The invention is apparatus for communicating between a subscriber and a second party in a 2-way texting system. The apparatus includes a hosted application system, having a host application server, storage, communication apparatus and a hosted application. A subscriber's 2-way communication device is coupled to the communication apparatus and assigned a unique designator. The hosted application system is coupled to receive a message and designated recipient from a message originator's 2-way communication device. The message originator is one of the subscriber and the second party, and the recipient is the other of the subscriber and the second party. The hosted application converts the message to a designated format and delivers the message using the unique designator, to the recipient's 2-way communication device. The message can be responded to by the recipient using the unique designator.