it off
A new group member's first message (and anyone re-appearing after 7+ quiet days) gets a short footer explaining PAUSE/SUMMARY, e.g. "[Reply YOUTH PAUSE to mute 24h | YOUTH SUMMARY for daily digest]". If that confuses new members more than it helps, turn it off entirely at Settings → Audience → Show group thread usage hints. This only removes that explainer line — the required Reply STOP to opt out disclosure is separate, sent once at a person's first-ever message from your team, and isn't affected by this setting either way.
Join Keywords — text-to-join without a group
Join Keywords (Settings → Audience → Join Keywords) are a separate, simpler way to let people join your roster by texting a word you choose — no admin-made group required. Put your keyword on a flyer, a sign-up sheet, or a link on your site: "Text YOUTH to (555) 123-4567 to follow along."
💬
Pick a keyword and a role
Each Join Keyword maps to one role — most commonly Follower, for people who should get updates but never send or reply. A new texter gets a quick "what's your name?" prompt, then by default lands on your roster pending your approval — unless you've turned on instant approval (see below).
⚡
Skip approval — instantly, if you want
For non-Follower keywords, each Join Keyword has its own Require staff approval checkbox — turn it off and that keyword adds people straight to your roster with no review step. Follower keywords work differently: they always follow one team-wide switch, Settings → Audience → Auto-approve followers (off by default). Turn it on and every Follower Join Keyword skips approval for everyone; it's a team decision, not a per-keyword one, and it still won't let anyone follow if you've turned off Allow follower signups entirely.
🔗
Optionally add them to a group too
Link a Join Keyword to an existing group and new joiners get added to both your roster and that group in one step — useful for a specific program, cohort, or event you want to message separately later.
🛡️
Minors with no guardian on file
Check Treat auto-joiners as minors on a Join Keyword and anyone who joins through it is restricted to group messages only — no 1:1 texting in either direction — since there's no guardian to CC for Safe Sport.
Email for members without a U.S. phone (beta)
RallyText can only text U.S. numbers. In this beta, a member with an international number, or no mobile number, can take part by email instead. It is off by default: email support@rallytext.app and we will turn it on for your team. Email members take part in groups; broadcasts, reminders and urgent alerts still go by text only (email copies of those are not built).
➕
Add an email-only member
Go to Roster → Add Member, and under How should we reach them? choose Email only. Enter their email and keep Send a verification email checked. Nothing is sent to them until they click Activate in that email. Then add them to a group.
📬
What they receive
Once activated and in a group, they get that group's conversation messages and the daily group summary by email, plus a welcome email for each group they are in. Broadcasts, reminders and urgent alerts still go by text only.
↩️
How they post
They reply to any group email and the reply goes to everyone in that group. Replies must come from the address we emailed, from an email provider that signs its mail; a "send as" alias from another domain cannot be verified. They cannot start a new message by email, which is why each group's welcome email gives them something to reply to.
🔑
Let people join by email
On the Join & Share page, create a join code, optionally linked to a group so one code adds the person to the team and the group. The person emails the word Join and the code to group@rallytext.app (or your team's address, <number>@groups.rallytext.app), e.g. subject Join AB12CD34, then clicks Activate in the email we send back. The same page shows the text-message ways to join: each enabled join keyword with the exact line to text to your team number.
📰
Group notification email for leads
A group lead can also set a verified notification email for a group, to get report, assignment and trail notices and a daily or weekly digest by email.
🚫
Unsubscribing
Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link. Anyone who unsubscribes from group email is not sent group or activation email by any team on RallyText unless they choose to join again.
⚠️
Emails we could not process
On Join & Share, head coaches and team directors see Emails we could not process: the masked sender, the time and the reason (for example a wrong join code, or a reply from a different address than the one we emailed). It never shows message text. If someone's email did nothing, ask them to send from the address we emailed.
Limits of the beta:
Texting is still U.S. numbers only. Email is for group conversation, not a second delivery path for everything.
Broadcasts, reminders and urgent alerts are text only; email members do not get email copies.
Email members cannot start a new message, only reply to a group email.
Replies and joins must come from a verified address at a provider that signs its mail.
Mail sent to noreply@rallytext.app is not read; the sender gets one "not monitored" notice. Write to support@rallytext.app for help.
Photo Submissions — let members post photos to a group
A Photo Submission Keyword (Settings → Photo Submissions → + Add Photo Submission Keyword) lets an existing roster member text in a photo with a caption for staff to approve before it goes out — great for "share your race day pic" or "post your setlist photo" style group activity. Unlike Join Keywords, this always requires a linked group, since the point is for the submitter and the group to see the result together.
📸
Text a keyword, photo, and caption — any order
Send the keyword with a photo and caption all at once, or send them one at a time — RallyText asks for whatever's missing (photo, then caption, or vice versa) until it has both.
✅
Goes to Broadcast Approvals first
A completed submission lands in your Broadcast Approvals queue (see below) with the photo and caption attached. Approve it and it broadcasts to the linked group — the submitter is auto-added to that group if they weren't already in it.
