Toll-Free Verification Console Onboarding Guide
Effective November 8, all Toll-Free numbers must be verified before they can be used for sms messaging in the U.S. and Canada. As of that date, Toll-Free numbers will be blocked from messaging until they've been submitted for verification. Please see this support article for more information.
You can submit your toll-free phone number for messaging verification directly from the Twilio Console and also review your verification status for any of the toll-free numbers in your account.
Table of Contents
- Start the verification process
- Complete and submit information for verification
- Review the verification status
- Verification Status
- Delete Verification of this number
What You'll Need
Let's get started!
1. Start the verification process
Trial accounts cannot submit a toll-free phone number for verification.
Start the verification flow for new US or CA Toll-Free numbers
You can search North America toll-free phone numbers that are available to purchase from Phone Numbers > Manage > Buy a number. Click on the Advanced Search section and select Toll-free as a number type. You’ll then see a list of available phone numbers and their capabilities. Find a number you like and click Buy to add it to your account.
A modal will pop up, where you’ll see the phone number capabilities and a Toll-free messaging verification section that can guide you through this compliance requirement.
After a toll-free number is purchased, you can start the verification process directly from the modal Verify this Toll-Free number:
This will trigger a new modal on the Twilio Console to submit your toll-free phone number for messaging verification. To continue with the next steps, navigate to the Complete and submit verification flow section.
Start the verification flow for existing US or CA Toll-Free numbers
You can list all your active phone numbers from Phone Numbers > Manage > Active numbers. If you have Restricted toll-free numbers, a new badge will appear next to the messaging capability. You can click the badge to trigger a new modal on the Twilio Console to submit your toll-free number for messaging verification. To continue with the next steps, navigate to the Complete and submit verification flow section.
You can also start the verification flow using the alert banner in the configuration page of one of your Restricted toll-free numbers. For next steps please continue to Complete and submit verification flow.
2. Complete and submit information for verification
Depending on whether you have existing Customers Profiles or not, you will have two options:
Option 2.1: Existing Customer Profiles
In this case, you have at least one Customer Profile for your business. The new modal will automatically detect the existing Profiles, so you can choose and review the business information in a single step. You will need just to confirm the Legal entity name and Website URL.
Finally, you will need to complete the information for the Messaging Use Case and submit the information for verification.
Option 2.2: Customer Profile doesn't exist
ISVs, make sure that your Primary Business Profile is approved before submitting registration requests for you secondary customers.
In this case, you have not created a Customer Profile before. The new modal will help you create a new Profile for your business without leaving the current flow. First you will need to add your Business and Contact information (Step 1), then your Business Location (Step 2).
This will automatically create a Customer Profile for you. Finally, you just need to complete the information for the Messaging Use Case and submit the information for verification.
After you complete and submit the information, a confirmation toast will be shown to finalize the flow.
3. Review verification status
Customers can review the verification status for a toll-free phone number regardless of whether it was submitted via Messaging Compliance API or Web Console.
To start, go to your Twilio Console and navigate to Phone Numbers > Manage > Active numbers. Once there, select the toll-free phone number that you’ll like to review the verification status.
Now, you have two options:
- From the Configure tab: In the Messaging configuration section you will find an information banner with a link. Click to review the verification status.
- From the Regulatory Information tab: A new dedicated section will appear revealing the current status of the Toll-Free Verification.
4. Verification Status
You will find the following verification statuses in the Twilio Console:
| Submission Status |
What’s happening |
Toll-Free phone number traffic |
|
Not verified |
Twilio's systems are processing the request and has not yet been sent to Verification Ops for review. |
The toll-free phone number is Restricted. |
|
Verification in progress |
Verification Ops have accepted the submission, it’s in their queue. |
The toll-free phone number is in a Pending verification state. |
|
Approved |
Verification submission has been verified. |
The toll-free phone number is Verified. |
|
Rejected |
Verification submission has been resolved, but it was rejected. Depending on the error code and if the submission is re-submittable, when no edit is received within 7 days, the submissions will expire. It's best to edit and resubmit within 7 days. After 7 days, the toll-free phone number remains in Restricted until the resubmission is received. An expired submission will undergo a review, but is no longer prioritized, so time to process is similar to a new submission. |
If re-submittable, the toll-free phone number is If it's after the 7-day resubmission response window, the toll-free phone number is |
Please see our support article on Toll-Free Message Verification for US/Canada for more information.
