Account Activation & KYC Review

Account activation is the most common source of support questions. This guide covers every stage of the process, from initial KYC submission through to channel setup, with solutions for the issues developers encounter most often.

"Waiting for approval" -- no ETA or status updates

Symptoms: After submitting your KYC and compliance details, the dashboard shows a message like:

Waiting for approval -- Your compliance details are under review. You'll be notified once approved.

The onboarding progress bar is at step 2 of 4: Signup > Compliance Details > Get Approved > Channel Setup.

What's happening:

• Sent's compliance team reviews every submission manually to satisfy carrier and regulatory requirements.
• Typical review time is 1-3 business days. It can take longer if your submission is incomplete or requires clarification.
• If you are targeting US SMS, your business details are also submitted to The Campaign Registry (TCR) for 10DLC approval, which adds additional processing time (see TCR submission pending below).

What to do:

1. Check your email inbox, including spam and promotions folders, for any "Action Required" messages from Sent. These emails request clarification or corrections needed before approval can proceed.
2. Verify that every field in the compliance form is filled out completely -- partial submissions are held until the missing information is provided.
3. Confirm your website is live and accessible. A website that returns a 404 or is password-protected will delay review.
4. If you have been waiting more than 5 business days with no communication, email support@sent.dm with the email address associated with your Sent account.

KYC / compliance form confusion -- what's required

Symptoms: You are unsure what information to provide, or your submission was returned for corrections.

Required fields:

Common rejection reasons:

• Missing privacy policy. Your website must have a visible, linked privacy policy page. This is a carrier requirement, not optional.
• No messaging opt-in disclosure. Carriers require evidence that recipients have consented to receive messages. Your website or app must show where and how users opt in.
• Website not live. If your site is under construction, behind a login wall, or returning errors, the review cannot proceed.
• Vague use case. "Sending notifications" is not specific enough. Describe what triggers the messages, what they contain, and who receives them. For example: "Transactional order confirmations sent to customers after purchase on our e-commerce platform."

If you don't have a website yet:

Create a simple landing page that includes:

1. Your business name and contact information
2. A privacy policy (templates are available online for common jurisdictions)
3. A description of your messaging service and how users opt in
4. An opt-in mechanism (even a simple checkbox with disclosure text)

This is sufficient to pass review. You can update the site later.

Individual developer vs business entity

Symptoms: You are an independent developer or sole trader and are unsure whether you can register without a formal business entity.

Solution:

Sent requires business-level verification for all accounts. This is a regulatory requirement imposed by carriers and cannot be waived. However, you do not need to be a registered corporation.

• Sole traders and self-employed individuals can register. Use your personal name as the business name and provide your tax registration number (SSN or EIN in the US, UTR in the UK, or the equivalent in your jurisdiction).
• Side projects and hobby apps still require the same business-level details. Carriers enforce these rules uniformly regardless of the scale of your messaging.
• If you are unsure which tax ID to use, consult your local tax authority or accountant. Sent cannot provide tax advice.

What Sent reviews during KYC

Every submission is checked against the following criteria before approval:

• Valid business details -- Business name, registered address, and tax ID must be verifiable. Mismatches between the name on file with tax authorities and the name submitted will flag the review.
• Active website with privacy policy -- The website must be reachable and contain a clearly linked privacy policy page.
• Clear messaging opt-in mechanism -- Your website or application must demonstrate how end users consent to receiving messages. This can be a signup form with a checkbox, an SMS keyword opt-in flow, or equivalent.
• Description of messaging use case -- The review team evaluates what you intend to send, to whom, and how frequently. This is used to classify your traffic type with carriers.
• Compliance with local regulations -- Depending on your target audience, your use case must comply with applicable laws. For a detailed breakdown of compliance requirements by region, see Compliance & 10DLC Issues.
  • US: Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), CAN-SPAM
  • EU/UK: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR)
  • Canada: Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)
  • Other regions: Local telecommunications and data protection laws

Cannot use platform features while waiting

Symptoms: Dashboard sections such as Contacts, API Keys, Templates, and Channels are locked or greyed out while your account is under review.

What you can do during review:

• Browse the documentation and API reference to plan your integration.
• Explore the Templates section to learn about template structure and draft templates locally. You will not be able to submit them until approved.
• Set up your local development environment and prepare your codebase for integration.

What you cannot do during review:

• Generate or view API keys
• Create or manage contacts
• Submit templates for carrier approval
• Send messages (including sandbox/test messages)
• Configure webhook endpoints

Once approved, you will receive an email notification and all dashboard sections will unlock automatically.

Post-approval onboarding issues

After your account is approved, the dashboard moves to Channel Setup (step 4 of 4). The following issues may arise at this stage.

No phone numbers available

Symptoms: The number selection dropdown in the Channel Setup screen is empty or shows no available numbers for your region.

Solution:

1. Click the Refresh button to reload available inventory.
2. Phone number availability varies by country and region. Some regions may be temporarily out of stock.
3. If no numbers appear after refreshing, contact support@sent.dm with your preferred country and region. The team can check inventory and provision a number manually if stock is available.

