SMS replies are not being delivered to my InReach Explorer+

Are there any tricks for getting SMS replies to get through to the InReach? Everything else is getting through -outbound SMS and email as well as inbound email.

I realise I can just use email as a workaround for the moment but would really love to get the SMS chat to work as that is how I would prefer to communicate with my friends/family.

0 twolpert over 3 years ago

There is a limit to how long a given phone number can reply to an SMS received from an iR device. The limit is on the order of a couple of weeks. Nobody knows exactly how long. It's best to "prime the pump" before each trip. Send a new message to each SMS recipient who should be able to reach you (via SMS reply) during that trip.

That's not the only reason it might fail, but it is the most likely given that outbound SMS (from the iR device) is received by the same phone number.

If that's not the problem, you can do some investigation on your own. From your account at explore.garmin.com, check your Inbox. If the reply appears there, then the iR should have gotten it. The problem is on the Garmin end. Open a support ticket in this case.

If the reply does not appear there, then the problem is with the SMS gateway which services the location from which the phone replied. (This is also the symptom you would see if the ability to reply has expired.) The gateway is supposed to forward the reply to the number from which the original (iR to phone SMS) message appears to come. You don't say where you or your recipients are located. A few SMS gateways are incapable of doing this - so they are effectively one way (iR to phone). Since you have no idea about the nature of the gateway or who runs it, you probably have to open a Garmin support ticket for this one, too.

Note that you can view inReach system status here: https://status.inreach.garmin.com/ From that same page, you can subscribe to email status updates.

There are occasional outages of various types, including some involving SMS delivery. For example, on 02/12/2021, there was a complete outage for SMS to iR messages. The board says it only lasted 8 minutes - but that's from the time somebody NOTICED until it was fixed. In situations like this, the messages are (sometimes) delivered later, which can make it look like they didn't work at all.