Privacy scope: The companion app only forwards incoming SMS that look like payment transaction confirmations (for example, bKash/Nagad/Rocket receipts). It applies an on-device privacy filter that silently discards all other SMS—including OTP codes, verification codes from other services, promotional messages, and personal messages. These non-payment SMS are never sent to your OwnPay server.
How it works
- The customer completes a payment and submits the transaction ID at checkout.
- The wallet provider sends a confirmation SMS to the phone running the companion app.
- The companion app applies its on-device privacy filter. Only SMS matching payment receipt patterns are forwarded; all other SMS (OTP, personal, promotional) are silently discarded on the device.
- The companion app forwards the filtered payment SMS to your OwnPay server.
- The smart parser extracts the amount and transaction ID from the SMS text.
- OwnPay matches the extracted data against pending transactions.
- If the amount and transaction ID match with sufficient confidence, the transaction is automatically completed.
Prerequisites
Before setting up SMS verification, you need:- The OwnPay companion app installed on an Android phone - see Companion app.
- The device paired with your OwnPay server - see Paired devices.
- SMS forwarding enabled in the companion app settings.
- At least one manual gateway with Enable SMS Verification turned on.
Smart parser
The smart parser extracts payment data from SMS messages using a combination of regex patterns and heuristic rules. It does not require an external AI service.- Regex templates - you define patterns per gateway under SMS templates. Each template specifies how to extract amount, transaction ID, and sender.
- Heuristic rules - when no template matches, the parser uses built-in rules to identify common SMS formats (for example “Tk 500 received from…”).
- Confidence scoring - each parse result gets a confidence score. Only matches above the threshold are auto-completed. Low-confidence matches stay in awaiting-verification for manual review.
Supported gateways
For gateways not listed, you can create a custom SMS template - see SMS templates.
Troubleshooting
Related Pages
- SMS templates - create and manage parsing templates
- Companion app - install and configure the Android app (only forwards incoming payment SMS)
- Paired devices - pair your phone with the server
- Manual methods - create manual gateways with SMS verification enabled