Topic

This article explains how to interpret the Delivered to handset SMS delivery status in Everbridge and its limitations.

Description

In Everbridge SMS reporting, Delivered to handset indicates that the SMS provider or carrier has returned a positive delivery receipt stating that the message was delivered to the recipient's device. This is the most granular delivery confirmation available in SMS delivery reporting and is a valid final delivery endpoint for notifications that do not require user confirmation.

However, this status does not guarantee that the end user actually saw or read the message, or that a confirmation will be returned. Downstream carrier reporting may not always match the recipient's experience.

Confirmations can also be missing if the message was handed off to a different phone number during routing, if the sender number used is not supported by the destination carrier, or if the confirmation response is routed to a different account or environment and therefore cannot be correlated with the original message.

In cases where recipients report not receiving an SMS that shows as Delivered to handset in the logs, support will first review the SMS delivery logs to confirm whether the message was accepted by the carrier and whether a delivery receipt was returned. If the logs confirm delivery to handset but users still report non-receipt, possible causes include local carrier handling or filtering, recipient device behavior (for example, messages moving to a filtered inbox), or device-specific issues.

Carriers or upstream providers may require multiple distinct reports of delivery failure from different contacts before initiating further investigation into delivery problems.