🖼️
Real picture messages (optional, chosen per photo)
By default an approved photo goes out as a tap-to-open link, which works on every phone and carrier and costs the same as any text. If some of your members use basic phones that can't open links, turn on Settings → Audience → Allow picture messages. That adds a second button, Approve as picture, next to Approve as link on each photo awaiting approval; nothing is sent as a picture automatically, and the button shows the cost before you click. A picture send also includes the link. Picture messages cost more than texts, so read this part: each month your first 40 picture recipients bill at your normal text rate. The moment a picture send would take you past 40 recipients for the month, that entire send bills at 2 credits per recipient. So a group of 30 gets one picture at normal rates and the second picture that month costs 60 credits; a group of 60 costs 120 credits on the very first picture. The 40 resets with your billing cycle. This applies only to approved Photo Submissions; files attached in Compose always go out as links at normal text rates.
🔢
Daily cap
Each keyword defaults to 5 approved submissions per day, to keep one enthusiastic member from flooding the group. Staff still get pinged to review every submission regardless of the cap.
Scheduling
Practice Calendar
RallyText includes a shared calendar that coaches manage from the dashboard and members can view from any device — no login required.
📅
Adding practices — Go to the Calendar section in your dashboard to add, edit, or remove practice events.
👀
Member access — Athletes, parents, and coaches can view the calendar at rallytext.app/calendar/TEAMCODE. They verify their identity with a one-time text code sent to their phone.
🔒
Followers — Followers (people who joined via FOLLOW or a Join Keyword) cannot view the calendar. Calendar access is limited to verified team members and staff.
📥
Subscribe or export — From the Calendar tab, copy your team's private subscription link to add the live calendar to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook (it auto-updates as you add or cancel practices; regenerate the link to revoke access). Members can also download a one-time .ics file from the calendar page. Staff can connect Google Calendar or import an external iCal URL (e.g. a league schedule) so events sync in automatically.
Repeating events
In the Calendar tab click + Add event and set Repeats to Weekly, Every 2 weeks or Monthly on the same date. Weekly options let you pick the days (it starts with the event's own weekday). Under Ends choose No end date, On a date or After a number of times. Every date becomes its own event with its own reminder text. With no end date, RallyText keeps about 26 weeks of upcoming dates on the calendar and adds more automatically.
When you edit or cancel one date of a repeating event, choose This event only, This and following events or All events in the series. Moving the date itself applies to that one event. Cancelling several dates sends your team one message, not one per date.
Recurring events from Google Calendar or another iCal feed
Under External Calendars on the Calendar tab, paste the calendar's .ics address and click Add & Sync. Repeating events (for example a weekly Monday rehearsal) come in as individual dates for about the next six months, and the window moves forward on its own. Single dates that were moved or cancelled in the source calendar are moved or cancelled here too, and every synced date gets reminders like an event you added by hand. Feeds re-sync every 6 hours, or click Sync.
Each external calendar has a Send reminders for events from this calendar switch under it. Turn it off and that calendar's events still appear in your calendar, but members don't get automatic reminder texts for them; turn it back on and reminders are set up again for its upcoming events. New dates that sync in follow the switch. To change one event, open it with Edit and use its own reminder checkbox, which the next sync leaves alone. Calendars shared as free/busy only (every event titled "Busy", no location) are fine: reminders use your usual event name, such as "practice" or "rehearsal", instead of "Busy".
Automatic event reminders
In Settings → Timezone & Reminders → Automatic event reminders, pick up to 3 reminders per event: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 12 hours, 1, 2 or 3 days, or 1 week before the start; any other number of hours (1 to 336) under Other; and/or The day before at a set time, such as 12:00 PM. The day-before time uses the event's own timezone and stays right across daylight saving changes.
A reminder reads like IMPROV: Reminder - Rehearsal tomorrow (Mon, Oct 12) 7:00 PM @ Studio B. It says "today" or "tomorrow" only when that is true on the day the text arrives; otherwise it gives the day and date. It uses the event's name or type (Practice, Rehearsal, Meeting, Shift and so on), and adds a tracked map link when the event has one.
You can add a note line to every reminder, up to 100 characters (for example "Bring water and your script"). Use plain text: curly quotes and long dashes are changed to plain ones, and emoji aren't allowed because they would double the cost of every reminder. Teams with absence tracking can also add the line Can't make it? Reply ABSENT. The preview under the settings shows the exact text your members get.
To use different times for one event, open it with Edit and set Reminder times to Different times for this event. On a repeating event the change follows the scope you pick (this event, this and following, or all events). Choose Team default to go back to the Settings times. Reminders that already went out are never sent again.
Repeating scheduled messages
Click + Schedule Message, tick Repeat weekly, and under Ends pick No end date (repeats until you stop it) or On a date. A repeating message shows a Stop button in the Scheduled Messages list; press it to end the series.
Event RSVP — ask before the event, not just after
RSVP is different from Attendance: Attendance is a post-event PRESENT/ABSENT self-report, while RSVP is a pre-event, staff-initiated head count. Open an event card in the Calendar tab and click RSVP → Open RSVP for eligible recipients to text everyone a prompt asking them to reply YES, NO, or LATE. The tally updates live as replies come in, and anyone who hasn't answered shows as "missing" — click Remind to nudge only the people still missing, without re-texting everyone who already replied.
Included on every plan
File Attachments
Send PDFs, schedules, permission slips, menus, scripts, or images alongside a broadcast. Rally Text hosts the file and adds a short branded link to your message — recipients tap to open it in their phone's browser. No MMS required, so it works on every US carrier.
