Why Aren't My Text Messages Being Delivered?
Text messages usually fail to get through for one of four reasons: your text number isn't registered with the carriers yet, the carriers filtered the message, the recipient never opted in, or something on the recipient's end stopped it. Text-Em-All shows you which one it was. If you open your broadcast details, you'll see every recipient is sorted into one of seven outcomes, with a reason attached to each failure.
What do the results in my broadcast details mean?
In your broadcast details, you'll see seven results: Delivered, Failed, Invalid, Incomplete, Opted Out, Replied, and Not Replied. If you click on "Failed" you'll see a reason for each failed delivery. Here's what the reasons mean and what to do about each one.
| Result | What it means | What to try |
|---|---|---|
| Delivered | The carrier accepted your message and is passing it to the recipient's phone. | Nothing. |
| Sent to carrier | The carrier took the message but never sent back a final result. | If you see this a lot, contact support. |
| Phone unreachable | The phone is off, out of range, out of prepaid balance, filtering, or the number recently moved to a new carrier. | Send again later, or ask them to check their carrier's spam settings. If the number just moved carriers, send a test every day or two until it goes through. |
| Rejected for possible spam | The carrier read the message as spam and stopped it. | Change the wording, remove the words in all-caps, or the extra punctuation. |
| Disallowed URL | The carrier blocked a shortened or redirected link. | Use the full URL, and put it at the end of the message. |
| Unsupported media | The attachment is too big, or the format doesn't work on that carrier. | Shrink the media or send a different format. |
| Carrier limit exceeded | You hit a carrier's cap for the minute or the day. | Tell us, and we'll discuss a higher limit. |
| Rejected by handset | The recipient blocked your text number on their phone. | They can unblock it in their phone settings. |
| Text number unavailable | Your text number is registered with a different texting platform. | Send us a Letter of Authorization, and we'll move it. |
A "delivered" result means the carrier accepted the message. For the rest of the broadcast details screen, see Understanding text broadcast results.
Why was my message rejected?
A rejected message is one we stopped before it reached the carriers, almost always because of something it said. The usual cause is S.H.A.F.T. content: sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, or tobacco, which includes vape, marijuana, and CBD. Political messages, fundraising by anyone without 501(c)(3) status, and high-risk financial content are blocked, too.
Promotional texts are fine for a list that opted in, but promotional voice calls aren't allowed.
Understand rejected messages covers every category and what to do about each. If you think we accidentally stopped a message, tell us, and we'll look into it.
How do I know if my messages are being filtered?
Watch your broadcast reports for:
- Fewer messages are getting through than usual
- No replies on a broadcast that normally gets them
- Messages arriving hours late
- More failure reasons than usual
- A jump in opt-outs on a single broadcast
How do I improve delivery?
Most of what you can control comes down to consent and sending patterns.
- Check that everyone on your list asked to hear from you.
- Cut spam-trigger phrasing like "FREE $$$" and rows of exclamation marks.
- Use the person's first name when your list has it.
- Skip public link shorteners. Use the full URL at the end of the message.
- Finish your carrier registration. Most registrations clear in 1 to 2 business days, and it's a carrier process rather than ours.
- Space out large sends rather than sending the same message repeatedly.
For more on how carriers decide what gets through, read this article on text message delivery.
What if the problem isn't my message?
Some failures have nothing to do with what you sent or how you sent it. Here are some common reasons we see messages fail:
- A phone that's off, out of range, or roaming gets the message when it reconnects.
- A phone partway through a system update can miss messages until it finishes.
- A regional carrier outage delays everything to that area.
- Carriers can hold messages, so one can arrive hours after you sent it.
- A text over 160 characters sends in segments, and segments can arrive out of order.
- A number that recently moved to a new carrier can show Phone unreachable for several days, while the carriers update their routing. Nobody can speed that up. Send a test every day or two, and if it's still failing after several more days, the recipient should ask their new carrier to confirm the port completed.
Some issues involve carrier filtering that can be adjusted on your recipient's phone. T-Mobile customers can turn off their carrier spam filter by dialing #632#. AT&T customers using Active Armor can turn off filtering in the app.
Texting Canadian numbers comes with extra rules that affect delivery.
How long before I know whether a message got through?
Most results reach your broadcast details within seconds. Some carriers take up to 24 hours to send a final one. A recipient sitting on Sent to carrier usually means that the carrier never sent one at all.
Why did some people get my message and others didn't?
When most of a broadcast gets through, and a handful don't, the cause is almost always on the recipients' end. Their carrier, their phone, their spam settings, and whether they've opted out all decide it separately. If the same message reached most of your list, the message isn't the thing that needs to change.
Still not getting through?
Email support@text-em-all.com or call 877-226-3080, Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM Central. Tell us the broadcast name and roughly when you sent it, and we'll go through the carrier results with you.