While at CoA, my friend Tommy developed a very interesting proof of concept program that allowed users to create glyph blocks from latin text words. For example, the user could type in “Maya” and program would combine the three glyphs for “ma”, “ya” and “a” into a glyph block. This capability could be added to the Ancient Maya App. The question then becomes, what might one do with this glyph block image. Could it be texted to a friend?
Texting raises security concerns. Any app that reads incoming texts has access to very personal information. So, app stores and mobile operating system prevent this from happening. Sending a text from an app has lower security concerns, but they are still substantial. When an app wants to send a text it bundles the recipient list, the text message and optionally a media file and sends it to the operating system. The operating system sends this information to the default messaging app where the user must verify they actually want to send the message. On Android the user can configure the message to not require verification. On iOS verification is always required. Generating glyph blocks and sending them is possible if a bit awkward. An app can also request access to the list of contacts, allowing the user to pick the recipients by name.
Technically the message is sent as an MMS message, SMS messages can not include a media file. To send and receive message directly from an app you need a server to store and forward them or use a messaging provider like Twilo or Nexmo.