📄
Accepted file types — PDF, JPG, PNG, GIF, and WebP. Max size 25 MB per file. SVG is not accepted.
⬆️
How to upload — Go to Settings → Files to manage your uploads, or click the attach button in the Compose panel or the Messages tab to upload and attach in one step.
💾
Storage — Each team gets 1 GB of active storage. Archive or delete old files from the Files panel to free space.
📈
Analytics — Every time a recipient opens a hosted link, it's logged. You can see how many people actually opened the file you sent.
💲
How to enable — Nothing to enable. File Attachments is included on every RallyText plan, along with Absence Tracker, Calendar & Reminders, and Practice Summaries.
Save time
Automations, Campaigns & Templates
Beyond one-off broadcasts, RallyText has a few tools for messages you want to send automatically, on a schedule, or over and over without retyping them.
Automations — send a message automatically after something happens
Dashboard → Automations lets you set up a message that fires on its own after a trigger, with a delay you choose:
👋
Welcome — sends after a new member is verified.
🎉
First event — sends after a member's first recorded event.
📋
Attendance follow-up — sends after an absence or late-attendance record.
⏸️
Turning one off — cancels every job still pending for that automation, but anything already sent stays in the history. Consent, verification, blocks, and available credits are all re-checked at the moment each message actually sends, not just when the automation was created.
Scheduled Campaigns — a multi-message sequence, not a single scheduled text
Dashboard → Campaigns is for sending 2–20 messages relative to one shared start time — a countdown to race day, a week of camp reminders, a multi-touch fundraiser push. It's different from scheduling a single one-off message: a Campaign groups several timed messages together under one audience and one start time, and you can pause, resume, or cancel the whole thing as a unit. Each step gets its own delay and preview before you launch it.
Message Templates — reusable canned text
Save a broadcast you send often — a rain-delay notice, a "see you at 6pm" reminder — as a template right from the Compose panel's template picker. Selecting one fills in the message body for you; you still review and hit Send yourself, same as any other broadcast.
Auto Replies — respond to a specific keyword automatically
Dashboard → Auto Replies lets you set an automatic response to an exact keyword — text that keyword in, get your canned reply back, no staff involved. This is separate from the built-in compliance keywords (STOP, START, HELP), which can't be overridden.
Hunt & Trivia — a keyword-based scavenger hunt or quiz
Dashboard → Hunt & Trivia opens an editor where you list items and their clues — works equally well as a scavenger hunt (numbered stations → clues) or a trivia game (questions → answers). Anyone on your roster can text HINT alone to see what's available, or HINT <item> to get that item's specific clue back privately. Save an empty list to turn the whole thing off for your team.
Safety & oversight
Broadcast Approvals
By default, any authorized staff member's broadcast goes out immediately. If you want a second set of eyes first, Settings → Broadcast Approvals lets you require review — for everyone, or only above a certain size or message type.
🎚️
Choose what needs approval — require it for every broadcast, or only once a message would reach more than a recipient count you set. You can also scope it to specific message types (e.g. urgent alerts, event reminders, cancellations) or audiences (everyone, families, staff, a specific group).
📥
Where approvals show up — the Pending Approvals tab lists everything waiting on review, including Photo Submissions (see Groups above). Each shows who sent it and gives you Approve & send or Reject — there's no edit, just approve as-is or turn it down. The person who submitted a broadcast can't approve their own. Pending items expire after 24 hours.
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Emergency two-person rule — Urgent Alert broadcasts always require a second person's approval before sending, on top of whatever policy you've set. This one can't be turned off by team staff — only a RallyText platform admin can, for accounts that need a different setup.
Your account
Account Security & Referrals
These settings are per-user, not team-wide — each staff member manages their own security setup from Settings → Security.
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Authenticator app (TOTP) — set up a QR code in your authenticator app of choice, confirm with a 6-digit code, and you're protected by two-factor login. Disabling it requires your password.
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Passkeys — sign in with Face ID, Touch ID, or a hardware security key instead of typing a password. You can register more than one, and you can have both a passkey and TOTP enabled at the same time.
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Refer a team, earn $10 — every team has its own referral link (rallytext.app/?ref=YOURCODE, using your own team code) shown on Dashboard → Plan & Billing. When a team you referred makes their first paid payment, you both get a $10 account credit — automatically, no code to redeem.
For team managers
Fundraising & Donations
Fundraising campaigns collect gifts through your organization's connected Stripe account. This is separate from Scheduled Campaigns, which are multi-message communication sequences and do not collect payments.
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Before you begin
You need manager access to the team dashboard and the organization information Stripe requests for identity, payment, and payout verification. RallyText does not independently verify nonprofit status or issue charitable tax acknowledgments.
1
Connect your Stripe account
Open Dashboard → Fundraising and select Connect or manage Stripe. Complete the Stripe Express onboarding flow. Return to RallyText when Stripe finishes; campaign creation remains unavailable until Stripe reports that charges are enabled.
2
Create the campaign
Enter a campaign name and, optionally, a dollar goal. Choose an uploaded team image as the cover if you want one. Turn on recurring gifts only when the campaign should offer weekly, every-two-weeks, monthly, every-other-month, or yearly giving. Select Create campaign.
