How to Receive and Respond to Incoming MMS Messages in Python with Flask and Plivo
-
Python SDK
SMS API
How To
MMS
- 30 Mar 2022
You can receive and automatically respond to incoming MMS messages on a Plivo number, as you might want to do for someone who’s out of the office or who leaves the company. Here’s how to use Plivo’s SMS API to build this use case.
Prerequisites
To get started, you need a Plivo account — sign up with your work email address if you don’t have one already. To receive incoming messages you must have a Plivo phone number that supports MMS; you can rent numbers from the Numbers page of the Plivo console or by using the Numbers API. If this is your first time using Plivo APIs, follow our instructions to set up a Python development environment and a web server and safely expose that server to the internet.
Create a Flask server to receive MMS messages
Create a file called receive_mms.py and paste into it this code.
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from flask import Flask, request
import plivo
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route("/receive-mms/", methods=["GET", "POST"])
def receive_mms():
# Receive MMS
from_number = request.values.get("From")
to_number = request.values.get("To")
text = request.values.get("Text")
media_url = request.values.get("Media0")
print("MMS message received - From: %s, To: %s, Text: %s, Media: %s"% (from_number, to_number, text, media_url))
if text.lower() == "hi":
text = "Hello!!"
media = ["https://media.giphy.com/media/888R35MJTmDxQfRzfS/giphy.gif"]
elif text.lower() == "bye":
text = "Bye and have a nice day!"
media = ["https://media.giphy.com/media/QM5lHSyFjz1XW/giphy.gif"]
else:
text = "I am glad that we connected"
media = ["https://media.giphy.com/media/888R35MJTmDxQfRzfS/giphy.gif"]
# Reply recipient using Send MMS API
client = plivo.RestClient("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>")
response = client.messages.create(
src=to_number,
dst=from_number,
text=text,
media_urls=media,
type_="mms"
)
print(response)
return "MMS responded", 200
if __name__ == "__main__":
app.run(host="0.0.0.0")
Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the Plivo console
Test
Save the file and run it.
$ python receive_mms.py
You should see your basic server application in action at http://localhost:5000/receive-mms/.
Expose your local server to the internet.
Create a Plivo application
Associate the Flask server you created with Plivo by creating a Plivo application. Visiting Messaging > Applications and click Add New Application. You can also use Plivo’s Application API.
Give your application a name — we called our Receive-MMS. Enter the server URL you want to use (for example https://<yourdomain>.com/receive-mms/) in the Message URL field and set the method to POST. Click Create Application to save your application.
Assign a Plivo number to your application
Navigate to the Numbers page and select the phone number you want to use for this application. From the Application Type drop-down, select XML Application. From the Plivo Application drop-down, select Respond-MMS (the name we gave the application).
Click Update Number to save.
Test
Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone. The message should be replied to the destination number you specified.
Note: If you’re using a Plivo Trial account, you can make calls only to phone numbers that have been verified with Plivo. You can verify (sandbox) a number by going to the console’s Phone Numbers Sandbox Numbers page.
Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes minutes. Sign up today.
