SMS Delivery Reports

SMS reports provide visibility into the delivery lifecycle of every message sent through Exotel. Track delivery success rates, identify DLT compliance issues, and troubleshoot failed deliveries.

Viewing SMS Reports in the Dashboard

1. Log in to my.exotel.com
2. Navigate to Reports > SMS Logs
3. The default view shows the last 24 hours of SMS activity

SMS Report Fields

Field	Description
SMS SID	Unique identifier for the message
Date/Time	When the SMS was submitted
From	Sender ID (header)
To	Recipient phone number
Body	Message content
Status	Current delivery status
Detailed Status	Granular delivery status from the operator
DLT Template ID	Registered DLT template identifier
DLT Entity ID	Registered DLT entity identifier
Price	SMS cost
Units	Number of SMS units consumed (long messages use multiple units)

SMS Status Values

Primary Status

Status	Meaning
queued	Message accepted and queued for sending
sending	Message dispatched to the carrier
submitted	Message submitted to the operator gateway
sent	Message sent successfully to the carrier network
delivered	Message confirmed delivered to the handset
failed	Message delivery failed
failed-dnd	Message blocked -- recipient is on the Do Not Disturb list

Detailed Status Codes

Detailed Status	Description
DELIVERED_TO_HANDSET	Successfully delivered to the recipient's phone
PENDING	Awaiting delivery confirmation from the operator
SENT_TO_OPERATOR	Dispatched to the mobile operator
FAILED_DND	Blocked by DND (Do Not Disturb) registry
FAILED_INVALID_NUMBER	Invalid or unreachable phone number
FAILED_OPERATOR_ERROR	Operator-side delivery failure
FAILED_EXPIRED	Message TTL expired before delivery
FAILED_DLT_SCRUBBING	Blocked by DLT template/entity validation
FAILED_CONTENT_MISMATCH	Message body does not match registered DLT template

DLT Status Tracking

For messages sent to Indian numbers, DLT compliance is mandatory. The SMS report includes DLT-specific status information.

DLT Compliance Fields

Field	Description
DltEntityId	Your registered DLT entity ID
DltTemplateId	The DLT template ID used for the message
DltContentCategory	Template category (transactional, promotional, service)
DltScrubStatus	Whether the message passed DLT scrubbing

Common DLT Failures

Issue	Cause	Resolution
Template mismatch	Message body does not match registered template	Ensure message exactly matches the DLT-registered template, including variables
Entity ID invalid	DLT entity ID not recognized	Verify your entity ID is correct and active on the DLT portal
Template not approved	Template pending approval or rejected	Check template status on your DLT portal (Jio, Airtel, Vi)
Header mismatch	Sender ID not registered for the template	Register the sender header on your DLT portal

warning

DLT scrubbing failures result in permanent message rejection. The message will not be retried. Always validate your DLT template content before sending production messages.

Filtering SMS Reports

Available Filters

Filter	Options
Date range	Today, Yesterday, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Custom
Status	Delivered, Failed, Queued, Sent
Phone number	Search by recipient number
Sender ID	Filter by sender header
DLT Template ID	Filter by specific template

Search by Phone Number

Enter the recipient's number to view all messages sent to that number:

+919876543210

or without country code:

09876543210

Accessing SMS Reports via API

Check Single SMS Status

curl "https://$EXOTEL_API_KEY:$EXOTEL_API_TOKEN@$EXOTEL_SUBDOMAIN/v1/Accounts/$EXOTEL_ACCOUNT_SID/SMS/Messages/YOUR_SMS_SID.json"

Response:

{
  "SMSMessage": {
    "Sid": "a1b2c3d4e5f6",
    "AccountSid": "your_sid",
    "From": "EXOTEL",
    "To": "+919876543210",
    "Body": "Your OTP is 123456",
    "Status": "sent",
    "DetailedStatus": "DELIVERED_TO_HANDSET",
    "DateCreated": "2026-03-05 14:30:00",
    "DateSent": "2026-03-05 14:30:02",
    "DateUpdated": "2026-03-05 14:30:05",
    "Price": "0.25",
    "Units": 1
  }
}

See SMS Details API for full reference.

Bulk SMS Status

For bulk sends, retrieve status for all messages in a batch:

curl "https://$EXOTEL_API_KEY:$EXOTEL_API_TOKEN@$EXOTEL_SUBDOMAIN/v1/Accounts/$EXOTEL_ACCOUNT_SID/SMS/Messages.json?DateCreated=gte:2026-03-05%2000:00:00;lte:2026-03-05%2023:59:59&PageSize=100"

Delivery Webhooks

Instead of polling, configure a StatusCallback URL when sending SMS to receive real-time delivery notifications:

curl -X POST "https://$EXOTEL_API_KEY:$EXOTEL_API_TOKEN@$EXOTEL_SUBDOMAIN/v1/Accounts/$EXOTEL_ACCOUNT_SID/Sms/send" \
  -d "From=EXOTEL" \
  -d "To=+919876543210" \
  -d "Body=Your OTP is 123456" \
  -d "StatusCallback=https://your-server.com/sms-status"

See SMS Webhooks for payload format.

SMS Delivery Metrics

Key Metrics to Track

Metric	Formula	Healthy Range
Delivery rate	delivered / (total - queued) * 100	>95%
DND block rate	failed_dnd / total * 100	<5% (varies by use case)
DLT failure rate	failed_dlt / total * 100	0% (fix templates)
Average delivery time	AVG(DateUpdated - DateCreated)	<10 seconds

tip

A sudden increase in DLT failure rates usually indicates a template change that no longer matches the registered DLT template. Compare your current message format against the registered template on your DLT portal.

Exporting SMS Reports

Dashboard Export

1. Apply your filters in the SMS Logs view
2. Click Export > CSV or Excel
3. Download includes all visible fields plus DLT metadata

Automated Export

Set up Scheduled Reports to receive daily SMS delivery summaries via email.

Related Resources

• Send SMS API -- API reference for sending messages
• Bulk SMS API -- Send messages at scale
• SMS Status Codes -- Complete status code reference
• Webhooks -- Real-time delivery notifications