3
Activate and review the donation page
A new campaign begins as a draft. Select Activate, open its donation link, and check the campaign name, goal, cover image, gift options, and disclosures before sharing it. Use Close when you need to stop new gifts; Reopen makes the same link active again.
4
Copy the link or send the ask
Select Copy link to use the stable RallyText URL in email, social posts, printed materials, or your website. To text it from RallyText, select Send ask, keep {{campaign_link}} in the message, and choose roster, donors, or both. Fundraising broadcasts follow normal consent and suppression rules but do not reduce monthly plan credits.
5
Track progress and follow up
The Fundraising panel shows the amount raised, goal progress, campaign status, and donation link. People who separately opt in to campaign texts are added to the system-managed Donors group. A donation by itself never opts someone into SMS updates.
What the donor experiences
The donor opens the campaign link, chooses a preset or custom amount, and selects one-time or recurring giving when recurring gifts are enabled. Covering fees is optional. SMS updates are a separate optional checkbox that starts unchecked. Stripe then collects payment details securely and returns the donor to a confirmation page.
RallyText charges a 1% platform fee in addition to Stripe processing. If the donor chooses fee cover, the charged amount is adjusted so the organization receives the intended gift amount after the assumed fees. Payout timing follows the connected Stripe account's settings.
Recurring donors can open the connected account's Stripe Customer Portal from their verified confirmation page to manage or cancel their gift. Refund requests should go to the organization receiving the donation; managers should handle approved refunds in the connected Stripe account rather than changing RallyText totals manually.
Fundraising troubleshooting
Connect button returns an error
Confirm fundraising is available for your team and retry Connect or manage Stripe. If Stripe onboarding was interrupted, return through the Fundraising panel so RallyText can create a fresh onboarding link.
Cannot create a campaign
Stripe onboarding must be complete and charges must be enabled. Open the Stripe management link and resolve any requested identity, business, or payout information.
Donation link is unavailable
Confirm the campaign is active rather than draft or closed, and that the connected Stripe account can still accept charges.
Send ask is blocked
The campaign must be active, the message must contain {{campaign_link}}, the audience must be roster, donors, or both, and the message must pass normal A2P content checks.
Donor wants to stop texts
They can reply STOP. A new donation or checkout consent does not override a prior STOP or block.
Donor wants a refund
The organization reviews the request and, if approved, processes it in its connected Stripe account. Do not direct the donor to RallyText subscription billing.
Settings
Notification Preferences
Staff members can choose how they want to receive absence alerts and practice summaries — by SMS, email, or both.
To view or change a staff member's preferences, open the Roster section in the dashboard and click on their card. Their notification settings are shown there and can be updated at any time. Each person controls their own preferred channel — some coaches prefer a summary email at the end of practice while others want an immediate SMS.
Carrier compliance
Messaging Guidelines
RallyText is registered with US mobile carriers on behalf of all teams on the platform. You don't need to register anything yourself or do any technical setup. We handle all of that so you can focus on coaching.
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Rally Text is registered for your team
US carriers require apps to register before sending group SMS messages at scale — a process called A2P 10DLC. RallyText maintains this registration centrally for all teams, so your messages are delivered reliably without being flagged as spam.
Your team's messages go out under our registration. You don't need to do anything — just send your messages and they'll get through.
What our registration covers
Our carrier registration is specifically for team communication. These are the kinds of messages that are expected and covered:
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Practice reminders, schedule updates, and location changes
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Cancellations, weather delays, and emergency notices
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Race day logistics — meet times, staging areas, volunteer info
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Attendance confirmations and absence tracking
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Coach coordination and internal staff messages
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General team announcements — gear, volunteer sign-ups, event info
What to avoid
Our registration is for team information only. Sending the wrong kinds of messages can get messages filtered by carriers and affect deliverability for the whole platform. Please don't use Rally Text for:
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Promotions or marketing — selling products, merchandise, fundraisers framed as sales pitches
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Political or religious content — any content unrelated to team activity
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Urgent/alarming language — phrases like "Act now", "Limited time offer", "You've been selected"
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Links to unfamiliar domains — only link to your team's known sites or mapping apps
A good rule of thumb: if it's something you'd say at a team meeting or post on your team's board, it belongs here. If it's something you'd see in a marketing email, it doesn't.
Content moderation & safety
Every message — inbound and outbound, including scheduled/drip broadcasts and staff direct messages — is automatically screened for threats, harassment, discrimination, self-harm risk, scams/phishing, impersonation, and (for youth programs) Safe Sport boundary violations. If something's flagged, your team's staff and platform admins are alerted immediately, and the sender may be automatically blocked on the first flagged message pending review — there's no three-strike grace period, though a few narrow cases (self-harm flags, a per-team contact-sharing exemption, and outbound staff/broadcast scans) never auto-block, see below. Staff can review a flagged message and clear a wrongly-blocked sender from the Safety Incidents tab, or by replying UNBLOCK to the SMS alert. Message logs from flagged incidents are retained for security and compliance purposes, including to protect RallyText, your organization, and other teams on the platform.
