I am not receiving text messages from Houfy - what should I check?

Houfy texts you when someone writes to you about a booking, when a new booking request arrives, and when a booking is confirmed. If those texts stop arriving, work through these checks in order. The first ones are things on your account rather than on your phone, and they are the commonest causes.

1. Check that SMS is switched on

Open Account settings, then Notifications - or go straight to houfy.com/account/settings?tab=3.

Each kind of alert has its own row. The Messages and Reminders rows each have Email and SMS Text switches. Promotions & Tips is Email Only and has no SMS switch, and Account Support is Email (Mandatory) and cannot be switched off. To get a text when someone writes to you about a booking, switch on SMS Text on the Messages row. The SMS Text switch on the Reminders row is not in use at the moment - reminders go out by email, so switch on Email there if you want them.

2. Did several messages arrive but only one text?

That is deliberate. When several messages arrive in the same booking conversation we send one text and then stay quiet for ten minutes, so a back-and-forth does not turn into a stream of texts. Open the conversation on Houfy to see everything that came in.

We also do not text on the very first message of a conversation, because the booking request or inquiry itself already texted you.

3. Check the phone number on your account

Open Edit Profile at houfy.com/account/editprofile and check the number we hold is the one you carry. We text the first mobile number on your account, so if you added a new number and left the old one there, the texts are still going to the old one - remove the old number on that page. If there is no phone number on your account at all, there is nowhere for us to send to; add one there and verify it while you are on the page.

4. Have you ever replied STOP to a Houfy text?

This is the one that catches people out, and nothing in your Houfy settings will fix it.

If you ever replied STOP to a message from us - or your carrier replied on your behalf - your mobile network records the opt-out and stops delivering our texts, and we stop sending to that number as well. From then on the texts are not being sent at all, so marking old messages as "Not Spam" will not bring them back.

To undo it, text START to the number our messages came from. That is what tells your network to accept our texts again, and it is the only step that can undo an opt-out. Then write to us at houfy.com/contactus with the number, so we can check the block on our side as well.

5. Then check your phone’s spam filtering

These steps were written in August 2026. Phone makers move these screens around, so the wording on your handset may differ.

Recent phone and carrier updates have added stronger spam filtering, which can move our texts into a spam or junk folder without telling you. Exact wording moves between versions, but the route is the same.

iPhone

1. Open the Messages app.

2. Tap the filter control at the top of the conversation list.

3. Open Spam, or Unknown Senders on older versions.

4. Find the Houfy messages and tap Not Spam, then Move to Messages.

Android (Google Messages)

1. Open the Messages app.

2. Tap the three-dot menu at the top right, or your profile icon, and choose Spam & blocked.

3. Find the Houfy messages, tap to open, then tap Not spam.

Samsung Messages

1. Open the Messages app.

2. Tap the three-dot menu at the top right, then Settings, then Block numbers and spam, then Blocked messages.

3. Find the Houfy messages, then go back to Block numbers and spam and remove the number from the blocked list.

Still nothing?

Contact us at houfy.com/contactus and tell us the number you expect the texts on and roughly when you last received one. We can see whether the message left our side, which tells us straight away whether the problem is ours or the carrier’s.

One thing this does not cover: texts about a new booking request or a confirmed booking go out whether or not the Messages SMS Text switch is on, so if those are the only texts you are getting, that is why.

If you would rather not rely on texts at all, switch on Email on the same Messages row, or turn on Push notifications at the top of the Notifications page so your browser alerts you even when Houfy is not open in a tab.