How it Works

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Shorthand simplifies mobile life by connecting you with the brands and services you want in as few clicks as possible. With Shorthand, you can get weather forecasts from Google in 2 clicks, 5-star local restaurants from Citysearch in 5 clicks and your friend's Facebook updates in 3 clicks. It's just that simple.

What Makes Us Different? SMS and Short Codes.

Shorthand TextApps send and receive information using SMS, also known as text messaging. But Shorthand has a great user interface that blows regular SMS text messaging out of the water.

Many text-messaging services are available today even without Shorthand, including Facebook and Google. You can use them by sending a keyword like “weather” to a special phone number, a “short code”. Try sending “weather” and your zip code to the phone number 466453 (GOOGLE). The six-digit phone number is Google's SMS short code. Many services are available with short codes and can be much more complex and obscure, like “Standing AFC West” to 44636 (4INFO).

What’s awesome about Shorthand is that you don’t have to remember or type any short codes or keywords! In fact, Shorthand adds extra functionality that’s not available over regular SMS. Simply scroll-and-click through a quick, intuitive menu and you've got exactly what you want.

Is it really free?

Yes, it’s true that we don’t charge you anything for the Shorthand.

Because Shorthand works with text messaging, standard messaging rates will apply based on the text plan you have with your carrier. What this means is that the messages used to update Facebook, get directions from MapQuest, update your Netflix queue, etc. will count towards your regular text messaging plan. To help you track how many messages you're sending and receiving, we've built a message counter right into the Shorthand. To access the message counter from Shorthand's main menu select Options -> Message Counter.

Downloading Shorthand and TextApps to your phone the first time will use the data channel. Adding new TextApps and updates will also use the data channel. Standard data rates apply.

Shorthand does offer some premium TextApps like Weatherbug which may charge for their use. These will always be clearly marked.

Do I need a Data Plan?

Shorthand's TextApps use your text messaging plan and do not require a data plan.

However, downloading the Shorthand software the first time does use the data channel. If you don’t have a data plan, getting Shorthand on your phone will incur a one-time charge from the operator on your pay-as-you-go data rates.

One of the great things about Shorthand is that we’re always adding new TextApps. If you choose to download a new TextApp or an update in the future, this will access the data channel as well. Individual TextApps are tiny, which means less money and time to download. You can always check the size of a TextApp in the App Finder page before deciding to download.

Certain TextApps offer you the option to click directly through the Shorthand message to a website. We'll leave it up to you if you want to do that.