A message that indicates the sender may be in crisis (self-harm or suicidal language) is never auto-blocked — cutting off their ability to text would remove their channel to you during a crisis, so that category always alerts staff but never suspends the sender. Repeat flags from the same sender on the same issue don't generate a fresh alert every time — once someone's blocked, or once staff has been alerted about a given issue within the last hour, further occurrences are still logged for the record but won't re-notify.
Teams that intentionally share member contact information (e.g. a shared team roster) can ask support to enable an exemption so that specific flag doesn't auto-block senders — and doesn't alert staff/admins either, since it's expected behavior for that team. It's still logged for the record, just silently. Everything else still gets full protection.
What happens when you send an Urgent Alert
Sending a broadcast as an Urgent Alert message type automatically creates a compliance record behind the scenes — a snapshot of who it went to and what it said, for legal/audit purposes. There's nothing to configure; it just happens, and it's separate from the emergency two-person approval requirement described under Broadcast Approvals above.
Questions about deliverability or your team's messages? Email us at support@rallytext.app.
What to expect
Example Messages
These are examples of the messages RallyText sends automatically. All messages start with your team code so recipients know exactly who they're from.
Joining the team
When a coach invites a parent or guardianOutgoing
MTBWI: Hi Sarah! Reply YES to confirm and receive team updates for Emma. Msg & data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help.
Reply YES to confirm. That's all it takes — one text and you're verified.
When a coach or staff member is invitedOutgoing
MTBWI: Hi Coach Rivera! Reply YES to confirm and receive practice reminders, schedule updates, and announcements. Msg & data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help.
After you reply YESOutgoing
MTBWI: You're in! Welcome. Tap to save us as "MTBWI RallyText": rallytext.app/c/MTBWI.vcf
Texting JOIN followed by the team codeOutgoing
MTBWI: Hi! What's your full name (first and last)? Msg & data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help.
Reply with your name and you'll get a role prompt next.
After you reply with your nameOutgoing
MTBWI: Thanks Sarah! Are you a parent/guardian, athlete, or just want to follow along? Reply PARENT, ATHLETE, or FOLLOW.
Practice reminders
Before each event (24 hours by default) — sent automaticallyOutgoing
MTBWI: Reminder - Practice tomorrow (Wed, May 7) 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM @ Greenbush Trail
You can reply YES to confirm attendance or ABSENT if you can't make it.
When a parent or athlete replies ABSENTIncoming
ABSENT
Automatic reply after ABSENTOutgoing
MTBWI: Got it — you're marked absent for May 7's practice. Reply if anything changes.
Practice cancelled by coachOutgoing
MTBWI: Practice on May 7 has been cancelled. Trail conditions after the rain — we'll reschedule. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out.
Weather delayOutgoing
MTBWI: Weather delay for practice on May 7. New start time: 5:00 PM at Greenbush Trail. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out.
Race day
Race day information sent by coachOutgoing
MTBWI: Race day — Northwoods Cup on May 17. Meet at the parking lot by 7:00 AM. Bring your race plate, helmet, and water. Reply STOP to opt out.
Team broadcasts (sent by coaches from the dashboard)
General team broadcastOutgoing
MTBWI: Reminder to pick up your jerseys at practice Wednesday — we'll have all sizes. See you there! Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out.
Coaches-only messageOutgoing
MTBWI: Coach call — can everyone arrive 30 min early Wednesday? Need to walk the new technical section before riders arrive. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out.
Only sent to coaches, not athletes or parents.
Texts you can send to your team number
Coach sends a broadcast via SMS keywordIncoming (from coach's phone)
ALL Practice moved to north trailhead today due to muddy conditions
This sends immediately to every verified member. Other keywords: COACHES (staff only), FAMILY Smith (one family by last name).
Coach submits a post-practice summaryIncoming (from coach's phone)
SUMMARY Group A — 12 riders, worked on cornering technique on the lower loop. Great energy. 2 athletes need extra support on switchbacks.
Logs the note to the dashboard. A head coach or director can text PRACTICE SUMMARY to prompt the whole staff for their notes.
Required carrier keywords (always available)
Reply STOP to any messageOutgoing
You have successfully been unsubscribed. You will not receive any more messages from this number. Reply START to resubscribe.
This is a carrier-level requirement. Rally Text cannot override it. The person can rejoin by texting START.
Reply HELP to any messageOutgoing
Reply STOP to unsubscribe. Msg&Data Rates May Apply.
Common Questions
FAQ
How do I transfer ownership of my team, or remove the person who set it up?
The account that signed the team up is the founder, and staff can't remove the founder from the dashboard, even another head coach. Email support@rallytext.app with the team name and who ownership should move to, and we'll transfer it. Everyone else on staff can be removed by a staff member at or above their role, from the Staff Accounts section.
A coach texted STOP and isn't getting coach messages anymore. What happened?
STOP is a carrier-required opt-out and applies to every message from your team number, not just family broadcasts. A coach who texts STOP stops receiving COACHES and LEADS messages, absence alerts, and forwarded member texts too. They can text START to your team number to resume, and their status on the roster updates automatically.
Is Rally Text only for sports teams?
No — Rally Text now supports any group that needs to reach its people by SMS: sports teams, businesses (shift teams, restaurants, salons), clubs, theatre troupes and casts, choirs, scout troops, non-profits, school classes, churches, creators (podcasts, newsletters), and general groups. When you sign up you pick your org type — the dashboard, signup keywords, and broadcast templates adapt to match (e.g. "practice" becomes "shift" for a business or "rehearsal" for a troupe).
