Quick fixes for the most common issues with the Messages portal.

If the Messages page shows "Two-way SMS is not enabled":
You haven't enabled two-way SMS yet. Click the Enable two-way SMS button. See "Enabling Two-Way SMS".

If the Messages page shows the inbox but the list is empty:
You haven't exchanged any SMS messages with leads yet. The list only shows conversations that have at least one message. Send a message to any lead with a phone number, or wait for a lead to reply to a campaign.

If conversations were previously visible and now aren't:
Try refreshing the page (Cmd+R on Mac, Ctrl+R on Windows). If the issue persists, the system may be temporarily unable to connect — wait a few minutes and try again.

Compose box is hidden, replaced with an opt-out notice:
The lead has opted out of SMS. You cannot send to them until they text START to opt back in. See "When a Lead Opts Out (STOP)".

Send button is greyed out and says "Sending...":
Your previous send is still being processed. Wait 1-2 seconds and the button should return to normal.

Error: "Rate limit: 10 messages per minute. Try again shortly":
You've sent 10 messages in the past minute. This is a safety limit. Wait a minute and your sending capacity will reset.

Error: "Two-way SMS is not enabled for this account":
Two-way SMS has been disabled. See "Enabling Two-Way SMS" to turn it back on.

Error: "Lead has no phone number":
The lead's record in your CRM doesn't have a phone number. Add a valid phone number to their profile and try again.

Check that the recipient is added:
On the Messages page, look at the "Notify on reply" row in the toolbar. Each recipient should show as a chip. If your email isn't there, add it.

Check your spam folder:
Notification emails come from [email protected]. They can occasionally land in spam, especially the first few times you receive them. Mark one as "Not Spam" and your email client should learn to deliver future ones to your inbox.

Check if a notification was already sent recently:
The system throttles to one notification per lead per 5 minutes. If the same lead sent you 3 messages in 2 minutes, you'd only get one email (about the first message). The next email for that lead won't fire for 5 minutes.

Confirm two-way SMS is enabled:
Notifications only fire when two-way SMS is on. If it's been disabled, no notifications will be sent.

The lead may not be in your lead database:
The Messages inbox only shows conversations from leads that exist in your lead database with their phone number on file. If someone texts your number but isn't a lead in your system, their message is captured but won't appear in the inbox.

The lead may be opted out:
Opted-out leads' messages still appear in their conversation thread (you can scroll through history), but their conversation might be lower in the list if it's been a while. Search by name to find them.

Wait a moment for real-time to catch up:
New messages usually appear within 1-2 seconds. If you've been on the page for a long time and the connection is stale, refresh the page.

The portal shows a small red indicator in the top-right of the SMS box only when real-time updates aren't working. This usually resolves on its own within a minute. If it persists:

When real-time is working, this indicator is hidden — so if you don't see it, everything is fine.

The lead exists in your lead database with this phone number, but their name fields are empty. The portal falls back to showing the phone number when no name is available.

After clicking Disable and confirming the prompt, the page should immediately show the disabled state. If it doesn't:

If your issue isn't covered here, reach out to support with:

This helps us diagnose much faster than starting from scratch.