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Time to get verified with Sinch

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Following our webinar on the suite of Sinch Verification products late last year, we caught up with Magnus Lundstedt, Verification Product Manager at Sinch, for a quick Q&A session on Sinch Verification and how easy it is to get started

Here’s how the conversation went down... 

Q: What are the advantages of using SMS Verification products over a normal SMS service? 

Normal SMS API service focuses only on delivery rates. Sinch SMS Verification focuses not only on delivery, but also on receiving the correct OTP code back. When we get that data back with a reporting API, we get real time statistics which enables us to monitor and then push traffic through the most appropriate route to maximize speed – ensuring OTP codes are delivered as quickly as possible. 

This means that with an SMS Verification product, or in general an SMS product that is specifically built for 2FA applications, where you have this real time criticality of delivering the SMS it will outperform a generic or standard SMS API, which is why we would recommend our SMS verification product if you need to deliver OTP codes to customers

Q: What verification method should I use in my application? 

You should use all available verification methods in order to optimize conversion rates and secure a good user experience. We recommend using SMS Verification as the primary verification method if you’re using iOS and Flash Call Verification for Android – we can also support both for web applications. 

Q: What countries is verification available in?   

Sinch Verification products are available all over the world except in very few countries such as Antarctica or North Korea. 

Q: Should I integrate verification using SDK or REST API? 

We recommend integrating using the REST API – it’s very straightforward and is supported by great documentation on the Sinch Developers website. Our SDK’s are great to use for testing, but for production purposes we would recommend using our REST API for security and performance. Adding a Callback API will also help with reporting. 

Q: Is verification hard to integrate? What does the REST API look like? 

Sinch Verification is very simple to integrate. If your current solution is REST API based it’s easy to drop in the Sinch verification product as a replacement. Here’s a quick example of what requesting and reporting a Flash Call verification looks like: 

Request 

curl --user APPLICATION_KEY:APPLICATION_SECRET  https://verificationapi-v1.sinch.com/verification/v1/verifications -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data "{'identity':{'type':'number','endpoint':'+1555123123'},'method':'flashcall'}" 

Report 

curl -X PUT --user APPLICATION_KEY:APPLICATION_SECRET  https://verificationapi-v1.sinch.com/verification/v1/verifications/id/d41281c6d5094a688371449e33a0a7e6 -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data "{'method': 'flashcall', 'flashcall': {'cli': 'OTPCODE'}}" 

For more information on the REST API please see our documentation

Q: Does Flash Call work on platforms other than Android? 

Flash Call will work on web apps and Android only. The user experience with iOS does not work due to permissions and restrictions on the iOS side. 

Q: How does Flash Call pricing compare to SMS pricing? 

Flash Call and SMS Verification are priced by country. Flash Call is between 50% - 70% cheaper than SMS in each market, which means you could save up to 2/3 of your verification costs by using Flash Call as your primary verification method. For example, the average saving is over $2,000 per 100k sign ups compared to using SMS Verification. Splitting your Android traffic and using Flash Call can make a real dent in costs. Also by using multiple verification methods the overall conversion rate increases when one or the other method is having some reduced service quality.  

If you’d like more insights into our range of verification products, take a look at our main product verification page and check out our developer documentation, or if you’d like to start testing sign up now - all services offer free integration, simply pay for what you send!

See how the verification methods work in these short videos: SMS Verification, Phone Call Verification and Flash Call Verification