Short answer: An appointment reminder text is an informational message: it tells a customer about a booking and carries no advertising. Under the FCC’s rules, an autodialed reminder to a cell phone needs prior express consent from the person, which the FCC says may be oral. The Campaign Registry says texts from a regular 10-digit business number go through A2P 10DLC registration. The FCC’s rules give a reasonable time, at most 10 business days, to honor a STOP reply.
Before you read: We based this guide on the FCC’s rules (47 CFR 64.1200) and the order that changes them on November 25, 2026. We also used the FCC’s consumer guide on robocalls and texts, CTIA’s Messaging Principles and Best Practices and The Campaign Registry’s guide to 10DLC. We read them on November 11, 2026. Which rules apply depends on what your texts say, how they are sent and who sends them. It is general information, not legal advice.
Reminders are informational texts
CTIA’s Messaging Principles and Best Practices, voluntary best practices from its member companies, group business texts by purpose: conversational, informational or promotional.
CTIA describes informational messaging as a customer giving a business their phone number and asking to be contacted in the future. Appointment reminders, welcome texts and alerts fall into it, because the first text the business sends fulfills the customer’s request.
The FCC uses the same word. Its rule that takes effect on November 25, 2026 calls a text informational when it doesn’t contain any advertising or telemarketing.
The consent a reminder needs
The FCC’s consumer guide says its rules ban autodialed texts to a mobile phone, unless the owner gave consent before or the text is for an emergency. Commercial texts require written consent, and for informational texts, consent may be oral.
The rules call this the prior express consent of the person called. They define an autodialer as equipment that can store or produce numbers with a random or sequential number generator, and dial them.
CTIA expects consent whether or not those rules apply, and express written consent for marketing messages. CTIA says a customer needs to agree to texts for a specific informational purpose when they give their mobile number. They may agree over text, on a form, on a website or verbally.
In our view, ask for it on the booking form or at the front desk, in words that name reminders, and keep it apart from any consent to marketing texts.
Our guide to SMS marketing covers what to say when you ask for consent, the proof to keep, and whether a reminder with an offer is still informational.
The FCC’s exemption for healthcare reminders
The FCC’s rules exempt some texts from healthcare providers, such as hospitals and medical offices, from the consent requirement. The exemption holds only if the text isn’t charged to the patient or counted against their plan’s limits. Appointment and exam confirmations and reminders are among the purposes it lists.
Each exempt text goes only to the wireless number the patient gave and states the provider’s name and contact information. It carries no telemarketing, solicitation or advertising, and no accounting, billing, debt collection or other financial content. It also follows HIPAA’s privacy rules and runs generally 160 characters or less.
A provider may send only one such message a day to each patient, and no more than 3 calls and texts combined each week. Each text tells the patient they can opt out by replying STOP, the only opt-out method for these texts, and the provider honors it immediately.
When to send a reminder
Under the FCC’s rules, telephone solicitations can’t go out before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time where the person is. They define a telephone solicitation as a call or message meant to encourage buying, renting or investing in property, goods or services, with some exceptions.
In our view, keep reminders inside the same hours anyway, by the customer’s local time.
In our view, start with a confirmation when the booking is made and a reminder the day before. Add a second reminder on the day where missed appointments are common.
What to write in a reminder
CTIA’s best practices ask senders to state in the message how to opt out and which words do it, with the standard word STOP.
In our view, the rest fits in a few lines: your business name first, then the day and time, the place, and how to confirm or change the appointment.
For a clinic, our guide to HIPAA and patient messaging covers the health details a text to a patient may carry.
Register your texting number
The Campaign Registry says any business that wants to text its customers from a 10DLC number has to register. That includes businesses that send individual messages, even if it is not for marketing purposes.
A business registers through its messaging provider, not with the registry directly. The registry says to ask that provider which campaign type fits your texts. Our guide to A2P 10DLC registration covers the steps.
When someone replies STOP
Until November 25, 2026, the FCC’s rules let a person revoke consent by any reasonable method. A reply with “stop”, “quit”, “end”, “revoke”, “opt out”, “cancel” or “unsubscribe” always counts. So do other words a reasonable person would read as a request to stop.
