Garmin Inreach random text numbers

Garmin inReach Support: 1-888-442-7646

i asked here because I don’t have a week to sit on hold with them.

From my understanding, the inReach does not have a dedicated SMS number, only a dedicated inReach-to-inReach SMS address, so no sense in setting up phones with whatever SMS address you get from an inReach when receiving a message.

However, if you set up your Mapshare page correctly, then anyone you allow can visit that Mapshare page and send you a message from there without you having to initiate the conversation.

So no point in adding the number to a contact as it will be different with each text or change at some undetermined point?

That’s the way I understand it.  I may not be correct though.

The number is not different with each text message in my limited experience (just got my inreach last month). Once you send a text to a contact, they can reach you by replying to that same message. So, in practice, you can send them a “you can contact me here” text at the beginning of your trip. I don’t know if that number changes over time.

As Doug mentions above, if you set up your MapShare page to allow people to send you messages, then whoever you share your page URL with can see your location and send you text messages right from the web site without having a pre-established text conversation. You can also password protect that page so only those who know the password can access the page.

HTH