SMS Reminders

SMS Reminders automatically text participants ahead of time, helping reduce no-shows and last-minute cancellations. Reminders are sent from your provider's dedicated SMS number, and any replies land in your SMS inbox.

There are two reminder types, both set up on the same Reminders page and running on the same SMS engine, but configured and sent independently:

• Support Reminders — for scheduled supports in the Scheduling workspace.
• Calendar Appointment Reminders — for calendar appointments with a linked participant.

Opening the Reminders settings

Click the settings wheel in the left-hand menu, then select Reminders.

The Reminders page holds a Support Reminders card and a Calendar Appointment Reminders card. Each is configured separately.

Support Reminders

Support Reminders are sent for every scheduled support that falls within the windows you select — there's no additional filter by time of day or support type.

To set them up, click Create Reminder in the Support Reminders card.

Choose your reminder windows

Under Reminder windows, choose how far ahead of a support participants are reminded. You can enable any combination of:

• 48 hours before
• 24 hours before
• 1 hour before

A participant who has a support inside more than one window will receive a separate reminder for each.

Customise the message

For each window you enable, you can customise the message that's sent, or leave it on the default. Messages support placeholders (merge tags) that are filled in for each participant and support, including:

• ${Participant_FirstName} / ${Participant_FullName}
• ${Business_Name}
• ${Support_StartDate} / ${Support_StartTime}
• ${Support_EndDate} / ${Support_EndTime}
• ${Support_Type} / ${Support_Worker}
• ${Support_LeadTime} (e.g. "in 24 hours")

The default message reads:

Hi ${Participant_FirstName}, this is a reminder that your support with ${Business_Name} starts ${Support_LeadTime} at ${Support_StartTime} on ${Support_StartDate}.

A live Preview shows how each message will look. Leaving a message blank reverts that window to the default. When you're done, click Update.

Once enabled, the reminder appears in the Support Reminders table showing its Status (Enabled), Channel (SMS), and a plain-language summary of when it's sent — for example, "Sent 24 hours before each scheduled support." Use the three-dot menu on the row to Edit or Delete the reminder at any time.

Seeing support reminders that were sent

Support reminders show up in two places:

• SMS inbox — each reminder is an outbound message from your dedicated SMS number, and the full conversation (including any reply) is visible in your SMS inbox.
• The support's audit trail — open the support, go to Actions and select Audit Trail, then the Reminders tab. It lists every reminder sent for that support: the reminder window ("24 hours before"), when it was sent, the participant, the delivery status (for example Sent, Delivered, or Failed), and the message body. See Reminders sent for a support.

The audit trail only records what was sent to the participant — it doesn't capture their replies. To see a participant's response, including a YES or NO reply, open the conversation in your SMS inbox.

Calendar Appointment Reminders

Calendar Appointment Reminders text participants ahead of their calendar appointments. They share the setup screen, reminder windows, message placeholders, and SMS delivery with Support Reminders, but they're configured and sent independently.

The key differences from support reminders:

• What triggers them — a support reminder is sent for a scheduled support (a published, staffed shift). A calendar reminder is sent for a calendar appointment that has a linked task. There's no "published & staffed shift" requirement, because a calendar appointment has no roster.
• Who receives them — the recipient is the participant on the appointment's linked task, not a rostered support worker, event attendee, or the event's owner.
• A separate opt-in — participants opt in with their own Calendar appointment reminders switch, independent of the support switch (see Participant opt-in).
• A per-appointment toggle — each appointment has its own Send SMS reminder for this event toggle.
• Different placeholders — calendar messages use ${Event_*} placeholders and are formatted in the appointment's own timezone.

Setting up calendar reminders

In the Calendar Appointment Reminders card (it appears once SMS is active), click Create Reminder. Just like support reminders, you set up a single calendar reminder configuration for your whole organisation — you choose the windows and messages once, and they apply to every eligible appointment.

Choose your Reminder windows (48 hours before, 24 hours before, and/or 1 hour before) the same way as support reminders — an appointment that falls inside more than one enabled window sends a separate reminder for each.

For each window, customise the message or leave it on the default. Calendar messages use these placeholders:

The default message reads:

Hi ${Participant_FirstName}, this is a reminder that your appointment with ${Business_Name} starts ${Event_LeadTime} at ${Event_StartTime} on ${Event_StartDate}.

A live Preview shows how each message will look, and Reset to default restores a window's message. Leaving a message blank keeps that window on the default. When you're done, click Update.

