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If a customer says your reply never arrived, the fastest way to find out why is to check the message’s delivery status in the conversation. The most common cause on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram is the channel’s messaging window — but the status tells you exactly where the message got stuck.

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Before you begin

  • Open the Inbox and the conversation in question.
  • Find the message you sent and look at its status indicator.

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1. Read the message’s delivery status

Every outbound message moves through statuses so you always know where it stands: If the status is delivered or read, the message arrived — ask the customer to check the right chat or refresh their app.
Sent does not mean received. It only means the platform accepted the message from Cura. Delivered and read come later, from the channel’s own webhooks — on WhatsApp, for example, the ticks advance only when Meta reports back. If a message sits on sent and the customer says nothing arrived, work through the steps below.

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2. If it’s stuck on sending or retrying, wait briefly

A message in sending or retrying is still being handed off. Give it a moment — a transient network blip or provider hiccup usually clears on its own, and Cura retries automatically several times with a short, growing delay before it gives up. Most transient issues self-heal within about two minutes.
If it moves to sent or delivered, you’re done. If it lands on failed, continue.

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3. If it says “sent” but the customer didn’t get it

Sent means the platform accepted the message, not that it reached the phone in the customer’s hand. If it stays on sent and never advances to delivered:
  • Double-check you have the right number or handle — a reply sent to the wrong contact still shows as sent.
  • Confirm the messaging window was open when you sent (see step 4). A message accepted at the edge of a closing window can still fail to deliver.
  • On WhatsApp, delivered and read ticks depend on the customer’s own app and on Meta’s delivery webhooks reaching Cura. If those webhooks are delayed or missing, the status can stay on sent even though the message went through.
If the customer genuinely didn’t receive it and the handle and window both check out, contact support — delivery webhooks may not be reaching your account.

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4. If it failed, check the channel’s messaging window

Some channels only let you send a free-form reply for a limited time after the customer’s last message. When that window has closed, Cura blocks the send and marks it failed before it ever reaches the platform. To fix a window-blocked message:
  • Check when the customer last messaged you and compare it against the limit for that channel.
  • Wait for the customer to message again, which reopens the window, then resend your reply.
For the full limit on every channel and why the window exists, see Messaging windows by channel.
When a message is blocked by the window, Cura marks it failed and the conversation shows the reason — for example, “WhatsApp only allows free-form replies within 24 hours of the customer’s last message.” There is no owner-side setting that reopens a closed window; only a new inbound message from the customer does. WhatsApp template/broadcast sending is not available in Cura.
On Instagram you may instead see “this Instagram account is pending Meta approval for replies outside the 24-hour window.” That’s a Meta app-review step for messaging in the 24-hour-to-7-day window. Reply within 24 hours where you can, and contact support to complete Meta approval.

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5. If it failed for another reason, check the channel

A failed message can also mean the channel itself needs attention.
  • “Needs reconnect” / “please reconnect this inbox” — the channel’s connection (its Meta or LINE authorization) has expired. Go to Integrations → Channels, reconnect the channel, then resend. See A channel shows as disconnected.
  • LINE messages suddenly stop near month-end — you may have hit your LINE Official Account’s monthly push-message quota. Upgrade your LINE messaging plan in the LINE console, or wait for the monthly reset. Replying promptly (within LINE’s reply window) doesn’t consume push quota.
Once the channel is connected and you’re inside the messaging window, resend the message and watch it reach delivered.
A failed message doesn’t resend itself once the underlying issue is fixed — use the Retry action on the message, or resend it manually from the conversation. Manual retry starts a fresh set of attempts.

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6. If an inbound attachment never arrived

Sometimes it’s the customer’s file that’s missing: their text shows in the conversation but the photo, video, or document they sent didn’t come through.
  • Inbound attachments over 25 MB are dropped as they arrive — only the text (if any) is kept.
  • Ask the customer to resend a smaller version (under 25 MB) or share a link instead. This is a hard inbound size cap, not a per-account setting.
For the sizes and file types Cura can send out on each channel, see Attachment and media limits.
Still not delivering after these checks? Contact support at support@cura.so with the message ID, the channel, and roughly when you sent it.