What is A2P 10DLC?
Notice: Shutdown of Unregistered 10DLC Messaging
• Effective July 5, 2023, all 10DLC phone numbers used to send SMS and MMS messages to U.S. phone numbers must be fully registered to an approved campaign under your brand. Messages sent using unregistered phone numbers will be subject to a gradual increase of message blocking by Twilio, beginning on July 5, 2023, ultimately leading to a full block of all unregistered U.S.-bound messages sent after August 31, 2023.
• For more information, visit our Shutdown of Unregistered 10DLC Messaging FAQ
Notice: Unregistered 10DLC Message Fee Increases
• AT&T and T-Mobile are increasing the per-message rate on unregistered traffic. If these numbers remain unregistered, they may be subject to additional filtering or blocking. Some carrier fees will be increased on June 1, 2023, and others will be increased on August 1, 2023.
• Following other U.S. carriers raising fees for unregistered messages to encourage 10DLC registration, Verizon will increase its per-message rate on unregistered traffic, effective July 1, 2023.
• For more information on the specific fees and timing please see What Pricing and Fees are Associated with A2P 10DLC.
• If you have unregistered traffic, register for A2P 10DLC via Twilio Console or via API to avoid the higher fees and service disruptions.
Notice: Sole Proprietor A2P 10DLC Registration Now Available
Twilio has re-launched the Sole Proprietor Brand registration offering (formerly known as “Starter Brand”) in accordance with the new industry guidelines for sending low-volume messaging.
• If you’re an individual or small business without a Tax ID (EIN), please see New Changes to Sole Proprietor Brands FAQ for more details on how to register.
• If you have a Tax ID (EIN) and low traffic requirement (less than 6,000 messages per day), Low Volume Standard Brands can be used for mixed messaging campaigns with multiple use cases, multiple numbers per campaign, and higher throughput than Sole Prop.
• If you have a Tax ID (EIN) and higher traffic requirement (more than 6,000 messages per day), Standard Brands can be used for multiple use cases, multiple numbers per campaign, and higher throughput.
• For a full overview of the different Brand registration offerings, see our Comparison between Sole Prop, Low Volume Standard, and Standard registration for A2P 10DLC.
New Requirements for A2P 10DLC Registrations
Effective January 26, 2023, new A2P Campaign registrations are subject to a new vetting process, which includes a one-time $15 campaign vetting fee. For more information, visit our FAQ on A2P 10DLC Campaign Vetting Changes - January 2023.
A2P 10DLC refers to a system in the United States that allows businesses to send Application-to-Person (A2P) type messaging via standard 10-digit long code (10DLC) phone numbers. Carriers in the US consider all Twilio traffic to be A2P. Carriers’ A2P 10DLC offerings provide better delivery quality and lower filtering risk than long code SMS of the past, using the same phone numbers.
Special Use Cases are now supported, however if you are a customer registering a special use case requiring additional carrier approval or a 527 Political Organization, please see our guidance on Special Use Cases before proceeding with registration.
Register now to benefit from improved deliverability and increased throughput in the new verified A2P 10DLC ecosystem. A2P 10DLC comes with new registration requirements for businesses who intend to send long code messages to AT&T in the US.
What do I need to do?
If you do not send any messages to users in the United States using long code numbers, you do not need to do anything.
If you send messages to the United States using long code numbers you have the following registration options based on your Tax ID status, volume, and use case:
- If you have a Tax ID (EIN) and send under 6,000 message segments per day, you should re-register for Low Volume Standard Brands
- If you have a Tax ID (EIN) and send over 6,000 message segments per day, you should re-register for appropriate campaign types within Standard Brands
- If you don’t have a Tax ID (EIN), you should register a Sole Proprietor Brand (available April 17th).
If you are a customer registering a Special Use Case, please be aware that certain special use cases require additional carrier approval or a 527 Political Organization, so please see our guidance on Special Use Cases before proceeding with registration.
A2P 10DLC registration can be done in the Twilio Console, or if you are an ISV-type customer, you may choose to use our registration API for ISVs to register yourself and your client businesses.
For a more detailed overview of what information you will need and how to begin, see How do I register to use A2P 10DLC messaging?
Read on for details of the rules and requirements under the new A2P 10DLC registration system, and answers to many common questions.
Article contents:
- How does A2P 10DLC work?
- Do I need to register? If so, what’s the deadline?
- How does US A2P Brand registration work?
- What’s a Campaign Use Case?
- Do I need to go directly to The Campaign Registry or any other non-Twilio website to complete registration?
