SMS Notifications

Overview

SMS notifications deliver urgent alerts directly to phones as text messages. Use SMS for critical, time-sensitive issues that require immediate action.

Setting Up SMS

1. Go to Settings → Notification Channels
2. Click Create Channel
3. Select SMS
4. Enter a phone number with country code (e.g., +1-555-123-4567)
5. Verify the phone number (verification code sent via SMS)
6. Click Save

Configuration

Phone Numbers

• Format: +[country-code][phone-number]
• Examples:
  • US: +1-555-123-4567
  • UK: +44-7700-900000
  • Canada: +1-289-123-4567
  • International: +[country-code]-[number]

Verification

• StatusApp sends a verification code to your number
• Enter the code to confirm ownership
• Required for security

SMS Content

Messages are concise and include:

• Alert indicator: [StatusApp]
• Status: CRITICAL:, WARNING:, etc.
• Monitor name
• Duration if applicable
• Short dashboard link
• Character count optimized for readability

Example:

[StatusApp] CRITICAL: Production API is DOWN for 5min. 
Check: https://app.statusapp.io/m/abc123

When to Use SMS

Perfect For

• Production outages
• Revenue-impacting services
• Mission-critical systems
• On-call escalation
• Time-sensitive issues requiring immediate response

Not Ideal For

• Non-critical monitors
• DEGRADED status alerts
• Informational messages
• Development environment alerts
• High-frequency changes

Best Practices

Use Sparingly

SMS is expensive and intrusive. Use strategically:

• Reserve SMS for critical monitors only
• Don't send SMS for every status change
• Use SMS as last-resort escalation, not primary notification
• Combine with email and Slack for layered alerting

Configuration

• Set confirmation thresholds (2-3 failures before SMS)
• Use multi-region requirements (require 2+ regions down)
• Implement time-based delivery (e.g., only business hours for non-critical)
• Test thoroughly before production use

Team Usage

• Use distribution lists or group numbers when available
• Coordinate with on-call team on expected frequency
• Update numbers when team members change
• Document which numbers receive what alerts

Alert Thresholds

Configure SMS to only trigger after certain conditions:

Confirmation Checks:

• Alert after 1 failure (high sensitivity)
• Alert after 2-3 failures (balanced)
• Alert after 5+ failures (low sensitivity, fewer false alerts)

Multi-Region Requirements:

• Alert if 1 region fails (catch regional issues)
• Alert if 2+ regions fail (only real outages)
• Alert if all regions fail (definite outage)

Time-Based Rules:

• Business hours only
• During on-call shift only
• No weekend alerts for non-critical

Assigning to Monitors

Per-Monitor Assignment

1. Create or edit a monitor
2. Go to Notifications section
3. Select your SMS channel
4. Can combine with other channels (email, Slack, PagerDuty)
5. Save the monitor

Cost Management

Understanding Costs

• Each SMS incurs a per-message charge
• Costs vary by region and carrier
• Check your billing dashboard for usage

Reducing Costs

• Limit SMS to truly critical monitors only
• Use higher confirmation thresholds
• Set multi-region requirements (don't alert on regional issues)
• Use quiet hours or time-based rules
• Consolidate alerts into fewer messages where possible

Tracking Usage

• View SMS sent count in Settings → Notification Channels
• Check billing dashboard for cost breakdown
• Monitor alert frequency by monitor
• Identify and optimize noisy monitors

Troubleshooting

SMS Not Received

Verify Configuration:

• Check phone number format is correct
• Confirm verification was completed
• Send a test alert from channel settings
• Try a different phone number

Carrier/Phone Issues:

• Confirm phone is receiving text messages
• Check if number is in blocking list
• Verify carrier hasn't flagged messages as spam
• Try from different phone if possible

StatusApp Issues:

• Check SMS credits/balance
• Verify monitor is actually failing
• Check if monitor has SMS channel assigned
• Confirm alert threshold is being met

Messages Arriving Late

Possible Causes:

• Carrier delays (usually within 5-10 seconds)
• High alert volume on platform
• Network issues

Check:

• Look at timestamps in StatusApp
• Confirm when message actually sent
• Check carrier status page
• Contact carrier support if persistent

Multiple SMS from Same Alert

Cause: Channel configured multiple times on same monitor

Fix:

• Go to monitor settings
• Check Notifications section
• Remove duplicate SMS channel assignments

Integration with Other Alerts

SMS works best combined with:

• Slack: Slack for team awareness + SMS for on-call individual
• Email: Email for detailed records + SMS for urgent escalation
• PagerDuty: PagerDuty for routing + SMS as backup alert

On-Call Integration

Setup for On-Call

1. Create one SMS channel per on-call person (or a shared number)
2. Assign critical monitors to on-call SMS
3. Update SMS number when on-call rotates
4. Test SMS during on-call handoff

Escalation Pattern

• Tier 1: Slack notification (5 min)
• Tier 2: SMS to on-call (if Slack not acknowledged)
• Tier 3: Call to on-call (if SMS not acknowledged, requires PagerDuty)

Next Steps

• Learn about PagerDuty integration for sophisticated on-call escalation
• Explore Slack notifications for team coordination
• Return to Notification Channels Overview