It has been a while since I posted here, so I thought it was time to share two projects I’ve been working on: Heaths Uptime, a website and service monitoring tool, and 0TXT, a service for recording and managing SMS marketing opt-outs.
They tackle different problems, but both are about making something easier to see and act on. Is a website actually reachable? Has someone asked to stop receiving marketing texts? Those sound like straightforward questions, but the details matter.
Heaths Uptime: keeping an eye on websites and services
When you run a website, checking that it loads on your own computer only tells you so much. It might work from your connection while visitors somewhere else are having trouble.
Heaths Uptime checks websites and network services from Australia and Singapore, giving a clearer picture of what is reachable from each location.
It supports:
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HTTP and HTTPS checks, including expected page content and TLS certificates.
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TCP port checks for network services.
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DNS and ping checks.
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Heartbeats for scheduled jobs, so a task can report that it completed successfully.
That last one is particularly useful for work that happens quietly in the background. A website can still be online even though a scheduled backup or overnight task has stopped running. A missing heartbeat gives you something concrete to investigate.
The regional results also matter. If a site responds from Australia but refuses access from Singapore, that difference stays visible. It can help distinguish a wider outage from a regional access restriction or routing problem.
The service is currently free, with new accounts arranged directly. If you would like to try it, visit Heaths Uptime or get in touch through the contact page.
0TXT: a clearer way to stop marketing texts
The second project, 0TXT, focuses on SMS marketing preferences.
For individuals, the idea is simple: make it easier to say you don’t want marketing texts. For businesses, provide a practical way to record that request and apply it to their own sending systems.
There are two connected parts to the service.
Direct unsubscribe links let someone opt out of SMS marketing from a named business. The recipient follows the link in the message and confirms their request, without needing to create an account or join the wider register.
The voluntary register lets individuals verify their mobile number and record a preference to stop SMS marketing from participating businesses. Those businesses can check their own contact lists against the register and act on the relevant matches.
For business users, 0TXT provides personalised unsubscribe links, CSV list checking and downloadable suppression records—the records of contacts who should be excluded from marketing.
Privacy is central to that approach. Businesses receive relevant results for their own contacts; they cannot download the shared register.
There is a clear limit to what the service does: 0TXT works through participating businesses. It does not block texts at the mobile network or stop messages from scammers and other non-participating senders. Businesses still need to apply the recorded opt-outs in their sending systems.
The service is free for individuals. You can read more about individual opt-out choices, explore the business tools, or see how 0TXT protects your number.
Take a look
Both projects are now online, and I’d welcome feedback from people who might find them useful.
If you manage websites or services, take a look at Heaths Uptime. If you receive marketing texts—or work with a business that sends them—have a look at 0TXT.
I’ll share more here as the projects develop. In the meantime, it feels good to have something new to write about.