Can I attach a PDF or image to a broadcast?
Yes — File Attachments is included on every RallyText plan, no add-on needed. Upload PDFs (menus, permission slips, schedules, flyers, scripts) or images (JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP) up to 25 MB, and the dashboard hosts them and adds a short branded link to your broadcast. Recipients tap to open in their phone's browser — works on every US carrier without MMS. Upload from Dashboard → Settings → Files, or attach directly from the Compose panel or the Messages tab.
What's included in each plan?
Every RallyText plan — Team ($29/mo or $290/yr), Team Plus ($65/mo or $715/yr), and Organization ($129/mo or $1,419/yr) — includes the full feature set: Absence Tracker, Calendar & Reminders, Practice Summaries, File Attachments, and Group Thread. There are no separate add-ons to buy. Plans differ by monthly message credits; Team Plus and Organization add the RallyText API and webhooks, and Organization adds priority support. There's also Pay As You Go ($10/mo, 200 credits) for broadcast-only use — it includes everything except the two-way inbox and Group Thread, since members can't text back.
Is there a limit on how many messages I can send, or is it unlimited?
There's no hard cap — a truly unlimited, uncapped-cost plan isn't something any SMS provider can offer, since every message has a real cost behind it. But nothing in RallyText ever blocks a message from sending because you've hit a number. Your plan's monthly credits are used first, then any credit packs you've bought, then overage bills automatically on your monthly renewal date, the day of the month you signed up (3.5¢ a credit on Team, down to 2¢ on Business) (with a heads-up email once you cross 80% usage). Whether you're at 50% or 150% of your plan, your messages keep sending exactly the same — you'd only notice a difference on the invoice.
Can I send an actual picture, not just a link?
Yes, for approved Photo Submissions. Photos go out as a tap-to-open link by default because that works on every phone and carrier at normal text rates. Turn on Settings → Audience → Allow picture messages and each photo awaiting approval gets an Approve as picture button next to Approve as link. You choose per photo, the button shows the cost before you click, and nothing is sent as a picture automatically. Picture sends still include the link. Picture messages cost more than texts. Your first 40 picture recipients each month bill at your normal text rate. Once a picture send would take you past 40 recipients for the month, that whole send bills at 2 credits per recipient. Example: a 60-person group costs 120 credits per picture; a 30-person group gets one picture at normal rates, then 60 credits each. The 40 resets with your billing cycle. Files attached from Compose (PDFs, flyers) always go out as links at normal rates.
Is there a maximum message length?
Yes — a single broadcast can be up to 10 SMS segments (roughly 1,500 plain-text characters). Emoji and special characters switch the message to a different encoding that fits fewer characters per segment, so an emoji-heavy message hits the cap sooner and uses more credits. The compose box tells you how many characters you typed and how many RallyText added. Long messages go out as plain SMS and arrive as several linked texts; only photos sent as picture messages use MMS.
Do athletes/parents need to download an app?
No app required. Rally Text works entirely through standard SMS. Contacts receive messages on any phone that can receive texts — no smartphone, no app, no account needed.
Do I get my own phone number?
Every RallyText plan — including the free trial — comes with a dedicated local 10DLC number that belongs only to your team, so your contacts always see the same number. Every outbound text also starts with your team code so families know it's you.
What if a parent or athlete replies STOP?
STOP is a carrier-required opt-out keyword and is handled automatically. The contact is immediately unsubscribed and won't receive any more messages. To re-subscribe, they text START to your team number. You can see opt-out status on each contact's card in your dashboard.
How do I get my athletes / parents onto the roster?
Two ways: (1) Add them one by one — click "Add Member" in the Roster section, enter their name, phone, and role, and hit Invite. They get a one-tap verification text. (2) CSV import — prepare a spreadsheet with columns for Name, Phone, and optionally Email and Role, then use the "Import CSV" button. Either way, contacts must verify their number before they start receiving broadcasts.
An athlete didn't get the verification text. What do I do?
First, check that the phone number is correct in their contact record. Then open their card in the Roster section and click "Resend Invite". The SMS invite just needs a YES reply; email verification links expire after 72 hours. If they still don't receive it, the number may be a landline or have carrier-level SMS blocking. Try an alternate number or email invite.
I sent a broadcast, but not everyone on the roster got it. Why?
Four usual reasons, in order of how often we see them. Not verified yet: unverified members are silently skipped until they confirm their number (see the previous question). Followers: people who answered "Follow" when joining by text only receive group messages unless you turn on Settings → Audience → Followers receive general broadcasts, or change their role in the Roster. Awaiting approval: a self-signup still sitting in Join Requests never receives broadcasts until a leader approves them. Opted out or no phone: anyone who texted STOP is excluded until they text START, and a roster row with no phone number on file is skipped. The member's card in the Roster shows their verification status, role, and phone, and the Delivery Report on each message shows who was skipped and why.
Can I message just part of my team?
Yes. Use Groups to organize your roster (e.g. "Varsity", "JV", "Guardians") and send targeted broadcasts to any group. Create groups in the Groups section of your dashboard — see Groups & Auto-Join for setting up a keyword and auto-join so people can join a group by texting it directly.
