15 Reasons Why Your Text Message Didn’t Get Delivered (Android & iPhone)

Text messages are a quick and easy way to communicate with friends, family, and co-workers. But, sometimes, your text message doesn’t get delivered.

It’s frustrating , and you may not even know why it happened .

In this blog post, you’ll know the top common reasons why your text message didn’t get delivered to someone on android and iPhone and what to do (solutions) in this case.

From your phone’s settings to the network you’re using, we will go through each problem that ruins your experience of sending SMS messages.

15 Reasons Why Your Text Message Didn’t Get Delivered in Android & iPhone

As much as you try to avoid it, there are days when you will encounter message delivery issues while sending text messages. 

There is a high chance that your messages won’t get delivered to a certain person or SMS message sent but not delivered.

There are many reasons why aren’t your message sending including your Phone Number is blocked or the DND list. Your SMS message is flagged as spam or contains illegal content or send to the wrong number or landline. The recipient is experiencing signal issues or switched off their mobile or phone number is roaming and many more.

Here are some of the main reasons behind undelivered text messages:

1. Your phone number is blocked

The most common issue of failed delivery of text messages is blocked Phone Numbers. You can try as many times as you want to send the messages but as long as the recipient has blocked your phone number on their phone, all your effort is in vain.

There are a number of reasons for people to block others’ phone numbers. It can be personal issues, telemarketing calls, scam phone calls, or calls from unknown numbers.

People tend to block those numbers that irritate them or that they no longer want to communicate with.

You can easily verify whether your phone number is blocked or not. Call the recipient’s phone number and if your phone calls fail to establish a connection then your number may have been blocked.

To confirm, make a call from a different phone number. If the call connects from another number then your number is 100% blocked.

You may like: Best Apps to Text Someone Who Blocked You on Android and iPhone

2. Recipient is experiencing signal issues

Another common explanation of why your SMS text messages didn’t get delivered is signal issues. Many times people’s phones do not receive any signal and they fail to make as well as receive phone calls and messages.

If you are sending text messages when the recipient’s phone doesn’t have a signal then your messages won’t reach them.

Commonly people lose their mobile signal when they are not in range of their mobile carrier’s signal tower. This often happens when people are traveling.

The mobile phone fails to connect with the nearby signal tower of the new location because it is still trying to stay connected with the signal tower of your previous location.

Another issue can be your device itself. Your phone may have some hardware issues. To verify, put your SIM card from your phone to another phone. If the new device picks up the signal immediately then your phone needs repair.

You May Also Like: How to Keep Your Phone Number When Leaving a Company

3. Recipient has switched off their mobile

People often switch off their mobile phones because they want privacy, the phone is out of charge or there are some issues with the mobile. If you sent a text message when your recipient has switched off their mobile phone then the text message will not get delivered.

Once you sent a SMS message to a switched-off mobile device, you don’t have to resent the message. Most phones will resent SMS messages automatically at certain intervals. The message will be delivered as soon as the recipient’s mobile is turned on.

You can make a phone call to your recipient’s phone number to verify whether their phone number is on or off.

Read Also: How To Text on a Disconnected Phone

4. Your text message is flagged as spam

Phone carriers often have a policy to protect their users against spam text messages. If a phone number receives a spam message, the message will be flagged as spam and will not get delivered to the recipient.

There are chances that the recipient’s mobile carrier could mark your message as spam if your message violates their rules. If your SMS consists of something offensive then your message will be immediately marked as spam.

There are different reasons for your text messages are being filtered by the phone carrier. Here are some of the common reasons:

• If your text message contains suspicious links such as tinyURL.com or bit.ly.
• If you are sending multiple SMS messages with the exact same content to different phone numbers.
• Each SMS consists of a maximum of 160 characters. If your SMS message length is too long like an essay, then the recipient’s carrier will flag the message.
• If your messages consist of all capital letters. For ex: “JOIN NOW FOR FREE”.

5. Your text message is reported

There are cases when the recipient has reported to their mobile carrier about SMS messages that are spam or inappropriate. The carrier will take action against such messages. They will block that message and also can block the sender.

