FAQs for HeadsUp Text Notification System

Looking for basic instructions?

They’re right here

How do I see who is subscribed to my list?

This is intentionally not in the application for your (and our) own protection. It is never a good idea to have student phone numbers on your own device and showing them to list creators would be just as unwise. We don’t ask for names when students and families subscribe as we don’t need or want to have that information either. We maintain the list of phone numbers and the lists that they are subscribed to for as long as they maintain the connection after which we remove their number from our database.

How do I know if anybody is subscribed? Is this thing working?

The number in the circle following the name of your list shows you how many are subscribed. If you are seeing a number greater than zero there, you know that people have successfully subscribed to your list.

How do I know if people are receiving my messages?

Unfortunately, there is no way to verify that your messages were received and how quickly they were received other than asking the subscribers that you know should be receiving the messages individually. We would recommend subscribing to your own list in order to verify that messages are being sent. You may also wish to, in a situation where you have a group of subscribers gathered in-person, try sending a message and see when everybody receives it.

Some receive my message much more quickly than others…

HeadsUp makes use of a service that nearly all wireless carriers provide which allows messages to be sent to an email address and then delivered to a cellular number as a text message. There are delays sometime between the time messages are received by these relays and when the message is finally delivered. This can vary from one carrier to another.

People aren’t receiving their verification message

A few things to check…

Are they entering the correct phone number?
Are they choosing the correct carrier?
Have they disabled the ability to receive email-to-text (the mechanism HeadsUp uses)?
1. This is generally a setting at the carrier-level, accessible through their web site or help desk