You have a reasonable time to honor it, capped at 10 business days. One confirmation text that only confirms the request and carries no marketing is allowed. The FCC presumes it falls within the person’s consent if sent within 5 minutes.
A new FCC rule, in the Federal Register since October 26, 2026, changes this on November 25, 2026. From then on, you may treat a request sent in reply to an informational text, such as a reminder, as covering only that category of informational texts. A request sent in reply to a marketing text ends all your marketing texts.
From November 25, 2026, the FCC’s rule lets a business designate one way as the only way to revoke consent. It can be an automated option on a call, a reply with one of those words, or a website or phone number the business names. The business discloses that way clearly in each text. Under the same rule, a business that designates none has to honor requests made by any reasonable means.
That rule replaces the FCC’s “revoke all” provision, under which a request about one type of informational message would have covered all future robocalls and robotexts. An FCC bureau had put that provision off until January 31, 2027. Our guide to TCPA texting rules covers the rest of the new rule.
Send reminders from your booking system
In our view, send reminders from the system that holds the bookings. A change or a cancellation then updates the reminder, and a STOP reply reaches the same list.
In our automation service, appointment reminders come in the Growth and Pro plans. Email, SMS and WhatsApp messages go out only where there is a number and consent, and the A2P 10DLC registration is made in your name.
Before you send appointment reminder texts
In our view, check before you start:
- Your booking form or front desk asks for consent to reminder texts, and you keep a record of it.
- Reminders carry no offer, and marketing texts have written consent, which the FCC’s consumer guide requires for commercial texts.
- Each reminder names your business and says how to opt out with STOP.
- Your texting number is registered for A2P 10DLC through your messaging provider.
- STOP replies are honored within the FCC’s time limit, and the confirmation text only confirms the request, with no marketing.
- A clinic that texts without consent keeps every condition of the FCC’s healthcare exemption.
RememberAn appointment reminder text is informational and carries no advertising. Under the FCC’s rules, an autodialed reminder to a cell phone needs prior express consent and a STOP gets honored within a reasonable time, at most 10 business days. The Campaign Registry says a business texting from a 10DLC number has to register. Starting November 25, 2026, the FCC’s new rule lets a STOP to a reminder be read as covering that category only.
Questions about appointment reminder texts
Do appointment reminder texts need consent?
The FCC’s consumer guide says its rules ban autodialed texts to a mobile phone unless the owner gave consent before, or the text is for an emergency. For informational texts, it says that consent may be oral. CTIA’s best practices expect consent whether or not those rules apply.
Can a clinic send appointment reminders without consent?
The FCC’s rules exempt some texts from healthcare providers when they aren’t charged to the patient or counted against the plan’s limits. Appointment reminders are among the purposes listed. Among the conditions, each text goes only to the number the patient gave and carries no telemarketing, advertising or financial content. A STOP reply is honored immediately.
What should an appointment reminder text say?
CTIA’s best practices ask senders to state in the message how to opt out, with the standard word STOP. In our view, the rest is your business name, the day and time, the place, and how to confirm or change the appointment.
What happens when someone replies STOP to a reminder?
The FCC’s rules treat it as a request to revoke consent, to be honored within a reasonable time, at most 10 business days. They allow one confirmation text that only confirms the request and carries no marketing. Starting November 25, 2026, a business may treat a STOP sent to an informational text as covering only that category of texts.
What time should appointment reminder texts go out?
Under the FCC’s rules, telephone solicitations can’t go out before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time where the person is. The rules define them as calls or messages meant to encourage a purchase, a rental or an investment, with some exceptions. In our view, keep reminders inside the same hours, and send one the day before the appointment.
Sources
All read on November 11, 2026. From the FCC: § 64.1200 Delivery restrictions, on eCFR, up to date as of November 9, 2026. Its rule Enhancing the Ability of Consumers To Control the Robocalls (91 FR 67214) takes effect on November 25, 2026. Also its order, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 26-67), and its consumer guide Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts. From CTIA: Messaging Principles and Best Practices (May 2023). From The Campaign Registry: The Campaign Registry & 10DLC.