SMS consent and compliance

NoticeAPI blocks obvious unsafe paths, but it cannot decide which laws apply to your business or create permission that a recipient never gave. Use this playbook before collecting a phone number or sending a live message, and get qualified counsel for your program and recipient locations.

Use first-party consent only

The person receiving the messages must affirmatively agree to texts from the exact business and program that will send them. Do not use bought, rented, scraped, enriched, shared, affiliate, or lead-generation lists. A phone number supplied for shipping, checkout, support, or account security does not automatically authorize marketing.

For marketing, show one unchecked SMS-specific control beside the complete disclosure:

recipient-facing disclosure
[YOUR BRAND]: recurring offers, 2 messages/month. Message and data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help and STOP to opt out. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Terms: https://example.com/terms Privacy: https://example.com/privacy

Keep the evidence, not just a checkbox

Keep the exact disclosure and version, timestamp, phone number, affirmative action, page or form ID, business and program identity, source URL, and useful request evidence such as IP address and user agent. Azure recommends retaining consent evidence for at least four years. Your own counsel may require a different schedule.

The portal's consent helper records the approved disclosure and a reference to your retained submission. The reference must point to a real immutable record you can produce; it is not a self-certification shortcut.

record program-specific consent
curl -X POST https://www.noticeapi.com/api/v1/sms/consents \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ntc_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "programId": "smsprg_...",
    "phoneNumber": "+13125550100",
    "status": "opted_in",
    "source": "form",
    "capturedAt": "2026-07-28T18:30:00.000Z",
    "recipientState": "IL",
    "recipientTimezone": "America/Chicago",
    "evidence": {
      "disclosureText": "[YOUR BRAND]: recurring offers, 2 messages/month. Message and data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help and STOP to opt out. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Terms: https://example.com/terms Privacy: https://example.com/privacy",
      "disclosureVersion": "2026-07-28",
      "writtenConsentReference": "form-submission-01J...",
      "consentAttestationVersion": "2026-07-28"
    }
  }'

Honor every reasonable opt-out

NoticeAPI processes STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, REVOKE, and OPT OUT before customer webhooks. Clear replies such as “please stop texting me” are treated as opt-outs too. If a recipient revokes through email, phone support, a website, or another reasonable channel, immediately record an opted-out or revoked consent through the API or apply a suppression in the portal. Do not tell recipients that STOP is their only option.

What the send path enforces

  • NoticeAPI operator approval plus the external carrier approval and verified sender.
  • Program-specific written marketing consent matching the exact approved disclosure and version.
  • Recipient-local marketing hours of 9:00 a.m. through 7:59 p.m.; unknown timezones fail closed.
  • Business identity and Reply STOP in every marketing message.
  • No public URL shorteners; use a branded domain you control.
  • Low launch volume, per-number rate limits, wallet limits, STOP/failure circuit breakers, and operator holds.

Private-beta boundaries

NoticeAPI does not support lead generation, purchased lists, political messaging, sweepstakes, work-from-home offers, auto-warranty offers, short-term health-insurance offers, or debt/rate-reduction campaigns in the private beta. Marketing must be first-party and tied to the reviewed program.

Phone numbers can be reassigned. For recurring or older lists, evaluate the FCC Reassigned Numbers Database with counsel. NoticeAPI does not currently query that database for you, so the product does not claim its safe harbor.

Before requesting activation

  1. Publish accurate SMS terms and privacy language for the end business.
  2. Capture the real signup page and store a test submission.
  3. Confirm HELP and every opt-out channel reaches a monitored support path.
  4. Submit the exact business, program, sample messages, volume, frequency, and proof for review.
  5. Run the simulator, then one founder-controlled live canary after carrier approval.

Primary references: 47 CFR 64.1200, Azure messaging policy, Azure SMS FAQ, and FCC Reassigned Numbers Database.