Why aren't my messages arriving in order?

If you’ve noticed that your SMS messages are being received out of sequence, you're not alone. While Subflow sends messages in the order you queue them, the final delivery order is controlled by mobile carriers and devices—not Subflow.

🔄 Why This Happens

When you send multiple messages quickly to the same contact:

• Each message is transmitted individually.

• Mobile carriers may route or deliver these messages out of order.

• The receiving device may display them based on arrival time, not original order.

🧩 How Long Messages Are Handled

Most carriers support SMS concatenation, which allows longer messages (up to 1,600 characters) to be split and reassembled into a single message.

When possible, Subflow adds metadata to help devices reassemble multi-part messages. However, if a carrier or device doesn’t support concatenation, longer messages may appear broken up or out of order.

💡 Tip: For networks that don’t support concatenation, consider labeling messages (e.g. 1/3, 2/3, 3/3) to help recipients understand the order.

⏱ Improve Order with Workflows

Subflow’s Workflow feature helps ensure your messages are received in the correct order by allowing you to:

• Schedule messages to be sent one after another

• Add short delays (e.g., 1 minute) between each message

This gives mobile networks and devices time to process each message before the next one arrives—significantly reducing the chance of delivery issues or message scrambling.

✅ Best Practices

• Use Workflows with small delays for multi-part or time-sensitive messages

• Keep messages under 320 characters where possible

• Avoid sending multiple messages in rapid succession without spacing

• Use Pages or hosted content for longer messages