An Arist course reaches you as a text message. Lessons land in your messages alongside every other text you get, and you answer by texting back. There is nothing to install and nothing to sign in to. This guide covers telling an Arist text apart from the rest, answering a question, what happens when a picture comes through, the words that pause or restart your lessons, and what to check when a text back does not move the course on.

Every lesson, welcome message and reminder opens with your organization's name, so the first line of a text tells you which training it belongs to.

The text comes from a phone number rather than a saved contact, so your phone has no name to put at the top of the thread. Your organization chooses the name that opens each message, and it is usually the organization's own. When a course is sent under a named channel, that channel's name opens the message instead. The thread then carries a contact card with the channel's name and image.

Lessons begin arriving on their own. You do not text a keyword to start the course, and there is no app to open first.

The first text is the welcome message, and it tells you what the course covers, when lessons will arrive, and how to reach support. Lessons follow on the course's schedule from there. For the shape of a whole course, from that first message to the last lesson, see Taking an Arist Course, Survey, or Nudge.

If what you were given is a course code, text the code on its own to the number your organization shared with it, and Arist signs you up from there. Enrollment links, QR codes, and the course catalog each have their own steps in Self-Enrolling in a Course.

If you signed yourself up and nothing has arrived, check the phone number and the country code you entered. Enroll again with the correct number if you find a mistake, and a fresh welcome message follows.

Most lessons end with a question, and you answer by texting back in the same thread. The question names the reply it wants, whether that is a letter for a multiple-choice answer, a number for a rating, or a sentence in your own words.

When a reply does not match the format, Arist sends the question back with the format spelled out, so you can answer again. When your answer goes through, a reply comes back in the same thread, either one written into the course or a short note that your response has been recorded. Taking an Arist Course, Survey, or Nudge covers what happens once your answer is in.

When the next lesson arrives depends on how your course is set up. Some courses send the next lesson as soon as your answer is in. Others deliver at set times on set days, so the next lesson waits for that time even when you answered hours earlier.

Some lessons carry a picture, and text messaging decides whether that picture arrives inside the message or as a link you tap.

Picture messaging reaches phone numbers in the United States and Canada. A number outside those two countries receives the picture as a link in the lesson instead, and the link opens the same image. Lesson text arrives plain either way, because text messaging carries no bold or italics.

Course builders can find the image sizes and the character budgets for every delivery method in Understanding Formatting and Content Limits.

A question left unanswered brings a short reminder text, and more than one can arrive over the following days. Answering the question stops the reminders and moves the course on.

When the timing is wrong for you, text PAUSE instead of leaving the question sitting there. Lessons and reminders both stop until you start the course again.

Texting a single word back changes how your lessons arrive, and the word has to be the whole message:

Every keyword, and what each one does on the other delivery methods, is listed in Using System Keywords.

When a lesson you were expecting has not arrived, text SUPPORT. The reply carries your enrollment details, and while you are waiting on a lesson it also invites you to text Y, which sends that lesson again.

A text can also arrive late for reasons on the network rather than in the course. For those causes in order, from the course schedule through to your mobile carrier, see Why are course messages delayed?.

Five things can stop a text from moving the course on. Arist texts back for every answer it accepts, so silence means your text did not land as one.

When none of those fits, text SUPPORT, then take the reply to whoever runs your training.