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Grant SMS and Contacts permissions

SMS Mobile App declares two Android permissions: SEND_SMS (required for any send to work) and READ_CONTACTS (optional, used by the recipient picker). Both are runtime permissions on Android 8+, meaning the app must explicitly prompt you and you must explicitly approve before they take effect. This recipe covers the prompt flow, the recovery path if you decline by mistake, and the manual Settings path for cases where the runtime prompt won't reappear.

What the app does NOT request​

The app does not request READ_SMS, RECEIVE_SMS, READ_CALL_LOG, READ_PHONE_STATE, or any "default SMS handler" privilege. It cannot read your inbox, intercept incoming messages, or access your call history. Android wouldn't grant those permissions to a non-default-SMS app even if the app asked. The app's Play Store listing reflects this — the only SMS permission declared is SEND_SMS.

Grant SEND_SMS via the runtime prompt​

The first time you trigger any send action — composing on the home screen, tapping Send test SMS, or processing a queued job — Android shows the system permission dialog: "Allow SMS Mobile App to send SMS messages?" with Allow and Don't allow buttons.

Tap Allow. The permission is granted immediately and persists across app updates and reboots. The app stores no record of the grant locally; Android tracks it.

If you tap Don't allow, Android remembers the decision and won't prompt again automatically the next time you trigger a send. The app's send button greys out with a brief explanation. Recover with the Manual Settings path below.

Optionally grant READ_CONTACTS​

When you tap Pick from contacts in any composer, Android shows a similar dialog for READ_CONTACTS. Tap Allow if you want the convenience of selecting recipients from your contact list. Decline if you'd rather type numbers manually or upload CSVs — there's no functional difference for sending, only for the picker.

If you decline READ_CONTACTS, the Pick from contacts button stays disabled and the composer still works for direct entry and CSV imports.

Manual Settings path (after a decline)​

When Android has remembered a previous Don't allow, the runtime prompt won't reappear and you'll need to grant the permission via system settings.

  1. Open Settings on your phone.
  2. Tap Apps (or Apps & notifications on older Android versions).
  3. Find SMS Mobile App in the list and tap it.
  4. Tap Permissions.
  5. Tap the relevant permission: SMS for SEND_SMS, or Contacts for READ_CONTACTS.
  6. Choose Allow (or Allow only while using the app — both work for this app's use case).

The change takes effect immediately. Return to the SMS Mobile App and your next send will succeed.

Some manufacturer ROMs label the path differently — Xiaomi MIUI has it under Manage apps, Samsung One UI under Permissions directly on the app's info screen, OPPO ColorOS under Permission management. The destination is the same: a per-app permission toggle.

Battery-optimisation exemption​

Battery optimisation isn't a runtime permission, but it has the same practical effect on long-running batches: an aggressively-optimised app gets killed mid-flight, leaving jobs stranded.

The app prompts the appropriate disable-battery-optimisation flow when it detects an aggressive ROM. Following the prompt opens the right Settings page; tap Don't optimise for SMS Mobile App and return to the app.

For a manual approach, navigate to Settings → Apps → SMS Mobile App → Battery → Allow background activity (or the equivalent on your ROM). Phones running newer Android versions also expose Settings → Battery → Battery optimisation with a per-app override list.

Verify a permission is granted​

Open Settings → Apps → SMS Mobile App → Permissions. The active list shows which permissions are currently allowed. SMS should be Allowed; Contacts should be Allowed if you've granted it (otherwise it appears under Not allowed).

You can also test from inside the app: tap Send test SMS on the home screen. A permission-granted device shows a brief composer; a denied device shows a disabled button with the recovery hint.

Common errors​

If sends still fail after a successful Allow, the most likely cause is that you're running on an emulator or a device with no working SIM. The permission is granted, but SmsManager has nothing to dispatch through. Test on a real Android phone with a working SIM.

If the runtime prompt never appears even on first send, you may have set Android's per-app Auto revoke unused permissions policy aggressively, or the app's previous permission state is being restored from a backup. Open Settings, manually revoke the SMS permission, then trigger the send — the prompt reappears.

If READ_CONTACTS is granted but the picker shows an empty list, your contacts may live entirely in cloud accounts (e.g. Google Contacts not synced to-device). Open the Contacts app on Android and confirm contacts are visible there; if they're not, the SMS Mobile App picker won't see them either.

Where to go next​

For per-SIM dispatch on dual-SIM phones, see Switch SIM on a dual-SIM phone. For the underlying compliance reasoning — why SEND_SMS only, why no inbox access, why we're not a default SMS handler — see the upcoming Compliance: Google Play SMS-permission policy page in the Explanation section.