Can multiple coaches send messages?
Yes. You can invite additional staff members with Head Coach, Assistant Coach, or Team Director roles. Each staff member accepts a staff invite, creates their own account, and can send broadcasts, view the roster, and log practice summaries.
What's the difference between "Head Coach", "Assistant Coach", "Team Director", and a generic "Coach" on the roster?
Head Coach, Assistant Coach, Team Director are the Safe Sport CC roles. They can send any broadcast keyword (ALL, COACHES, FAMILY, ONE COACH), receive athlete safe-reporting inbounds when an athlete texts the team number, and can be granted dashboard accounts via the staff-invite email flow.
Generic "Coach" is for volunteer assistants, parent helpers, secondary cat-coaches, etc. They receive ALL and COACHES broadcasts (so they stay informed) and get "[Staff copy]" CCs when a head coach messages an athlete — but they cannot initiate broadcasts to athletes, see athlete safe-reporting threads, or DM athletes directly. If a head coach sends a CC'd 1:1 to an athlete and the athlete replies, the reply routes to the head coach / assistant coach / team director only — never back to the generic coach. This preserves the team number as a confidential reporting channel for athletes.
Will my messages actually get delivered? What about spam filtering?
Rally Text is fully registered under the A2P 10DLC program with the carriers — every shared and dedicated number we use is on our registered campaign. This means carriers treat your messages as legitimate business-to-person traffic rather than spam. Delivery is reliable as long as messages follow our messaging guidelines — keep content relevant to team activities and avoid marketing-style language.
How does the dashboard show me who replied to a message?
Every inbound message in the dashboard inbox carries a colored role badge (Athlete, Guardian, Coach, etc.) right next to the sender's name. The label adapts to your team's org type — a business sees "Employee", a theatre troupe sees "Cast", etc. When a coach replies, the outgoing SMS reads "DEMO: Head Coach Kyle Button: <message>…" so the family knows who responded.
Can my athletes text "I won't be there" instead of "ABSENT"?
Yes. Rally Text detects natural-language absences — "I'll be gone Thursday", "won't be there", "running late", "I'm out for the week", "missing tonight", and similar phrasings are all recognized. The athlete gets an automatic confirmation back ("Got it — you marked absent for Thursday's practice"), and the coach sees the absence on the dashboard. Included on every RallyText plan.
Can I see how many people clicked the links in my texts?
Yes — the Link Clicks tab in the dashboard shows every tracked outbound (map links from practice reminders, file attachments, and any other short link sent through Rally Text) with click counts, last-click time, and what type of content it was. Map link tracking and file analytics are included on every plan.
Can I bulk-set up groups for my team?
Yes. The Groups tab has an ↑ Import CSV button — download the template, fill in member_name and group_name columns (plus optional is_primary and color), and upload. Groups are created on the fly the first time a new name appears. Members are matched against your roster by full name or unique first name. Safe to re-run — duplicate (member, group) pairs are skipped.
How do practice reminders work?
Add your practice schedule in the Calendar section of your dashboard. Rally Text automatically sends a reminder text to your whole team 24 hours before each session. Contacts can reply YES or NO, and you'll see attendance responses in the dashboard. You set it up once — Rally Text handles it from there.
Can I import my league's race schedule?
Yes. In the Calendar section, use "Import CSV" to upload a season schedule. The template has type, date, start_time, end_time, and location columns (plus optional notes, a maps link, and race-only fields like event_name). Race events can trigger a pre-event reminder text automatically.
How does billing work?
RallyText uses Stripe for all payments. Team, Team Plus, and Organization can be paid monthly or annually (annual Team costs ten monthly payments; annual Team Plus and Organization cost eleven), and Season plans give you 6 months at full volume plus 6 off-season months at a reduced rate while keeping your number. To view invoices, update your card, or cancel, go to Dashboard → Plan & Billing → Manage plan, which opens the Stripe Customer Portal.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, and no credit card is required. Sign up, verify your email, and you get a real dedicated number plus 300 free SMS credits to use over 3 days. Add a card anytime from Dashboard → Plan & Billing to keep going once your trial credits or the 3-day window run out. Questions? Email support@rallytext.app.
Do you offer discounts for nonprofits or leagues?
Yes. Any league, district, club, church, or community organization can request a free organization account at rallytext.app/league-signup. Teams that sign up through the organization's invite link get the organization's discount on every renewal automatically, and teams that already have a RallyText account can enter the code on their Plan & Billing tab; that adds them to the organization and applies the discount from their next payment on.
Is Rally Text COPPA / Safe Sport compliant?
Rally Text is designed with youth sports safety in mind. All communications go through the team's verified roster — only contacts who have opted in by verifying their phone number can receive messages. When a coach messages an individual minor, the system automatically copies a parent, guardian, or another adult participant (such as an assistant coach or team director) per US Center for SafeSport guidelines. All broadcasts are logged. See our Children's Privacy and SMS Disclosures for details.
Can I request a feature?
Yes — we're a small team and we read every submission. Submit a feature request and it goes straight onto our backlog for weekly review. We can't promise a timeline, but if it makes sense for the platform, we build it.
People joined by text, but my broadcasts aren't reaching them. Why?