The per-appointment toggle

Every calendar appointment carries its own Send SMS reminder for this event toggle on the event form. It's on by default, so eligible appointments are reminded automatically. Switch it off to suppress the reminder for that one appointment without changing the participant's opt-in or any other appointment.

• The toggle only appears when the linked participant is eligible to receive a reminder (opted in, with a valid mobile).
• The event form also shows a short status message telling you whether the participant will receive a reminder — and a link to edit their reminder settings if they won't.
• For a recurring appointment, editing the toggle honours the same this occurrence / this and following choice as other event fields, so you can suppress a single occurrence or a run of them.

Who receives a calendar reminder

A calendar reminder goes to the participant on the appointment's linked task. All of the following must be true for it to be sent:

• Your organisation has set up a calendar reminder for that window, with an active SMS number.
• The appointment is an event or appointment type (not a Busy or Out of Office block).
• The appointment's Send SMS reminder for this event toggle is on.
• The appointment has a linked task that isn't marked complete.
• The task's participant is not archived, is opted in to calendar reminders, and has a valid mobile.
• The participant hasn't opted out of SMS (for example, by replying STOP).

When calendar reminders are sent

Astalty checks for due appointments every few minutes and sends each reminder close to its lead time — for example, roughly an hour before for the "1 hour before" window. There's a small amount of tolerance either side so a reminder is never sent late for an appointment that's already imminent: an appointment created only minutes before it starts won't trigger a late "1 hour before" reminder.

Each reminder is sent once per appointment, per window. A participant is never texted twice for the same appointment and lead-time.

• Deleting an appointment cancels any reminder that hasn't been sent yet.
• Completing the linked task stops further reminders for that appointment.
• Moving an appointment to a new time before its reminder has been sent means the reminder simply fires against the new time. If a reminder for a window has already been sent, moving the appointment won't send that window again — turn the appointment's toggle off if you no longer want an outstanding reminder to go out.

Seeing reminders that were sent

Calendar reminders show up in two places:

• SMS inbox — each reminder is an outbound message from your dedicated SMS number, and the full conversation (including any reply) is visible in your SMS inbox.
• The appointment's audit trail — open an appointment and choose View Audit Trail, then the Reminders tab. It lists every reminder sent for that appointment: the window ("24 hours before"), when it was sent, the participant, the delivery status (for example Sent, Delivered, or Failed), and the message body. If none have gone out yet, it shows "No reminders have been sent yet."

The audit trail only records what was sent to the participant — it doesn't capture their replies. To see a participant's response, open the conversation in your SMS inbox.

Participant opt-in

Reminders are opt-in per participant — they're disabled by default. Support reminders and calendar appointment reminders each have their own switch in the participant's Reminder settings (on the participant's profile), so a participant can be opted in to one and not the other. A participant will only receive a given reminder type when both of the following are true:

1. The matching switch (Support reminders or Calendar appointment reminders) is turned on, and
2. They have a valid mobile number on file.

Turning reminders on or off for a single support

Once a participant is opted in, they're reminded about every support that falls within your reminder windows. You can override this on an individual support when a particular session doesn't need a reminder — the participant stays opted in for all their other supports.

On a 1:1 support

When you create or edit a direct support, a Send SMS reminder for this support checkbox appears once you've selected a participant who can receive SMS reminders. Untick it to skip the reminder for that support, or leave it ticked to send as normal. Astalty also shows the participant's overall reminder status above the checkbox (for example, "This participant has reminders enabled") with an Edit participant reminder settings link if you need to update their opt-in or mobile number.

The support's Details view then shows an SMS Reminder field so you can see the state at a glance:

• On — the participant is set up for reminders and this support's reminder is on.
• Off — the participant is set up for reminders, but the reminder for this support has been switched off.
• No — the participant can't receive an SMS reminder for this support anyway (they haven't opted in, don't have a valid mobile number, or have opted out of SMS).

On a group support

When you create a group support, the participants list includes a Reminder column. Each participant who can receive SMS reminders has a checkbox — ticked to send, unticked to skip. Participants who can't receive a reminder (not opted in, no valid mobile number, or opted out of SMS) show a status icon instead of a checkbox; hover over it to see why.

Changing it later

You can update the reminder after a support has been created.

On a 1:1 support, open the support, click Update Details, and tick or untick the Send SMS reminder for this support checkbox.

On a group support, open the support and select the participant, click Actions for {Participant Name}, and choose Update SMS Reminder.

In the Update SMS Reminder panel, tick or untick Send SMS reminder for this support, then click Update SMS Reminder. If the group support is part of a repeating series, you can then apply the change to just this session or across the recurring series.