Adding phone number without sms

[nightshift]

Hello,
I like to know if there is a way to add a phone number to veriplace
with out sending sms ? i.e) add phone that have sms service disabled.

thanks

[Jason F.]

hi nightshift,

a key part of "location sharing" is privacy. that is, consent MUST be
collected from the end user before location can be accessed. this is
inline with MMA and CTIA best practices.

as part of consent, the prudent approach is to verify that the end
user giving consent has physical access to the phone being located.
that way, you can't type in my phone number and give consent to locate
my phone (unless you have access to it). of course, this is why
ongoing notification to the phone in question is also required... so
that if you swipe my phone and return it with the hopes of locating me
without my knowledge, I get notified.

can you help us understand what use case you're trying to support? or
what kind of customer you're targeting that is unlikely to have SMS?

thanks,
jason

[nightshift]

This the scenario: I want to track a family member's phone. The phone
is not a smartphone and has sms service disabled. May be you can
support getting permission by calling the phone and taking a yes or no
response ?

I use a iPhone, I don't have sms service either, but I can receive sms
(unlike the other phone where it is disabled). I think ATT changes $4
or so for one sms I receive since I don't have sms service and pay
monthly. So even if I have to add my own phone, I am looking at
spending $4 or so. I would prefer getting a automated call instead of
sms.

thanks

[Jason F.]

nightshift,

it sounds like you're not necessarily looking to build out a service
(as a developer), but that you're looking to be a consumer of a
service that let's you locate a family member.

there's a service that allow you to do this without collecting consent
from the end user as long as the end user is a phone on your AT&T
billing account. the reason the service is able to do this is because
it is integrated with BOTH AT&T's location infrastructure and billing
systems.

check out AT&T Family Map:
http://www.att.com/familymap

[Jason F.]

indeed, for now, your end users need to be able to receive SMS to
verify that they have physical access to the device.