Check their role. When someone joins by texting your team code, they're asked whether they're a volunteer or staff member or just want to follow along. People who answer Follow become Followers, and by default Followers only receive messages sent to a group they belong to, not team-wide broadcasts. Two fixes, either works: turn on Settings → Audience → Followers receive general broadcasts so every ALL or dashboard broadcast reaches them too, or open the Roster and change each person's role from Follower to the member role for your organization (Volunteer, Member, Athlete, and so on). Also remember that a text to your team number without a keyword in front is treated as a reply in a conversation, not a broadcast. To broadcast from your phone, start the text with ALL, a space, then your message.
What does the adults-only setting do, and why do you ask about ages?
Every team starts with minor-protection on: when a leader messages a member one-on-one, a second leader is automatically copied, and some one-on-one paths are limited. That is the right default for anything that might include youth. If everyone in your organization is 18 or older, we can switch the team to adults-only, which turns those copies off. Because the checkbox at signup is a self-declaration, we confirm first: reply to the support email with the age range of everyone who will be on the roster (not just staff), and a membership list showing ages or birth years if you have one. Once confirmed, support sets the flag on your team. Until then the protective default stays on, which is the safe failure mode.
I signed up, but my team's number never activated. What's missing?
Your number is reserved at signup and goes live the moment your email is confirmed. Open the email titled Verify your RallyText email and click the link; it works for 24 hours, and you can request a fresh one from the login page. If you signed up with a Gmail address, you can also just click Sign in with Google using that same address, which confirms your account on the spot. Until the email is confirmed nothing can be sent, which is why the dashboard looks idle. The free trial runs 3 days from signup with no card required.
How are credits counted, and when does my allowance reset?
One credit is one carrier message part to one recipient, and inbound replies count too. A plain-text message under about 160 characters to 50 people uses 50 credits; a longer message or one with emoji or non-Latin characters may be 2 or 3 parts per person, so the same send could use 100 or 150 credits. Group Thread fan-out uses the same pool. Your allowance resets on your own billing date each month, the day you subscribed, not on the 1st. You can upgrade any time without waiting for the reset; the dashboard's Plan & Billing page shows exactly where you stand, and anything over the allowance is simply billed per credit (3.5¢ on Team down to 2¢ on Business). Non-expiring credit packs are an alternative for one-off spikes.
My message was flagged by the safety check. What happens now?
RallyText screens messages for safety categories such as threats, harassment, bullying, and self-harm. Most flags are alert-only: the message is delivered normally and your leaders get a heads-up so they can look at the conversation. Only the most serious categories can block a sender automatically, and leaders can review and reverse that from the dashboard. Idioms, slang, and messages in languages other than English are the usual cause of a false alarm. If your group keeps getting flagged for ordinary conversation, email support with an example and we tune the check for your team.
How do I give another leader access to the dashboard?
Add them on the Roster as a Head Coach, Assistant Coach, or Team Director (your organization may show different titles for these roles), then use Settings → Staff Access → Invite to send them an email invitation. The link lets them create their own login with their own phone number for verification. Generic coaches and volunteers on the roster receive messages but do not get dashboard access; only the three leadership roles do. If the invite link says it has expired, send a new one from the same place.
Why do my leaders get a copy of every group message, and can I change that?
By design, Head Coaches, Assistant Coaches, and Team Directors receive a copy of messages sent in each group thread so a second adult always sees group traffic. You control it per group: open the Groups tab, open the group, and under Leaders receiving copies uncheck anyone who shouldn't get copies from that group. Check them again any time to turn copies back on. A leader who is also a member of the group always receives it as a member.
Can people join a group conversation automatically just by texting?
Yes. Open the group in the Groups tab, give it a keyword (it can be your team code itself), and turn on Auto-join. Anyone who texts that keyword to your number, followed by their name, lands in the group and starts receiving its messages without waiting for approval. Leave Auto-join off if you want to approve each person first; they will then appear under Join Requests on the dashboard.
Is there a cheat sheet of the keywords I can text from my phone?
Yes. Visit rallytext.app/coach-keywords for the full list, with downloads sized for a desk, a phone lock screen, a car visor, or a bike bar, and a form to email the sheet to yourself or another leader. Every keyword works from a leader's own cell phone with no dashboard login.
Do you have a SOC 2 or similar security certification?
Not yet. RallyText is a small company and has not completed a formal SOC 2 or NIST audit. What is in place: phone numbers encrypted at rest for every team, TLS everywhere, per-team audit logs of staff actions, the minor-protection defaults described above, and opt-out handling that is honored automatically and permanently. We are glad to answer a security questionnaire or walk your IT team through the architecture; email support and we will set up a call.
Where can I see who will get my broadcast?
Open your dashboard's Overview. The "Who gets broadcasts" panel lists every role on your roster, how many of them a broadcast to Everyone reaches, and exactly why anyone is left out: awaiting your approval, texted STOP, no phone on file, or joined as a Follower while the Followers setting is off. The Followers row has a one-click fix. The Compose box shows the same count for whatever audience you pick before you send, and Settings → Audience holds every control that changes the list.
What if I have a question not covered here?
Email us at support@rallytext.app — we typically respond within a few hours on business days.
Ready to get your team set up?
Create your account and have your first broadcast out in under 10 minutes.
