Why did my message fail to send?

When a Cradle SMS doesn't make it to the recipient, the desktop app shows an error on the message in the thread. Here's how to read that, what to try, and when to ask for help.

Quick checks (try these first)

Send it again. Open the thread, type the message into the reply box, and click send. There's no retry button on the failed message itself, so re-sending is the manual way to retry.
Check the recipient's number. SMS works between mobile numbers in the same country as your Cradle SMS number. AU SMS numbers send to AU mobiles. UK SMS numbers send to UK mobiles. If the recipient's number isn't a mobile in your country, the message won't go through.
Check the recipient isn't greyed out. When you start a new thread, Cradle greys out numbers it doesn't recognise as deliverable mobiles. See Why is this number greyed out?.

Common reasons a message fails

The recipient isn't a mobile in your country

This is by far the most common cause. SMS is country-confined. A Cradle SMS number in Australia sends to Australian mobiles; in the United Kingdom, to UK mobiles. Sending to a landline, a number in a different country, or a non-mobile service won't go through reliably.

If you're trying to reach a customer in a country your Cradle SMS number doesn't cover, SMS isn't the right channel. Call or email them instead.

The recipient's mobile is unreachable

Out-of-service phones, deactivated numbers, and numbers with messaging turned off can all show a delivery failure. There isn't a way for Cradle to tell these apart from a "try again later" situation, so:

Wait an hour and try again.
If it keeps failing, the number may have changed or been deactivated.

Network or service interruption

Cradle relies on the wider messaging network. Brief outages do happen. If the same message fails twice in a few minutes, give it a few minutes and try again.

Still stuck?

If the message keeps failing and the recipient is a mobile in the right country, contact Cradle support with:

The Cradle SMS number you're sending from.
The recipient's mobile number (with country code).
The approximate time you tried to send.
A note about whether the recipient has received Cradle SMS from you before.

Open the chat at help.cradle.io, submit a ticket, or email help@cradle.io. Support hours are 8:30 am – 5:00 pm New Zealand time, Monday to Friday.