Troubleshooting SMS approvals

The approver didn't receive the SMS

Work through these checks in order. The first four catch the vast majority of missing-SMS cases.

1. Check the invoice was actually sent for approval. Open the invoice — the status should be Pending approval. If it's still in Draft or Approval not sent, the request was never sent.
2. Check the preferred channel on the approver's record. Open the customer or contact, look at Approval method. If it's not set to Text message, they won't get an SMS.
3. Check the mobile number. For customers, the number must be on the record with type Mobile. For contacts, it's the first phone number on the contact's phone list. It must be a valid Australian mobile (starting with 04) — Navigator rejects landlines and international numbers at send time.
4. Check the account sender number is configured. Without a sender number in Settings, no SMS can be sent. If your account hasn't been set up with one, SMS approvals won't work at all.
5. Check the delivery status in Navigator. Go to the customer or contact's Messages tab and find the approval SMS:
   • Delivered — it reached their phone. Ask them to check their messages app and any spam/filter folders on their device.
   • Pending — carrier hasn't confirmed delivery yet. Wait a few minutes.
   • Rejected — failed to deliver. Most common causes: invalid number, disconnected service, or the recipient has previously opted out via STOP. See Opted out by mistake below.
6. If nothing above explains it, resend or switch channels. You can resend the approval manually from the invoice, or switch the approver's preferred channel to email while you investigate further.

The approver replied but nothing happened

If the approver tells you they replied YES or NO but the invoice is still pending, the reply either didn't reach Navigator or couldn't be matched to an invoice.

• Confirm the reply was received. Open the customer's Messages tab. If the inbound reply isn't listed, it didn't reach Navigator — check the reply was sent to the correct sender number (the number in the original SMS, not a different one).
• Check the reply format. Only replies starting with YES or NO are actioned. Replies like "I approve this", "OK", or "thumbs up emoji" won't be parsed. Capitalisation doesn't matter.
• Check if the approval code is missing or wrong. If the reply is just YES without a code, Navigator only actions it when the approver has exactly one pending invoice. If they have two or more pending, the reply is left for manual review and an SMS-tagged task is created.
• Check the phone number matches. The reply must come from the same number that's on the approver's record. If they've changed numbers or are replying from a different device, Navigator can't link the reply.
• Check the message is within the 30-day history window. If the original SMS was sent more than 30 days ago and the approver only just replied, the lookup window has expired and the reply can't be auto-matched. Action the invoice manually in Navigator.
• Look for a review task. Search tasks tagged SMS — if Navigator couldn't auto-match, it will have created a task for your team.

The wrong invoice got approved

This usually happens when the approver replied YES without an approval code while they had multiple pending invoices. Without a code, Navigator can only match when exactly one invoice is pending — so in theory this shouldn't happen. If it did, investigate:

1. Open the invoice that was incorrectly approved.
2. Reverse the approval from the invoice detail page.
3. Check the approver's Messages tab to see what they actually replied.
4. If they meant a different invoice, resend the correct approval request to them. Make sure they use the approval code from the new message when replying.
5. If this pattern repeats for the same approver, consider coaching them to always include the code, or switch their channel to email where the approve/reject buttons can't be ambiguous.

The message was sent but marked rejected

A Rejected status on the SMS record means the carrier refused to deliver. Common causes:

• Bad number. Digit typo, landline, or a number that isn't active. Verify the number and correct it on the customer or contact record.
• Opted out. The recipient previously replied STOP (or similar) and is blocked at the carrier. See below.
• Carrier issue. Intermittent issues on the recipient's carrier. Retry — usually resolves itself within a few minutes.
• Sender number issue. If every SMS from your account is being rejected, the account's sender number may be misconfigured or rate-limited. Contact Kismet support.

Opted out by mistake (STOP)

Australian SMS regulations require that replying STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, QUIT, CANCEL, or END opts the recipient out of further messages from that sender. Carriers enforce this at the network level — once opted out, Navigator's sends will fail silently.

If an approver accidentally replied STOP (or similar) and now can't receive approvals:

• Ask them to reply START or UNSTOP to the Navigator sender number. That re-enrols them at the carrier level.
• In the meantime, switch their preferred channel to email so approvals still reach them.
• Once they've sent START, wait a few minutes before retrying a send — the opt-in needs to propagate through the carrier.