Sometimes you may send a text message that might look similar to spam or an inappropriate text message which could make mobile carriers block your SMS. You can verify such cases by sending a simple message if it is delivered then your previous SMS might have been blocked by the carrier.

6. Your SMS messages contain illegal content

Sending illegal content is strictly prohibited. The phone carriers quickly block messages consisting of illegal content such as drug references, adult content, statements of criminal activities, etc.

Such a thing could lead to further investigation. The sender might have to face the investigation and could end up with a court punishment.

7. Recipient has billing issues

It’s not uncommon for people to have pending phone bills. Every mobile carrier gives a certain time window to users to pay their phone bills on time but if the users fail to do so then the mobile carrier can stop the user’s service. The user will be able to use the service again after clearing their due bills.

If you send a text message to a recipient whose mobile service is halted because of pending bills then your message won’t get delivered.

In such cases, there is no problem on your end. You won’t be able to send the message until the recipient’s phone number is active again.

8. Your phone number is on the Do Not Disturb (DND) list

Mobile carriers of some countries have the facility for users to include their phone numbers in a specific list to block certain types of messages, Usually, the numbers in this list will not receive sms messages sent from an A2P(Application to Person) connection.

It’s a good solution to some extent but the problem arises when the phone number may not receive messages for delivery, orders, or any legit business messages.

You May Also Like: How to Send SMS Text Messages from Your Computer

9. Phone carrier is having technical issues

There are times when the issue is neither on your end nor the recipient’s end. The mobile phone carrier itself is facing technical issues which are affecting the delivery of text messages.

Many things could trouble the phone carriers like server issues, infrastructure issues, network errors, etc. If something goes wrong with phone carriers, they will notify you about the situation.

10. Text message sent to a wrong phone number

It’s a good idea to check the phone number once before pressing the send button to send a SMS message. There are chances that you are sending the text message to the wrong number. That means your message will never get delivered to the right recipient.

People like you and me can make such a common mistake. We may enter the wrong phone number. Misplacing digits, accidentally pressing the wrong number, or having the invalid numbers could lead to trouble.

It often happens while dialing an international phone number consisting of country codes, exit codes, area codes, and an unfamiliar phone number.

 11. Text message sent to a landline number

Like sending a text message to a wrong number, texting to a landline number doesn’t seem right. A landline phone number cannot receive a text message.

It is only capable of making outgoing calls and receiving incoming calls. Your SMS message delivery will immediately fail. Make sure the phone number is assigned to a mobile phone rather than a landline.

Read Also: How to Respond to a Missed Call by Text Professionally

12. Recipient’s phone number is roaming

There are times when your recipient is out of the country. During such a situation the phone number is roaming and there are chances your text messages will fail to deliver.

Also, texting someone abroad can be expensive. Check if you have sufficient balance to send international text messages.

Another thing that could lead to failed SMS delivery is entering the wrong country code. Additionally, you should confirm if your phone carrier allows users to send international SMS otherwise there is no chance of sending it.

13. Wrong type of phone number

You need to be careful before sending text messages. If you have a business and trying to send hundreds of messages to customers at once then you need A2P (Application-to-person) messaging.

But if you are sending a personal message then P2P (Person to Person) messaging is more than enough for you.

You cannot send a high volume of messages from a regular phone number with only  P2P messaging capability. Even if you try, the local phone carriers will likely block the messages and won’t get delivered at all.

To send SMS messages in high numbers, you need to get the right type of phone number. Toll-Free numbers, vanity numbers, local phone numbers with large-volume messaging, and shortcodes are the ones you should choose for your business.

14. Sending too many messages

We mentioned in the previous point that P2P (Person-to-person) messaging doesn’t allow users to send high-volume messaging at once.

It is restricted to sending only one text message every second. If you try to send more then your message is likely going to be blocked and the message won’t get delivered.

There are chances that your messages to go into the spam filter if you do SMS blasts or frequently send SMS.

You must contact your mobile carrier to know how many messages you can send at an instant to avoid failed SMS delivery.

15. Recipient opted out of your text messages

Some platforms enable recipients to opt out of text messages from users. This is a built-in system that prioritizes the recipient’s comfort and privacy. 

