SMS Agent Troubleshooting
Answers to the most common questions about SMS agents — what to check when things are not working, what conversation outcomes mean, and how billing works.
Available on Growth and Scale plans.
My agent is not replying to messages
If contacts are sending messages but your agent is not responding, work through this checklist:
1. Check your plan
AI SMS agents are available on the Growth and Scale plans only. If you are on the Launch or Free plan, the agent will not reply. You can upgrade under Settings > Billing.
2. Check your A2P registration
Before your account can send SMS messages, your A2P (Application-to-Person) registration must be approved and active. Navigate to Settings > A2P Registration and confirm the status shows Live. If registration is still in progress, the agent will hold off on replies until it is approved.
3. Check your wallet balance
AI replies require sufficient balance in your wallet. If your balance is at or below zero, the agent will not send replies. You can add funds under Settings > Billing > Wallet.
When replies are skipped due to low balance, you will see a notification in the conversation and a badge showing how many replies were skipped.
4. Check if AI is paused on the conversation
Open the conversation and look at the AI status badge in the header. If it shows AI Paused, the agent has been paused — either manually by you or automatically after a conversation outcome. Click the badge and select Resume to re-enable the agent.
5. Check the campaign AI toggle
If the conversation is part of a campaign, the campaign may have AI disabled at the campaign level. Open the campaign settings and confirm the SMS AI toggle is turned on. When campaign-level AI is off, no contacts in that campaign receive AI replies, regardless of per-conversation settings.
6. Check if the agent is temporarily paused after errors
If the agent encountered repeated delivery failures (for example, carrier issues), it may have paused itself automatically to protect your account. The agent will resume on its own after a waiting period. You can also manually unpause it from Settings > SMS Agents by opening the agent and checking its status.
The agent paused itself — why?
Your SMS agent automatically pauses on a conversation when the conversation reaches a definitive outcome. This is by design — it prevents the agent from continuing to send messages after the conversation has concluded.
Reasons the agent auto-pauses
| Reason | What happened | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment Scheduled | The contact agreed to a callback time. The agent confirmed the appointment and stopped. | Follow up at the scheduled time. The appointment appears in your callbacks. |
| Not Interested | The contact clearly expressed disinterest. The agent stopped replying silently. | No action needed unless you want to re-engage later. |
| Needs Human Attention | The contact asked something the agent could not handle — a complex question, a complaint, or a request to speak with a person. | Reply to this conversation manually. These are high-intent contacts. |
| Wrong Person | The contact is not the intended recipient. The agent apologized and stopped. | You may want to update your contact records. |
| Max Turns Reached | The agent used all of its configured turns without reaching a resolution. | Review the conversation and decide if manual follow-up is appropriate. |
| Manually Paused | You or a team member paused the agent on this conversation. | Resume from the AI badge if you want the agent to take over again. |
How to resume after auto-pause
- Open the conversation.
- Click the AI Paused badge in the header.
- Select Resume.
The agent reactivates and the turn count resets, giving it a fresh set of exchanges for the next message from the contact.
If the conversation has multiple phone numbers, you can resume AI for a specific number using the per-phone Resume button inside the conversation.
How do I find conversations that need my attention?
When the agent escalates a conversation (flags it as Needs Human Attention, Appointment Scheduled, or similar), it appears in the Needs Attention tab in your Conversations inbox.
Where to find it
In the left sidebar, navigate to Conversations and select the Needs Attention filter. All conversations that require your follow-up are listed here — whether the agent paused at the property level or for a specific phone number.
What shows up in Needs Attention
- Conversations where the agent determined a human should take over.
- Conversations where an appointment was scheduled and needs confirmation.
- Conversations where max turns were reached without resolution.
- Conversations flagged as wrong person.
Sidebar badge
Your sidebar shows a count of items requiring attention. This count includes escalated SMS conversations alongside other action items like urgent callbacks and interested leads.
Best practices
- Check the Needs Attention tab at least once per business day. Escalated conversations represent contacts who engaged enough to need a real person — do not leave them waiting.
- Respond within a few hours. The contact just had an active text exchange. Following up while the conversation is fresh produces much better results.
