FlashSMS FAQ
Frequently asked questions about FlashSMS, preserved from the original FAQ page.
General
Is FlashSMS compatible with UIQ phones? Is it compatible with Series 80 phones?
Not at the time the page was written. Ports to both were offered on the condition that donations earmarked for those specific projects reached a minimum amount, and users interested in a port were asked to select "FlashSMS Series 80" or "FlashSMS UIQ" when contributing. Neither port was ever released, so the answer is now simply no. The same conditional offer stood for UnlockMe! and is recorded on its FAQ.
Are these SMS totally free?
No. For each message sent, the phone operator applied the normal SMS cost. The application removed the need for an external service to originate a flash message; it did not and could not remove the network charge for carrying it.
Optional features
How were the phone book and multiple recipient features activated?
They were unlocked by a code issued after a contribution. The code was tied to the handset rather than to the person, so reinstalling the software on the same phone did not require a new one, and it remained valid for later versions of FlashSMS.
Do any of these arrangements still apply?
No. The project ended, no payment mechanism exists here, and no codes are issued. This page is preserved as a record of how the software was licensed, not as an offer. The release archive explains where the source code now lives.
Questions this page did not answer
A FAQ is as informative for what it leaves out as for what it covers, and this one is short for a reason. FlashSMS did one thing, took no configuration, and had no settings to get wrong — write the message, pick the recipient, send. Compare the Guardian FAQ, which runs to four sections and spends most of them on recovery procedures, because Guardian had a password, a white list, a notification recipient and nine plugins, all of which people managed to misconfigure.
The two questions that did get asked repeatedly, and are answered above, are both about expectations rather than operation: whether the platform would be widened, and whether the messages were free. Neither had anything to do with using the program.
What a flash message actually does
One further clarification, implied on the product page and worth stating plainly here because it is the most common misunderstanding about this class of message. A flash message is displayed immediately on the recipient's screen and is not filed into the inbox; after a keypress it goes. That is a property of how the receiving handset is asked to present the message, not a security feature, not encryption, and not a guarantee that no record exists anywhere. Handsets varied in how faithfully they implemented it, and some offered to save the message rather than discarding it.
The practical use in the mid 2000s was ordinary: getting a short, urgent line in front of someone who was not going to open their inbox. It is documented on the FlashSMS page as the project described it.