Texts are not being delivered

Why messages are accepted but never arrive.

The key distinction

Sent and delivered are different. Carriers filter messages silently: LimeCall accepts the message, reports it sent, and the recipient never receives it. There is often no error.

If your delivery rate looks wrong, assume filtering before assuming bad numbers.

1. Check US carrier registration

If you are texting US numbers, this is the first thing to check and by far the most common cause.

Unregistered application-to-person traffic to US numbers is filtered or blocked by the carriers. Open Settings → Messaging and confirm your brand and campaign registration is approved — not submitted, approved.

See US carrier registration (10DLC).

Toll-free numbers use a separate verification process. If you are sending from a toll-free number, check that instead.

2. Check the number supports SMS

Not every number can text. Open Phone Numbers and check the number's capabilities.

If SMS is not listed, it cannot be added — you need a different number. See Buy a number.

3. Check the recipient is not suppressed

Anyone who replied STOP or similar is suppressed permanently and automatically. Messages to them are not sent.

This is a legal requirement and should not be worked around.

4. Check the destination country

Rules vary widely. Some countries require pre-registered sender IDs or message templates, and some do not accept application-originated messages from foreign numbers at all.

If messages to one country fail while others succeed, this is why.

5. Check your content

Carrier filters react to:

• Public link shorteners. bit.ly and similar are strongly associated with spam. Use your own domain.

• No sender identification. Say who you are in the message.

• No opt-out on bulk messages.

• Spam-associated wording — aggressive urgency, financial promises, all-caps.

6. Check allowances and credit

Sending stops when message allowances are exhausted with no credit. See Usage & credits.

7. Check the number format

Numbers should be in international format. A national-format number may be rejected or misrouted.

Inbound messages not arriving

If you can send but not receive:

• Confirm the number supports SMS.

• Check whether the AI receptionist's text channel is on and handling them — they may be answered already and not appear as unread. See Text messages.

• Check your Inbox filters are not hiding them.

Diagnosing

Send a test to a phone you control on the same carrier as your affected recipients. If your test arrives and customers' do not, the issue is content or list-specific rather than configuration.

Check delivery status on individual messages to distinguish accepted, delivered and failed.