Conversation outcomes explained
Each conversation can have an outcome that describes how it ended. Outcomes help you understand your agent's performance and prioritize follow-ups.
| Outcome | Description | Agent behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Ongoing | The conversation is still active. The agent continues to reply. | Keeps replying |
| Appointment Scheduled | The contact agreed to a callback time. The agent created a scheduled callback for your team. | Sends confirmation, then pauses |
| Not Interested | The contact expressed clear disinterest (for example, "not interested" or "remove me"). | Pauses silently without sending a reply |
| Needs Human | The conversation requires a real person — complex questions, complaints, or an explicit request to speak with someone. | Sends a closing message, then pauses |
| Wrong Person | The contact is not the person you intended to reach. | Sends a brief apology, then pauses |
| Max Turns Reached | The agent used all its configured turns. | Stops replying |
You can view outcomes in the conversation header and in the AI Activity Log.
How is AI SMS billed?
AI SMS replies are billed on a per-reply basis. Here is what counts and what does not.
What counts as a billable event
- Each AI-generated reply the agent sends counts as one AI SMS Reply charge.
- Each outbound SMS segment (the actual text message) also counts as an SMS Sent charge, just like any other outbound message.
What does not count
- Inbound messages from contacts are recorded for billing purposes but at a lower rate than outbound messages.
- Messages not sent — if the agent decides not to reply (for example, because the contact is not interested), no SMS charge is incurred.
- Test messages in the SMS Agent Tester do not consume credits.
Where to check usage
Navigate to Settings > Billing > Usage to see a breakdown of your AI SMS Reply usage for the current billing period, alongside your other usage metrics.
Wallet and balance
AI SMS replies require sufficient wallet balance. If your wallet balance reaches zero, the agent stops sending replies and you will see a notification in affected conversations. Add funds under Settings > Billing to resume.
Can I use SMS agents on the Launch plan?
No. AI SMS agents are available on the Growth ($149/month) and Scale ($299/month) plans only. The Launch plan supports SMS broadcasts and manual messaging, but not AI-powered auto-reply.
To upgrade, go to Settings > Billing and select the Growth or Scale plan.
The agent gave a bad or unexpected response
If the agent's replies are off-topic, too vague, or not matching your expectations, the most effective fix is updating your system prompt.
Steps to improve agent responses
- Review the conversation. Open the conversation where the bad response occurred and read the full exchange to understand what went wrong.
- Check the AI Activity Log. Navigate to the AI Activity Log to see the agent's replies in context. Look for patterns — is the same issue happening across multiple conversations?
- Update your system prompt. Add specific instructions that address the issue. For example, if the agent is answering pricing questions when it should escalate, add: "Do not discuss pricing. If the contact asks about price, escalate to a team member."
- Test your changes. Use the SMS Agent Tester to simulate the scenario that caused the issue. Verify the agent now handles it correctly.
- Monitor after updating. Check the AI Activity Log over the next few days to confirm the fix is working in real conversations.
Common prompt improvements
| Problem | Prompt fix |
|---|---|
| Agent is too wordy | Add: "Keep every reply under 160 characters." |
| Agent answers questions it should not | Add: "If the contact asks about [topic], say you will have a team member follow up and escalate." |
| Agent does not introduce itself | Add: "In your first reply, introduce yourself by name and role." |
| Agent sounds too formal / too casual | Adjust the tone instruction: "Use a friendly, professional tone" or "Keep it casual and approachable." |
| Agent does not book callbacks | Add: "When the contact expresses interest, ask what day and time works for a call." |
How do I re-enable AI after it was paused?
There are several ways to resume AI on a conversation, depending on where you are in the app.
From the conversation
- Open the conversation in your inbox.
- Click the AI Paused badge in the conversation header.
- Select Resume in the confirmation popup.
This re-enables AI for the entire conversation and resets the turn count.
From the Needs Attention queue
- Go to Conversations > Needs Attention.
- Find the conversation you want to re-enable.
- Open it and use the Resume button in the AI status banner.
For a specific phone number
If only one phone number is paused (and others on the same property are still active), you will see a per-phone banner inside the conversation. Click Resume on that banner to re-enable AI for just that number.
What happens after resuming
- The agent becomes active immediately and will reply to the contact's next inbound message.
- The turn count resets to zero, giving the agent a full set of new exchanges.
- The previous conversation outcome is cleared.