A2P (application-to-person) SMS is a process in which an SMS message is produced from an application (such as an advertising message) and is sent to a mobile subscriber. This definition is often used to define enterprise messaging or business SMS.

Typical use cases include general alerting and update messages such as banking updates, flight alerts, check-in and boarding passes, mobile ads, mobile event ticketing, as well as dynamic one time passwords and mTANs.

Text messages can also be sent in the other direction, in what is know P2A (person-to-application) messaging. This means that the consumer starts the mobile interaction with a company, sending an inbound SMS to an application. Examples of P2A messaging include media voting & competitions, opt-in & subscriptions and text-to-win campaigns.