Quiet hours is an optional, account-level setting for SMS and MMS. When it's enabled, we hold messages that would send inside a recipient's restricted sending window, then release them automatically once that window ends.

Quiet hours aligns send times with regional sending rules, which reduces the risk of sending at a restricted time. It doesn't guarantee that a given message meets every rule that applies to you. Read the Before you start section before you enable it.

This article is provided for general information and isn't legal advice. You're responsible for ensuring your messaging complies with the laws and carrier rules that apply to you.

We make every quiet hours decision at send time, not when you schedule a message. That covers both whether quiet hours is enabled and whether the recipient is inside a restricted window. If you turn quiet hours on or off after scheduling a campaign, the change applies when that campaign sends.

At send time, we estimate the recipient's location from their phone number. If they're inside a restricted sending window, we hold the message in a queue and send it once the window ends.

We check the timing again when we release a message. This handles edge cases, such as a daylight saving time change while a message is held.

Holding a message doesn't affect billing or expiry. We charge for a held message when it sends, not when we hold it. If you've set an expiry time, it starts when the message sends.

Quiet hours applies to every SMS and MMS your account sends, not just campaigns.

Quiet hours changes when your messages send. Consider the following before you turn it on.

We apply predefined rules for each region. You can't configure your own rules. The following tables list the rules we apply. Times shown are the hours during which messages are allowed to send, in the recipient's local time. Messages that fall outside these hours are held until the window reopens.

These windows reflect a combination of legal requirements, carrier rules, and industry best practice, and we may update them as rules change.

Each account has its own quiet hours setting. Child accounts don't inherit the parent account's setting, so enable quiet hours in each account you want it to apply to.

Quiet hours reporting only appears when quiet hours is enabled for your account. Holding a message doesn't stop it from counting as sent. Held messages are counted on the SMS and MMS reports page and in the campaign report as soon as the campaign is sent. They don't appear in account analytics until we release them.

Held messages are counted under Sends and Total segments as soon as the campaign is sent, whether that's immediately or at the time you scheduled. To see how many of a campaign's messages are being held, open its individual report.

Select a campaign name on the SMS and MMS reports page to open its individual report. When quiet hours is enabled, two metrics cover quiet hours:

Holding delays a message rather than stopping it, so a message counted here still sends once its window ends. The Held tab lists the messages we're holding right now, with the contact's mobile number, country, first name, and last name.

Held since is the time we determined that the message needed to be held. When nothing is being held, the tab shows an empty state.

Account analytics counts a message once it's been passed on for sending, so held messages don't appear there until their window ends and we release them.