Your appointment reminders now say Unverified. Here is why
What changed, and what customers see
When a text arrives with a business name at the top instead of a phone number, that name is called a branded sender ID. It is the difference between a reminder from CITYDENTAL and one from an unfamiliar mobile number.
Those names now have to be registered. From 1 July 2026, new rules mean texts sent with an organisation's name at the top of a message will need to have the sender ID registered, and businesses and organisations must register their branded sender IDs (ACMA, SMS Sender ID Register).
Two things happen if that has not been done, and the industry rules spell both out (ACMA, industry rules).
So the failure is not silent. Either your message does not arrive at all, or it arrives wearing a warning label, on the exact kind of message you most want people to trust: the appointment reminder, the job booking, the alarm notification, the invoice follow up.
The point of the scheme is to make scam texts harder to disguise. The side effect is that a legitimate business which has not registered now looks like the thing the scheme was built to stop.
Check whether this is happening to you
You cannot rely on the messages looking fine on your own phone, because you already know the sender.
- Send a real one to yourself. Not a test through a preview screen: trigger an actual reminder or notification the way a customer would receive it, and look at the top of the message.
- Ask two customers or staff on different networks. Labelling and delivery can differ between carriers, so one handset is not a survey.
- Count how many systems send texts on your behalf. This is where most businesses get caught, because it is almost never just one.
That last point deserves its own list. In a typical small business, texts can leave from the booking or practice management system, the accounting package chasing invoices, the alarm or camera system, a marketing platform, a courier or dispatch tool, and a staff member's own phone. Each one goes through a provider, and each sender name has to be registered through that provider.
How registration actually works
You do not apply to the regulator directly. You go through the provider that sends your messages, and there is a prerequisite that catches people out before they start.
First, fix your Australian Business Register details. To register a sender ID if you have an Australian Business Number, your authorised contact or service of notice email address in the Australian Business Register must be up to date. The regulator also states it does not check Relationship Authorisation Manager for these arrangements. If that email is an old accountant's address or a staff member who left, sort it out before anything else, because the verification step will go to it.
Then the three steps (ACMA, register a sender ID if you have an ABN):
- Contact each telco or message provider you send through, and check the provider is on the approved list. If you send from four systems through three providers, that is three conversations.
- Give them the sender IDs you want registered. They register on your behalf. You have to demonstrate a valid use case, which means the sender ID must match your identity and be clearly linked to your organisation.
- Confirm the registration. You will need to pass checks on your organisation, your identity, and your authority to act for the organisation. Your provider asks the regulator to run those checks, and you verify your identity using myID.
Keep the contact details in the register current afterwards, so notices about your registration actually reach someone.
The word list that will reject your sender name
This is the part worth reading before you choose a name, because it fails at the application rather than at the send.
A sender ID made up only of restricted words will not be registered. The published list is: account, alert, anti-fraud, assist, assistance, bank, banking, bill, billing, delivery, help, important, info, information, message, notice, notify, package, password, sale, secure, security, service, support, tax, urgent, verify and verified (ACMA, restricted terms for sender IDs).
Those words are not banned outright. They can be used when combined with characters that identify the organisation. The regulator gives its own example: it cannot register Alert, but it can register ACMA Alert.
The reason is straightforward. Those are the words scam messages lean on to manufacture urgency or authority, and the regulator says it will review the list and may add to it as scam tactics change.
In practice this means a business that hoped to send from SERVICE or BOOKING needs to put its own name in there. That is a better outcome anyway: a recognisable name is the whole point of a branded sender.
What to do this month
- Receive one of your own messages on a real phone and read the top line.
- Write down every system that sends texts for your business, and which provider each one uses.
- Check your Australian Business Register contact and service of notice email is current and reaches someone who works there.
- Contact each provider, confirm they are participating, and start the registration for each sender name.
- Check your chosen names against the restricted word list before you apply.
- Tell your staff what your real sender names are, so they can answer the customer who rings asking if a message is genuine.
Ask us to sort out your business messaging
Frequently asked questions
We only send from a phone number, not a name. Does this affect us?
The rules cover branded sender IDs, which are the messages showing your organisation's name where a number would normally be. If everything you send comes from an ordinary mobile or landline number, this scheme is not what changes for you. It is still worth knowing about, because customers are being taught to look at that top line.
Do we register with the regulator ourselves?
No. You register through the telco or message provider that sends your messages, and they submit it on your behalf. You will still have to pass identity and authority checks, and verify yourself using myID.
We use several systems. Do we register once?
You need to deal with each telco or message provider you use. A booking system, an accounting package and an alarm service may all send through different providers, and each of those needs your sender name registered.
Why was our sender name rejected?
The most common reasons are a name that does not clearly link to your organisation, a name made up only of restricted words such as info, alert or service, or details in the Australian Business Register that are out of date so the verification never reaches you.
Can we use a word like Alert or Secure at all?
Only combined with something that identifies you. The regulator's own example is that it cannot register the sender ID Alert, but it can register ACMA Alert. Put your business name in the sender ID and the restricted word stops being a problem.
Does registering mean our texts can never be blocked?
Registration is about the sender name being verified, not about the content of any message. Providers still filter, customers still report, and a message that looks like a scam can still cause trouble. Registration removes the Unverified label and keeps your messages carriable, which is the part you control.
A customer says our reminder looked like a scam. What do we tell them?
Tell them what your real sender name is, confirm what your messages do and do not ask for, and encourage the habit you actually want: never act on a payment or login request in a text, and ring the business on a number they already have. That advice protects them whether or not the message came from you.