"Something went wrong" during Sender Profile setup

Symptoms: The Sender Profile setup step displays: "Something went wrong -- We could not complete your onboarding. Please try again."

Solution:

1. Click Try Again once. This error is often caused by a transient backend issue.
2. If the error persists after retrying, clear your browser cache and attempt the setup in an incognito/private window.
3. If it still fails, contact support@sent.dm with a screenshot of the error. Include the browser and OS you are using.

Messages sending from short code instead of your dedicated number

Symptoms: After setting up a dedicated phone number, messages are still being sent from a shared short code.

Solution:

Ensure you are specifying the sender_profile_id parameter in your API requests. If omitted, the platform may fall back to a default sender.

await client.messages.send({
  to: ['+14155552671'],
  template: { id: 'tmpl_abc123' },
  sender_profile_id: 'sp_your_profile_id'
});

You can find your Sender Profile ID in the dashboard under Sender Profiles.

WhatsApp channel requires a Facebook account

Symptoms: The WhatsApp channel setup prompts you to connect a Facebook account, which you were not expecting.

Solution:

WhatsApp Business API channels are managed through Meta (Facebook). To set up WhatsApp on Sent, you need:

1. A Facebook account (personal account is fine for initial setup)
2. A Meta Business Account (created during the setup flow if you don't have one)
3. To complete the Meta Business Verification process

This is a Meta requirement, not a Sent-specific one. The dashboard will guide you through the connection flow step by step.

TCR submission pending with no visibility

Symptoms: Your account is approved by Sent, but you see a message like:

Your case has been submitted to TCR and we're waiting for a response.

You have no visibility into the status or timeline.

What's happening:

For US SMS messaging, all businesses must be registered with The Campaign Registry (TCR) for 10DLC (10-digit long code) compliance. This is a separate process from Sent's internal KYC review and is handled by an external body.

Timeline:

• TCR review typically takes 3-7 business days after Sent submits your details.
• In some cases, particularly for new brands or unusual use cases, it can take longer.
• This process runs in addition to Sent's own review, so total time from signup to sending can be 1-2 weeks for US SMS.

What to do:

• Nothing. Sent handles the TCR submission on your behalf. There is no action required from you at this stage.
• If TCR rejects the submission, the Sent support team will contact you with details about what needs to be corrected (typically business name mismatches or use case clarification).
• If you have been waiting more than 10 business days since your Sent account was approved and you still cannot send US SMS, contact support@sent.dm.

API returns 401 while onboarding is incomplete

Symptoms: API calls return 401 Unauthorized despite using a valid API key. Regenerating the key does not help.

Why this happens:

API access is locked until the full onboarding flow is complete. Even if your account has passed KYC review and API keys have been generated, certain setup steps — such as connecting your WhatsApp Business Account — must be finished before the API unlocks. Requests made before that point are rejected regardless of key validity.

Solution:

Complete all onboarding steps in the dashboard (Signup → Compliance → Get Approved → Channel Setup), including the WABA connection if applicable. Once onboarding is finished, retry your API calls — access restores immediately without needing to regenerate keys.

403 Forbidden on organization-scoped endpoints

Symptoms: After completing onboarding, some API endpoints — such as listing users — return 403 Forbidden. Other endpoints (such as listing profiles) respond correctly.

Why this happens:

Certain endpoints are only accessible once your account has been upgraded to an organization. This upgrade happens automatically when a Sender Profile is successfully created. If Sender Profile creation fails or has not yet been attempted, the account stays in a pre-organization state and those endpoints return 403.

Solution:

1. Navigate to Dashboard → Profiles and attempt to create a Sender Profile.
2. If the profile is created successfully, retry the failing endpoints.
3. If Sender Profile creation returns an error, see the section below.

Sender Profile creation fails with a "duplicate key" error

Symptoms: Clicking Unlock Sender Profiles or attempting to create a Sender Profile returns an error along the lines of: "duplicate key violates unique constraint." This also prevents organization-scoped API endpoints from working correctly.

Why this happens:

This is a database-level conflict that can rarely occur during the account upgrade step. It is not caused by anything in your configuration and requires Sent support to clear.

Solution:

1. Contact support@sent.dm with your account email and the exact error message.
2. Sent support will identify and clear the conflicting record.
3. Once resolved, you will be notified to retry Sender Profile creation. After that succeeds, organization-scoped endpoints will function normally.

Still waiting?

If you have worked through the steps above and your issue is not resolved, contact the Sent support team:

• Email: support@sent.dm
• Include: The email address associated with your Sent account, a description of where you are stuck, and any error messages or screenshots from the dashboard.
• Response time: The support team typically responds within 1 business day.

For general questions about the platform, check the FAQ or browse the documentation.

Related Guides

• Login, Signup & OTP Verification — if you're having trouble logging in or verifying your phone number
• Compliance & 10DLC Issues — for details on 10DLC registration, A2P requirements, and compliance form guidance
• WhatsApp Setup — if you're setting up WhatsApp as a channel after account approval