latest version: 1.3, Released Apr 11 2021
What’s new in v1.3
What is Mandelbrot MMS?
Mandelbrot MMS is the advanced version of our SMS product, Mandelbrot SMS. It is a stand alone application that helps developers of any skill level bolt on real time, conversational MMS messaging to an existing FileMaker solution. Send and receive unlimited picture messages to any publicly switched telephone number in the US or Canada.* This new product allows anyone to start sending and receiving picture messages from FileMaker in hours, not weeks.
How will integrating MMS into my FileMaker Solution Help My Business?
What are other Mandelbrot customers doing with Mandelbrot MMS?
- Receiving pictures from customers and automatically attaching them to records in FileMaker
- Sending coupons, images and text in automated marketing campaigns
- Confirming and rescheduling appointments, deliveries, dates, times, phone numbers, emails and addresses
- Separating their personal and business phone numbers for privacy
- Enhancing customer service by creating a single conversation per customer across their entire team
- Giving customers a single phone number to send and receive text messages and images to/from your business
- Automatically attaching a text conversation or image to a specific record in an existing FileMaker solution
- Controlling your solution without logging in via inbound text message
- Standalone messaging
- Two factor authentication
- Cell number verification
- Lowering costs by eliminating extra phone lines
What Features Come Standard with Mandelbrot MMS?
- Sends, receives and displays new multimedia messages in real time without refresh buttons or scheduled scripts
- Purchase, re-provision or release Twilio phone numbers in real time from inside the app (no Twilio experience required)
- All messages and multimedia content are automatically downloaded into your FileMaker database for easy integration with your custom apps
- Ships completely unlocked so you can start integrating your custom apps immediately
- Automatically checks if a phone number is a cell phone before texting it the first time
- Clean, familiar layouts that can be learned by anyone in minutes
Can’t I Just Write My Own Connector?
Of course you can! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Two to six months to learn, build, provision, test and debug your app and associated middleware
- Experience working with an MMS gateway (We use Twilio)
- Real professional level coding skills (node.js, C#, Python, etc) to write the middleware needed (you will need something to refactor and send your messages from Twilio to FileMaker)
- A server outside of FileMaker for your middleware to live and remain available 24/7
- A few tricks to make FileMaker refresh what is in your portals or on your listview layouts without navigating away from them, which is not natively supported
Even if you’re a skilled FileMaker developer and you’ve got a bunch of free time, it’s probably just a whole lot cheaper and faster to just buy it from us instead of writing it yourself.
Buying Options
- Standalone – 445 USD per server
- Recommended for professional FileMaker developers who are comfortable with things like custom functions, encryption at rest, server architecture, multifile solutions, external data sources, JSON and external scripting
- Completely unlocked fmp12 file so you can self-integrate, redesign and tinker.
- Includes inbound messaging endpoint via AWS Lambda (Claris Connect not required)
- Base Bundle (Standalone + 5 hours) – 895 USD
- $1,070 value (Save $175 by bundling)
- Recommended for those with a professionally hosted FileMaker solution who are not professional developers
- All of the fantastic features of Mandelbrot MMS standalone
- Up to five hours of professional FileMaker help from Mandelbrot LLC*
- (Enough time for us to embed MMS functionality into most existing FileMaker apps)
- Ultimate Bundle (Standalone + 15 hours + Cloud Server Config) – 1995 USD
- $2,670 value (Save $675 by bundling)
- Recommended for those who still have FileMaker Server running on a physical machine in their office
- All of the fantastic features of Mandelbrot MMS standalone
- Mandelbrot LLC sets up an AWS cloud server to host your FileMaker solution
- Up to fifteen hours of professional FileMaker help from Mandelbrot LLC*
- Hours can be used for embedding MMS functionality, migrating your solution to the cloud or any other purpose
90 day money back guarantee: If Mandelbrot MMS doesn’t work for your use case, we’ll uninstall the software and refund your purchase.
Got 10 or more servers? Ask us about private labeling the current version of Mandelbrot MMS here.
System Requirements**
- FileMaker Server 17+ or FileMaker Cloud 1.17+
- FileMaker Pro 16+, FileMaker Go 16+ or FileMaker WebDirect
- Free Twilio Account***
Currently Supported Countries
- United States
- Canada
Support for additional countries is available on an as-needed basis. Contact us for details.
iPad Screenshots
iPhone/Android Screenshots (webdirect)
*Professional development hours that are purchased in a bundle with Mandelbrot MMS expire 30 days from the purchase date.
**For more information on how to install or integrate Mandelbrot MMS with your custom application, contact us here or call 312.778.8787.
***Twilio is a pay-per-use service. Accounts are free but service is not. New Twilio accounts typically come with a free $15 credit, which is enough to send or receive well over 1000 message segments. Check their website for details.