- Do I need to buy new phone numbers to use this A2P 10DLC service?
- My company provides services to multiple other brands or companies as an ISV (independent software vendor). What do I have to do?
- What information is required for registration?
- Once I have completed registration, how do I make sure my phone numbers use 10DLC?
- What pricing and fees are associated with the A2P 10DLC service?
- How long does it take to get registered?
- Is MMS messaging affected by A2P 10DLC?
- What message sending throughput (MPS) do I get?
- How do these rule changes affect short codes and Toll-Free numbers? Should I switch to 10DLC?
- Is there an API for registering Business Profiles, Brands, and Campaigns?
- Is Verizon making any changes to their existing A2P 10DLC service?
- What about other mobile networks in the US?
- Is messaging to Canada or any other countries also affected by these changes?
- Is WhatsApp messaging affected by A2P 10DLC?
How does A2P 10DLC work?
There are two important requirements under the new A2P 10DLC system:
- Businesses must identify who they are to the carrier networks (Brand registration).
- Businesses must register what type of messages they are sending, i.e. notifications (Campaign registration).
Registration is done entirely through Twilio’s Trust Hub. We have integrated with The Campaign Registry (TCR) to meet the requirements of carriers, while making it easy for businesses to onboard.
For additional guidance, please see How do I register to use A2P 10DLC messaging?
Do I need to register? If so, what’s the deadline?
We strongly recommend customers complete registration as soon as possible. Your traffic will be subject to higher unregistered fees and possible filtering until your phone number(s) are associated with a registered campaign. You must re-register in a timely manner to minimize the impact of these fees.
What if I am just testing, or sending a low volume of messages to the US?
If you do not have a tax ID, you should register a Sole Proprietor Brand designed for individuals and small businesses. This offering will be available April 17th. See New Changes to A2P 10DLC Sole Proprietor Brands FAQ for more information.
If you do have a tax ID you will need to register even if you are sending low volumes of messages. If you send under 6,000 message segments per day, you should register for Low Volume Standard Brands.
What happens if I don't register?
Increased message filtering and fees will apply to messages that are sent without registration. We also expect that at a future date, unregistered messaging to the US via long code numbers will cease to be supported altogether.
For details about fees on unregistered message traffic, see What pricing and fees are associated with the A2P 10DLC service?
How does US A2P Brand registration work?
When you complete your US A2P Brand registration, your Brand will receive a Trust Score from 0 to 100. This rating influences the maximum message throughput that will be allocated to each of your Campaign use cases (see below).
What is a Trust Score, and how does it affect me?
When you complete the registration of your Brand and Campaign(s) for A2P Messaging through the Twilio Console, that information is sent from Twilio to The Campaign Registry (TCR), a 3rd party at the center of this new registration system. Twilio automatically submits your Brand for secondary vetting, which uses a reputation algorithm to review specific criteria relating to your company, and assign a Trust Score that will determine your messaging throughput and T-Mobile daily message limits.
How do Trust Scores influence message throughput?
Trust Scores are grouped into three levels, from lowest to highest. Your Trust Score level, combined with your Campaign Type, will determine the message throughput that is allocated to your campaign use case.
For details, see Message throughput (MPS) and Trust Scores for A2P 10DLC in the US.
What’s a campaign use case?
This represents a messaging use case, for example sending account notifications or conducting marketing. In carrier terminology, these are called "Campaigns." For more specificity, Twilio is calling them campaign use cases.
Some companies may only need to register one campaign use case, in other scenarios you may have multiple. For example, if you are a company that sends authentication codes to validate new users, but you also send marketing messages, you should register two campaign use cases.
What do the campaign use case options mean?
Your campaign use case describes the type of messaging you plan to send. This will influence the price you pay per message on AT&T.
Use cases vary from notifications and fraud alerts to customer care to social updates. For more information on Campaigns and a full list of campaign use cases, please see: List of Campaign Types and Use Case Types for A2P 10DLC registration
Do I need to go directly to The Campaign Registry or any other non-Twilio website to complete registration?
No. Registration can be completed entirely through Twilio. Twilio has integrated directly with The Campaign Registry (TCR) to facilitate registration for our customers. This offers you other benefits of Twilio’s Trust Hub.
If you are an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), you can apply to Twilio for an exception to allow you to go directly to TCR for your US A2P Brand and Campaign registrations, and use those registrations for your message traffic on Twilio. If you aren't sure whether you are an ISV or a direct customer, see
Am I a direct customer or an ISV (for A2P 10DLC registration)?
However, before considering this option, we strongly recommend you review this crucial information about requirements and limitations when registering directly with TCR.
