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Manage volunteer pool participation

:::info Current release (what ships today)

The version on Google Play today sends each message through your own SMS app: SMS Mobile App pre-fills the recipient and text, and you tap Send, so the message leaves from your SIM. This release requests no SEND_SMS permission and is not a default SMS handler.

The silent / unattended send, automated bulk batches, and the volunteer device pool described below are paused in the current release. They depend on the restricted SEND_SMS permission plus a Google Play "Device automation" review, and return in a later version. The code stays in the app behind a single feature flag (FEATURE_SILENT_BULK_SMS) — nothing is deleted, so this documentation stays accurate for when it returns.

What works today with no restricted permission: compose and send (through your SMS app), drafts, templates, quick replies, the optional contact picker, and foreground scheduling that opens the composer for a due message while the app is open.

:::

Volunteer participation controls which accounts can dispatch SMS through your phone. Newly registered devices opt in by default — only your own account can target them initially, but if you accept an organisation invite or a co-signing flow, additional accounts gain the right to assign jobs to your phone too. This recipe covers the inspection, adjustment, and opt-out of those settings.

Prerequisites​

A registered Android device (see Register your Android device) and a signed-in dashboard session at smsapp.aoneahsan.com. Roughly two minutes per device.

Open the device's participation panel​

Go to smsapp.aoneahsan.com/devices. The list shows every phone registered to your account with its current participation state. Click the row for the device you want to inspect — the detail panel opens on the right (or below, on narrow screens).

The panel shows three things relevant to participation: the Volunteering toggle, the per-device Rate cap (messages per minute), and the Authorised accounts list (your account plus any other accounts you've explicitly allowed).

Change the participation toggle​

To pause participation, click Stop volunteering. The device's participating field flips to false in Firestore. The Android app receives the change through its live subscription within a few seconds; the home-screen badge changes from Volunteering to Not volunteering.

While paused, the device:

  • Still receives jobs you create and explicitly assign to it.
  • Stops receiving any new jobs from authorised secondary accounts.
  • Allows any in-flight batch already running on it to complete — there's no mid-flight kill.

To resume, click Start volunteering. The flag flips back to true and the device returns to the eligible-target pool.

Adjust the per-device rate cap​

The rate cap is the maximum messages-per-minute this device will dispatch, regardless of who creates the batch. The default of 6/min is conservative and stays well below most carriers' anti-spam thresholds.

To raise it, click Edit rate cap, enter a new value (the per-account ceiling is enforced by Firestore rules — typical maximums depend on your account tier and recent fair-use compliance), and save. The change takes effect immediately for new jobs; in-flight jobs continue at their original assigned rate to avoid mid-batch surprises.

Lowering the cap below an in-flight rate causes the dashboard to throttle the running batch starting with the next message in the queue. There's no abrupt stop.

Inspect the authorised accounts list​

The list shows your own account at the top (always — you can't remove yourself) and any other accounts you've co-authorised. Each row shows the account's display name, email, and the date you authorised it.

To revoke an authorisation, click Remove on the relevant row. The other account immediately loses the ability to assign new jobs to your phone; in-flight assignments complete.

To add an authorisation, the other account sends you an invite from their dashboard, and you accept via an email link or the invite badge in the dashboard's notification area. There's no public "add by email" UI — every authorisation requires the other account to initiate, which prevents random invites.

Confirm the change took effect​

Open the Android app on the phone and pull down to refresh. The home screen's participation badge should match what you set on the dashboard. If the two disagree for more than a minute, sign out of the app and back in to force a session resync.

You can also verify from the dashboard's Audit log entry for the device — every participation change is recorded with timestamp, account, and the before/after values.

When sync stalls​

If the dashboard and the app disagree on participation status for more than a minute, the most likely cause is the Android app being put to sleep by aggressive battery management. The Firestore subscription works only while the app process is alive (the foreground service keeps it up only during active dispatch). Open the app to wake it; the subscription reattaches and resyncs in seconds.

A separate, rare class of failure is a stale browser tab — the dashboard caches the list locally and won't refresh until you navigate away and back, or hit the manual refresh icon next to the device row.

What this enables​

You now know how to pause your phone's participation for a sensitive period (a strict-quota carrier window, a low-battery road trip, a SIM-share with family), how to raise or lower the rate cap to match your carrier's tolerance, and how to manage which other accounts can target your phone for batches. Combined with Switch SIM on a dual-SIM phone, this gives you fine-grained control over what your phone is willing to do for SMS Mobile App.

Where to go next​

For the underlying design rationale behind the volunteer pool, see the Explanation section's upcoming How the volunteer device pool works page in Batch 7. For per-batch rate-limit configuration as a creator, see the Admin how-to category once the Configure rate limits recipe ships in Batch 5.