The platform provides keywords that the recipients can use to indicate they want to stop getting messages from the number.

If the recipient uses the keyword then the platform’s users won’t be able to send SMS messages to him/her and the message won’t get delivered.

How to fix “iMessage Not Delivered” on your iPhone?

To explain, iMessage is the messages sent from one Apple device(iPhone, iPad, etc.) to another via Wi-Fi or cellular data networks.

People with iPhones may experience trouble sending messages to people. During such times, the message doesn’t get delivered and it is frustrating.

If the issue is on your device, there are some methods that you can try to troubleshoot your device to get the messages delivered properly. Let’s have a look.

1. Get internet access

iMessage requires an active internet connection to send messages. The message will not get delivered if your phone doesn’t have a Wifi or Cellular data connection. 

Go to Settings > Wifi to join a wifi network or rejoin the network to refresh the connection. On the other hand, go to Settings > Cellular to join your cellular data network. 

2. Turn on iMessage

You need to turn on your iMessage on your Apple device to send an iMessage. Go to Settings > Messages, find the iMessage option, and toggle it on if it’s off.

3. Send as a Text Message

If you are sending an iMessage to a person who doesn’t use Apple devices then iMessage won’t work at all. If the recipient has an android device then your message won’t be delivered and say Send as Text Message.

Go to Settings > Messages, find Send as SMS and toggle it on. This will change iMessage to SMS if you send a text message without an internet connection to an Android device. You can toggle off iMessage in the setting if you are having issues.

4. Update iOS

Go to Settings > General > Software Update to regularly check for new updates from Apple. iOS update includes patches fixing minor issues including iMessage if any. 

5. Sign out and in of Apple ID

Sometimes your iMessage may be having trouble delivering messages because of Apple ID. Try signing out and in of Apple ID to fix the issues. Go to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive to sign out and in.

How to fix the text message “Not Delivered” on your Android phone?

If the issue exists on your recipient’s device, blocked by the receiver as well as technical difficulties with mobile carriers then there is no way you can fix those issues.

However, if the problem exists on your Android device settings then there are a few methods to fix the issue. Let’s have a look.

1. Check your network connection

Make sure your android phone has a strong network connection before sending a text message. Turn on and off airplane mode to refresh the connection so that your device can get the signal from the nearest signal towers.

2. Restart your phone

Force start your phone to clear any issues in your phone. Instead of using the standard method of restarting an android phone by holding the lock button for a few seconds and clicking power off, you need to force power off.

Hold the lock button and volume down button at the same time until your phone screen goes black. This method resets your phone.

3. Turn off airplane mode

If the airplane mode is on while sending a text message then the message will not go through. Airplane mode disables your mobile network so you need to turn it off before sending messages.

5. Clear your Messages cache

You may need to clear the cache of the messaging app on your android device. Sometimes the messaging app can malfunction or get corrupted so clearing the cache can reset the messaging app to function as new.

Go to Settings> Apps, find the messaging app, tap Storage, and click on “Clear Cache”. Usually, you can follow these steps on Samsung mobile but you may need to follow different steps depending on your Android phone brand.

6. Check for updates

Regularly check for updates on your android phone. The android update includes patches fixing minor issues in default apps including the messaging app. 

Conclusion

There can be a number of reasons why your text message didn’t get delivered. From recipients blocking your phone number to technical issues, there is not much in your hand as a sender.

You can solve the issues on your end but you will have to wait to successfully deliver your messages until you can communicate with the recipient’s phone number or mobile carrier’s issues.

In some cases, you will never send your text messages to the recipient, especially for businesses. Your undelivered messages may be marked as spam or your messaging system doesn’t have the capacity for mass texting. You can avoid these issues with the right mobile phone number providers.

Rent SMS is a virtual phone number provider that can ease the difficulties of text messages not getting delivered. It provides genuine virtual phone numbers from more than 100+ countries. You can get mobile numbers, toll-free numbers, and vanity numbers that can help you to send mass text messages. 

So why wait? Get a free demo from Rent SMS and improve your chances of successfully sending messages to customers.

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