Do I need to buy new phone numbers to use this A2P 10DLC service?
If you are already using long code numbers, there is no need to buy new numbers. You will enable your existing numbers to use the new A2P 10DLC service by following the registration process.
See also: How do these rule changes affect short codes and Toll-Free numbers? Should I switch to 10DLC?
My company provides services to multiple other brands or companies as an ISV (independent software vendor). What do I have to do?
If your company is an ISV, you will need to register your own Business Profile and Brand, then register each of your client US A2P Brands and Campaign Use Cases. Twilio is continually working on ways to make this process as smooth as possible for ISV customers, especially those with many clients.
First, you’ll register your own company as a Primary Business Profile in the Trust Hub on your primary Twilio account.
For registering your end clients, Twilio will be offering two options:
- Sole Proprietor Brand: For individuals and small businesses without a tax ID. See New Changes to A2P 10DLC Sole Proprietor Brands FAQ for more information.
- Low Volume Standard Brand: For clients with a Tax ID (EIN) sending less than 6,000 SMS segments and MMS per day to the United States. The Low Volume Standard Brands allow Low Volume Mixed Messaging campaigns, multiple numbers per campaign, higher throughput, and lower filtering.
- Standard Brand: For clients with a Tax ID (EIN) sending greater than 6,000 SMS segments and MMS a day to the United States. Standard Brands allow for all campaign types, multiple numbers per campaign, higher throughput, and lower filtering.
Please see here for our ISV onboarding guide: ISV U.S. A2P 10DLC Onboarding Guide
We understand that onboarding to A2P 10DLC may be a significant effort if you are an ISV with a large number of clients. We recommend you start by registering your larger clients, then expand registration to your smaller clients.
See also: How do I register to use A2P 10DLC messaging?
What information is required for registration?
In order to register businesses, brands and use cases, you will need information about each business and brand. The required info includes the business name, physical address, business type (LLC, partnership, etc.).
For a complete list of information needed to register, see How do I register to use A2P 10DLC messaging?
Once I have completed registration, how do I make sure my phone numbers use 10DLC?
Once your Brand(s) and Campaign(s) are approved, you will need to link each of your A2P Campaign Use Cases to a Messaging Service, and add phone numbers to that Messaging Service. Any numbers that you add to that Messaging Service will be automatically associated with the Campaign that you linked to that Messaging Service.
This article contains steps you can follow in the Twilio Console or using our APIs to make sure that your numbers are configured correctly: How do I check that I have completed US A2P 10DLC registration?
By default, newly-created Messaging Services are set to "Defer to sender webhooks," meaning the Messaging Service will not override any existing inbound message handling you have configured on your Twilio numbers. If you are using an existing Messaging Service that you created weeks or months ago, make sure its inbound message handling settings are configured the way you want before adding any numbers. You can do this by browsing to that Service in the Twilio Console, or using the Messaging Services API.
Do I need to change the way I send outbound messages?
If you don’t currently use Messaging Services in your application to send outbound messages, that’s OK – you won’t need to make changes within your application. It is not required to modify your application to include the Messaging Service SID in your API requests. It is only necessary to add the phone numbers to a Messaging Service, in order to associate them with a Campaign.
What pricing and fees are associated with the A2P 10DLC service?
For an overview of registration costs and per-message carrier fees associated with A2P 10DLC, please see What pricing and fees are associated with the A2P 10DLC service?
How long does it take to get registered?
A2P 10DLC registration is a multiple-step process that includes registering a Business Profile, a US A2P Brand, and a Campaign use case.
Brand registration can typically be completed in a few minutes if you've already collected all of the required information. For example, if you are registering a US-based business, you should ensure you have your Employer Identification Number (EIN) ready when you begin registration. However, in the event that there is a discrepancy with the information you provide, a manual review may be required for Secondary Vetting which can take up to 7 days. To avoid this please see A2P 10DLC Brand Approval Best Practices.
Effective January 26, 2023, all new A2P Campaign registrations are subject to a manual vetting process. We are currently experiencing several week delays vetting A2P 10DLC Campaigns. We are working with our 3rd Party provider to improve the vetting times. In the meantime, please account for these delays when registering and for more information visit our FAQ on A2P 10DLC Campaign Vetting Changes - January 2023.
Is MMS messaging affected by A2P 10DLC?
Yes, MMS messaging via long code is subject to carrier fees as part of A2P 10DLC. We also expect registered MMS traffic to ultimately benefit from reduced carrier filtering. However, long code MMS messaging remains subject to throughput limits, due to limited carrier capacity. For high-volume MMS use cases in the United States, a short code is still the best option.
