Twilio iMessage Integration

Sendblue is a messaging platform that allows you to send iMessage and SMS on behalf of your business.

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Because iMessage is internet-based, all messages have a flat rate and aren't priced by segment. This means that the length of your message does not impact how much it costs to send, and you also don't need to deal with formatting issues on the receiving side.

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iMessage also has a much higher media size limit than SMS, which means you can send large files & high-res images (and videos) to your recipients, all for the same price as a single message.

Sendblue allows you to detect when a recipient has an iMessage-enabled phone and automatically switches over to iMessage to save you money and boost your delivery rate. This can be done in one of two ways:

1. Managed Solution - All Twilio fallbacks happen from the Sendblue platform. This means that you don't need to worry about any of the technical details, and you can just send messages as you normally would. This is the easiest way to integrate iMessage with your Twilio SMS app.2.
2. Self-Managed Solution - You can integrate Sendblue's iMessage detection into your own Twilio messaging logic. This allows you to have more control over how you send messages, but requires you to do some extra work.

Sendblue's managed Twilio integration offers many benefits:

• Auto SMS Fallback: If a recipient has an iMessage-enabled phone, Sendblue will automatically send an iMessage instead of an SMS. This means that you don't need to worry about detecting iMessage-capable phones, and you can just send messages as you normally would.
• MMS Support: Sendblue will send high-res images and videos to iMessage-capable phones, and will automatically compress & downgrade to MMS for non-iMessage phones.
• Use your own Twilio account: Have a good rate negotiated with Twilio? No worries, simply plug in your own API keys and Sendblue will take care of the rest. Saving you money every step of the way.
• Dynamic content: SMS messages cost more for every 160 characters you send. With Sendblue you can send one message to your iPhone contacts, and a different message to your SMS users. This allows you to save money by shortening your messages for SMS, but still provide a good customer experience.
• End-to-end encryption: All messages sent through Sendblue are end-to-end encrypted, meaning that your messages are safe from prying eyes. Only the sender (you) and the recipient (your user) can read the message.

Why should I use the Sendblue Twilio integration?

You may have already noticed this, but Twilio's delivery reporting is inaccurate, they might be reporting 95%, while only delivering 60%. That's because when an SMS is sent, it hops through tons of different networks/providers before reaching your recipient. This means that if one of those networks is down, or for whatever reason decides that your message should be marked as spam, your message will never reach your recipient. This is why SMS messages are so unreliable.

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On the other hand, iMessages have a much higher delivery rate. This is because iMessages are sent directly from your phone number to your recipient's phone, and are only ever routed through one network.

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Sendblue can increase your delivery rate by up to 400% based on our case studies. This means that you can send more messages to your users, and save money on your Twilio bill. Basically: have your cake and eat it too.

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Can I use my Twilio phone number?

Yes! Sendblue can use your Twilio phone number to send iMessages. You are even able to port your Twilio number over to Sendblue, in case you want to make sure that you have a consistent phone number between your iMessage and SMS users.

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What if I want iMessage and SMS on the same phone number?

With the Sendblue Dedicated plan, you are able to use one phone number for iMessage, SMS, MMS, and phone calls. This gives all your users the same experience accross all channels, and is ideal for customer support, conversational, or virtual assistant use-cases.

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Will I receive the inbound Twilio SMS messages?

With the Sendblue-Managed solution, we will automatically forward all inbound SMS messages to your server. This means that you can still receive messages from your users, and respond to them as you normally would.

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How to enable Twilio integration?

You can enable the Twilio integration by going to your Sendblue dashboard. From there, you can click on the "Twilio" button to enable the integration. You can also reach out to us at any time to enable this fallback.

Choosing between Twilio and Sendblue depends on what kind of messaging your business actually needs. The table below breaks down the key differences across features, compliance, and deliverability.

The bottom line: Twilio is a solid SMS/MMS platform, but it cannot send iMessages. If your recipients are iPhone users — and in the U.S., roughly 60% of smartphone users are — you are leaving significant engagement on the table by using SMS alone. Sendblue lets you send iMessages to iPhone users while automatically falling back to RCS or SMS for everyone else, giving you the best of both worlds.