NOTE: Most customers using the Console for TFV submissions will be direct customers with only a single business profile. However, if you happen to instead be an ISV who is submitting TFV applications on behalf of multiple customers, or if you happen to be submitting verifications for multiple toll-free numbers on your own behalf, you might consider using Twilio's Event Streams product to subscribe to TFV-related events. This means that whenever a given TFV submission changes status, that event is "pushed" to you rather than you having to regularly check the Console for status updates. Setting up, subscribing to reading from TFV-related Event Streams is detailed in this part of our guide for TFV submission via API (this process itself doesn't require API calls, but most users of Event Streams will be ISVs who do use the API).
5. Delete a Toll-Free Verification
Now customers can delete their toll-free messaging verification directly from Twilio Console. Previously they had to create a support ticket.
Customers will need to have a toll-free messaging verification “in progress”, “approved”, or “rejected” in order to use the delete action. If the customer has not submitted their Toll Free messaging verification yet (“not verified”), then the delete action will not be displayed.
Pro Tip: Deleting the toll-free messaging verification record does not release the toll-free number from your Twilio Account.
When to use and not use this Delete feature
|
Verification Status |
Action |
|
Restricted (Not verified) |
You can't use the delete feature as it won't be available for this toll-free number. "Restricted" means no Verification has been submitted yet, so there won't yet be a record for this number in the Verification workflow. |
|
Verification in progress |
You can use this delete feature on an existing, in-progress submission record in order to delete that record and submit a new verification, if you need to update information that is incorrect. But only do this if the incorrect information pertains to the use-case or the opt-in flow, or incorrect business information such as an incorrect website url. Lesser issues should not impede verification and do not require deletion and re-submission. NOTE: Deleting an in-progress verification submission record, and submitting a new one, will move that submission to the back of the line for verification. Therefore, do NOT use delete if an in-progress verification simply seems to be taking too long (but you have no important information to change), as this will not expedite the process. |
|
Approved |
You could use this delete feature on an existing, approved Verification record if you wanted to subsequently change the use case and/or opt-in flow for that Verified TFN. You would then resubmit the Verification for this TFN with the new information. Again, this new submission would require it's own full-length review process. No such deletion/resubmission is required if you're only making minor changes to your use of the TFN for messaging, for example to the text of the message body. |
|
Rejected |
If a previous submission has been rejected with the note "not eligible for resubmission", using this delete feature on that record is the only way to resubmit the same toll-free number for verification. But only do so if you have a clear understanding of what needs to be corrected (for example a mistyped or incorrect website URL, or an incomplete use case or opt-in description). If the previous submission has been rejected with the note "eligible for resubmission", please use the existing resubmit flow to receive expedited review. NOTE: Upon notice of a rejection, you have a 7-day window for re-submission in order to be eligible for expedited review. After this period, a re-submission will move to the back of the line for review. |
Review Verification Status
Customers can review the verification status for a toll-free phone number regardless of whether it was submitted via Messaging Compliance API or Web Console.
To start, go to your Twilio Console and navigate to Phone Numbers > Manage > Active numbers. Once there, select the toll-free phone number that you’ll like to review the verification status and go to the Regulatory Information tab.
Delete toll-free verification record
Now, you have two options:
- Delete directly: You can delete the toll-free verification record directly using the “delete verification” action.
- Review and delete: You can first review the information in the toll-free verification record, and then from the modal view use the “delete verification” action
Finally, you will need to confirm that you want to delete the toll-free verification record. This is a destructive action and it can’t be undone.
Done! Your verification for this Toll Free number has been deleted. The number will revert to the status indicated in the table at the start of this section, depending on its status prior to deletion.
Known Limitations
The following is a list of known limitations in the Twilio Console
- Trial accounts cannot verify a Toll Free number
- Editing and resubmission of a pending or approved verification
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