What message sending throughput (MPS) do I get?
Message throughput (MPS) will be allocated per registered Campaign Use Case. For many customers, A2P 10DLC will offer much higher throughput than the traditional 1 MPS for long code messaging, without the requirement of using additional numbers to get higher throughput.
For details, see Message throughput (MPS) and Trust Scores for A2P 10DLC in the US.
How do these rule changes affect short codes and Toll-Free numbers? Should I switch to 10DLC?
These changes do not directly affect short codes and Toll-Free numbers, except for officially prohibiting shared short codes for all use cases except authentication codes. Details below.
Shared short codes will be banned, date TBD
Dedicated short codes are still a great way to send high-volume A2P messaging in the United States. However, the use of shared short code numbers will be banned with the transition to A2P 10DLC. The only exception to this policy is shared short codes used to send 2-factor auth (2FA) or OTP codes only.
“Shared short codes” refers to short code numbers that are shared among multiple brands, for example Shoe Company A and Beverage Company B sending messages via the same short code number. If you have purchased a short code number from Twilio and are using it for your own business and brand only, you are not affected by this change.
Under the new policy, a short code may be shared across multiple companies only for the purposes of sending authentication code messages, for example "Your login code is 12345." Any other category of messaging is not allowed on a shared short code.
Customers who are sharing a short code among multiple clients or brands for any purpose other than sending 2-factor codes (also known as OTPs) should completely migrate away from shared short codes.
Previously, the end date for shared short codes was identified as June 1, 2021. As of early 2022, the end date for shared short codes is on hold until the successful implementation of A2P 10DLC. A specific date will be shared here when we have information to share.
Toll-Free SMS – no changes
US Toll-Free phone numbers are not affected by these changes. Toll-Free SMS is still a great way to send A2P SMS in the United States as well as Canada. See Information and best practices for using Toll-Free SMS in the US and Canada for more information.
Is there an API for registering Business Profiles, US A2P Brands, and Campaign Use Cases?
Yes, for ISV-type customers who are invited to onboard their clients, Twilio is providing APIs for registering yourselves and your clients. You can view the documentation here: ISV A2P 10DLC Registration: API Step-by-Step walkthrough.
Regardless of how you plan to register, we encourage you to go ahead and collect all the required information. See How do I register to use A2P 10DLC messaging? for a list.
Is Verizon making any changes to their existing A2P 10DLC service?
Verizon launched their A2P 10DLC service in January 2019. At this time, Verizon has not announced any plans to adopt these new Brand and Campaign registration requirements. If this ever occurs, Twilio will notify our customers in advance.
For now, Verizon’s A2P 10DLC service continues operating without changes. See the Verizon A2P 10DLC FAQ for details.
What about other mobile networks in the US?
Please note that the T-Mobile network includes Sprint and MetroPCS, as those networks were acquired by T-Mobile previously. All information above related to T-Mobile also applies to these networks.
US Cellular (the 4th largest mobile carrier in the US) has not announced specific A2P 10DLC plans as of January 2022.
Read on for details about other types of mobile networks.
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
Many smaller branded mobile providers in the US are actually Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), who utilize one or more of the major mobile networks for their service. A list of US MVNOs is available on Wikipedia. Any numbers on an MVNO who primarily utilizes AT&T's network will also be affected by these changes.
If you perform a Twilio Lookup on a mobile number operated by an MVNO, it will display the name of the primary host network (for example, AT&T or Verizon).
Other independent mobile networks
Small independent mobile networks in the US are a small percentage of the mobile market, and are not affected by upcoming A2P 10DLC changes. A list of mobile networks in the US who own and operate their own network infrastructure is available on Wikipedia for reference.
Is messaging to Canada, Puerto Rico or any other countries also affected by these changes?
No, Canada mobile carriers are not impacted at this time. Canadian mobile carriers may introduce registered A2P 10DLC solutions in the future, but at this time carriers have not announced any plans to do so.
Yes, Puerto Rico carriers are impacted as well. Many recipients in Puerto Rico have telephone services from US based carriers. Messages to those recipients are treated exactly the same as messages to US-based recipients of those networks.
For information about message sending in countries other than the US, we recommend checking out our country-specific SMS Guidelines pages to learn about any unique rules or restrictions in that country.
Is WhatsApp messaging affected by A2P 10DLC?
No. WhatsApp messaging is unaffected by any of these changes. WhatsApp messages are transmitted over the Internet, rather than through carrier networks like SMS and MMS.