If you already have a Twilio-based messaging workflow, adding iMessage through Sendblue is straightforward. The following walkthrough shows you how to detect iPhone users and route them through iMessage while keeping your existing SMS fallback for Android users.

Step 1: Get Your Sendblue API Credentials

Sign up at sendblue.com/signup and grab your API key and secret from the API dashboard. You will have sandbox access immediately — no approval process required.

Step 2: Install the Sendblue SDK

For Node.js projects, install via npm:

npm install sendblue

For Python projects:

pip install sendblue

If you prefer raw HTTP requests, the REST API works with any language that can make POST requests.

Step 3: Initialize the Sendblue Client

Here is how to set up the client in Node.js (TypeScript):

import Sendblue from 'sendblue';

const sendblue = new Sendblue(
  process.env.SENDBLUE_API_KEY,
  process.env.SENDBLUE_API_SECRET
);

And in Python:

from sendblue import Sendblue

sendblue = Sendblue(
    api_key=os.environ['SENDBLUE_API_KEY'],
    api_secret=os.environ['SENDBLUE_API_SECRET']
)

Step 4: Send Your First iMessage

Sending an iMessage is a single API call. Node.js example:

const response = await sendblue.sendMessage({
  number: '+19998887777',
  content: 'Hey! Just following up on your inquiry.',
  sendStyle: 'celebration', // optional iMessage effect
  mediaUrl: 'https://example.com/brochure.pdf' // optional attachment
});

console.log(response.status); // 'QUEUED'

Python equivalent:

response = sendblue.send_message(
    number='+19998887777',
    content='Hey! Just following up on your inquiry.',
    send_style='celebration',
    media_url='https://example.com/brochure.pdf'
)

print(response.status)  # 'QUEUED'

Sendblue automatically detects whether the recipient has iMessage enabled. If they do, the message is delivered as a blue bubble iMessage. If not, it falls back to RCS first, then SMS — no extra routing logic needed on your end.

Step 5: Add Sendblue Alongside Your Existing Twilio Logic

The most common pattern is to route iPhone users through Sendblue and keep Twilio for Android/SMS. Here is how that looks in practice:

// Check if the recipient supports iMessage
const lookup = await sendblue.lookup({ number: recipientPhone });

if (lookup.iMessage) {
  // Route through Sendblue for iMessage delivery
  await sendblue.sendMessage({
    number: recipientPhone,
    content: messageBody
  });
} else {
  // Fall back to Twilio for SMS
  await twilioClient.messages.create({
    body: messageBody,
    from: twilioNumber,
    to: recipientPhone
  });
}

Alternatively, you can skip the conditional logic entirely and let Sendblue handle the routing. When you send a message through Sendblue, it automatically detects the recipient's device and chooses iMessage, RCS, or SMS accordingly.

Step 6: Set Up Webhooks for Inbound Messages

Configure your webhook URL in the Sendblue dashboard under Settings. When recipients reply, Sendblue sends a POST request to your endpoint with the following payload structure:

{
  "accountEmail": "you@yourcompany.com",
  "content": "Yes, I'd love to schedule a demo!",
  "is_outbound": false,
  "number": "+19998887777",
  "send_style": "invisible",
  "date_sent": "2026-02-11T10:30:00.000Z",
  "date_updated": "2026-02-11T10:30:00.000Z",
  "was_downgraded": false,
  "media_url": null,
  "message_type": "message",
  "group_id": null
}

Your webhook handler can then route this into your CRM, trigger automations, or feed it into an AI agent for intelligent auto-replies. Full webhook documentation is available at docs.sendblue.co.

Step 7: Send Contact Cards for Higher Trust

One of the most impactful things you can do after connecting is send a vCard (contact card) via the API. This is unique to Sendblue — no other iMessage API provider supports this. When the recipient saves the contact, your future messages show your business name instead of an unknown number:

await sendblue.sendMessage({
  number: '+19998887777',
  content: '',
  mediaUrl: 'https://yourdomain.com/contact.vcf'
});

This single step dramatically increases trust and long-term engagement with your contacts.

If you are interested in trying out Sendblue, you can book a demo anytime and we'll be happy to show you how it works!