{"id":3622,"date":"2023-06-12T08:25:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T08:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3622"},"modified":"2024-02-05T14:16:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T14:16:20","slug":"sms-message-expiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/sms-message-expiry\/","title":{"rendered":"SMS Message Expiry &#8211; A Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"3622\" class=\"elementor elementor-3622\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-99759d6 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"99759d6\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1770f462\" data-id=\"1770f462\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7d988387 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7d988387\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><\/p>\n<h1><strong><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">What is SMS message expiry?<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>If any text message cannot be delivered to its intended recipient immediately, their mobile network will attempt to re-deliver it over a period of hours or days, up until a designated \u2018expiry\u2019 time.<\/p>\n<p>The precise time varies from one network to another, so there&#8217;s no standard validity period<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>After this time, if the message cannot be delivered, it will be discarded by the network and marked with a status of \u2018EXPIRED\u2019.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the common reasons that a text message expires?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There are a few reasons why an SMS might expire and not be delivered<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The phone is switched off for an extended period, usually over 48 hours. After this time the network operator will no longer attempt message delivery and it will be marked as expired.<\/li>\n<li>The phone is in a very low mobile signal area for an extended period. This seems an unlikely outcome in 2023 but there are still some rural areas in the UK that have very patchy mobile signal.<\/li>\n<li>The phone is \u2018hanging\u2019 on the network. Occasionally a phone will appear to be connected to the network, with the mobile strength indicator showing good mobile signal strength.\n<p>The phone is however not correctly connected and text messages are unable to be delivered.<br>The solution to this is to simply reboot the mobile and force a network reconnection.<\/p><\/li>\n<li>Mobile phone is in airplane mode. This normally happens if a traveller forgets to switch off airplane mode after a flight.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4167\" src=\"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Mobile-phone-300x262.jpg\" alt=\"Mobile phone\" width=\"300\" height=\"262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesmsworks.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Mobile-phone-300x262.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesmsworks.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Mobile-phone.jpg 547w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">How do I prevent messages from expiring?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Two circumstances can prevent message expiry. Firstly, and obviously, the message can be delivered. Secondly, a \u2018permanent\u2019 error can occur.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a style=\"background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/permanent-and-temporary-sms-errors\/\">Permanent errors<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;describe circumstances under which the message will definitely not be delivered, regardless of the number of repeated attempts to deliver the message within the expiry period.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">What is the default expiry time?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The default expiry period varies, depending on the SMS provider. The SMS Works sets the default expiry period for messages sent from its platform at 48 hours.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Can I change the expiry time for an SMS?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>You may not want to wait for the default expiry period to pass before taking some alternative action.<\/p>\n<p>Most providers let you set the expiry period for the SMS messages that you send through them.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/developers#outbound-sms-parameters\">SMS Works Message API<\/a> allows you to specify a \u2018validity\u2019, in minutes, after which the mobile network will return an EXPIRED status if the message cannot be delivered and no permanent error has occurred.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related articles<br><a href=\"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/reasons-text-message-does-not-get-delivered\/\">What are the main reasons a text message doesn&#8217;t get delivered?<\/a><br><\/strong>There are some main reasons a text fails, here are 19 possibilities.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/what-causes-delays-to-sms\/\">Why is my text message delayed?<\/a><\/strong><\/p><strong>\n<\/strong><p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is SMS message expiry? If any text message cannot be delivered to its intended recipient immediately, their mobile network [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}