The short answer
Ask yourself one thing first: is the code missing from every bank and app, or from just one? When nothing comes through from anybody, the fault sits with your handset or SIM, so confirm you have signal and a valid recharge, peek inside the spam folder or the “Unknown Senders” list, choose the correct SIM for SMS and reboot. When a single bank or app is the odd one out, that sender is normally to blame; request the code by voice call or email from them instead.
Go through the fixes one by one, in the order given here. The early ones need less than a minute each and clear up the majority of cases.
In this article11 sections
- Step zero: work out whose side the fault is on
- Fix 1: Confirm the number, the network and the SIM
- Fix 2: Confirm your recharge hasn’t lapsed
- Fix 3: Dig through spam and unknown-sender folders
- Fix 4: Sort out your dual-SIM settings
- Fix 5: Make some room and empty the Messages app cache
- Fix 6: Review your DND preference
- Fix 7: If the sender is at fault
- Still stuck? Call your operator
- Common questions
- Sources
Step zero: work out whose side the fault is on
Answer two simple questions and you will know whether the fix lies with your own phone or with whoever sends the code.
| Symptom | Probable reason | Try first |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary texts and OTPs from every bank or app are both missing | Network signal, the SIM itself, plan validity, or a setting on the phone | Fixes 1 and 2 |
| Regular texts come through, yet not a single OTP does | A spam or unknown-sender filter, your SMS app, or DND | Fixes 3 to 6 |
| Only one particular bank or app fails to deliver its OTP | Something wrong in that sender’s SMS configuration | Fix 7 |
Fix 1: Confirm the number, the network and the SIM
- Look at the mobile number your bank or app has saved for you. An outdated number or a single mistyped digit causes this surprisingly often.
- Confirm the phone actually has coverage. Switch Airplane mode on, wait 10 seconds and switch it off again so the handset reconnects.
- Reboot, then ask for a fresh code. Give it a minimum of 2 minutes before tapping resend, because plenty of apps invalidate the earlier code the moment a new one is requested.
- No luck yet? Move the SIM into a different handset and request the code there. If it shows up, your own phone’s settings are the culprit (see Fixes 3 to 5). If it doesn’t, look at the SIM, the plan or the sender.
Fix 2: Confirm your recharge hasn’t lapsed
Once the validity on a prepaid plan runs out, an operator may cut off certain services, and whether incoming texts keep working varies from Jio to Airtel to Vi to BSNL, and from one circle to another. Check your validity date in the operator’s own app (MyJio, Airtel Thanks, Vi or BSNL Selfcare). Operators commonly text you the date up to which incoming services will continue, so search your inbox for that message.
Got a number you hold on to mostly for bank codes? Keep a small recharge running on it. TRAI notified the Telecom Consumers Protection (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2026 on 22 September 2026. Under them, for every data-bundle validity up to 30 days, operators must also sell a pack with only voice and SMS, along with a pack whose renewal falls on the same calendar date every month. These rules kick in 30 days after being published, so look in your operator’s app to see which packs are actually available today.
Fix 3: Dig through spam and unknown-sender folders
Today’s phones auto-sort incoming texts, and every now and then a genuine code gets filed in the wrong spot.
Android phones using Google Messages
- Launch Messages, tap your profile picture in the top-right corner and choose Spam & blocked. Spot the OTP there? Open that thread and flag it as not spam.
- The filter’s own setting lives under profile picture → Messages settings → Protection & Safety → Spam protection.
Samsung phones with the Samsung Messages app
In Samsung’s app, blocked texts are listed under Messages → ⋮ → Settings → Block numbers and spam; have a look through them.
On an iPhone
From iOS 26 onwards, a feature called Screen Unknown Senders shifts texts sent by numbers you don’t know into their own Unknown Senders list. To hunt for the code, open Messages, hit the Filter button and go into Unknown Senders. Anyone using a text message filter should look in Transactions as well. The controls sit at Settings → Apps → Messages → Unknown Senders; there you can switch Screen Unknown Senders off or on and pick which alerts still reach you. According to Apple, alerts for time-sensitive messages like verification codes are enabled by default. And if “Filter Unknown Senders” was in use on iOS 18, the newer screening gets turned on once you upgrade.
Tip: Is Truecaller (or some other app) set as your default SMS app? Go through its spam and blocking options as well, or switch back to the phone’s built-in Messages app for a minute and ask for the code once more.
Fix 4: Sort out your dual-SIM settings
With two SIMs in one phone, the code is delivered to whichever number your bank has on file, regardless of which SIM you have made the default. Head to the SIM settings on your phone (brands label this differently, e.g. SIM manager or SIM cards & mobile networks) and make sure both SIMs are enabled and showing signal. If one of them keeps dropping network, switch off the other one for a moment and try for the OTP once more.
Bank and UPI apps verify your phone during registration by sending an SMS from it, so when the app asks which SIM to use, choose the one tied to your bank account.
Fix 5: Make some room and empty the Messages app cache
When storage is packed, a phone may not manage to save incoming texts. Remove old promotional SMS and bulky files, and then, on Android, clear your Messages app’s cache:
- Go to Settings → Apps and locate your Messages app.
- Choose Storage and after that Clear cache.
- Reboot the handset, then ask for a new code.
Warning: Make sure you press Clear cache rather than Clear data or Clear storage, because wiping data may erase the texts you have saved.
Fix 6: Review your DND preference
DND (Do Not Disturb) exists to keep promotional calls and texts away, and TRAI’s rules say it doesn’t cover transactional or service messages like OTPs. Trouble starts when a company files its OTP template under the wrong category while registering it. So if your number is on full DND (FULLY BLOCK) and one particular sender’s codes never show up, move to BLOCK PROMO by texting that option to 1909. Here is the difference as per TRAI’s 2025 rules: BLOCK PROMO blocks promotional messages alone, whereas FULLY BLOCK additionally blocks service messages that require your explicit consent.
FULLY BLOCK is also on its way out. TRAI’s September 2026 amendment withdraws it, and after that change takes effect, operators will automatically shift existing FULLY BLOCK registrations over to BLOCK PROMO. Besides sending an SMS, you can ring 1909 and go through the prompts, or make the change in the TRAI DND app or your operator’s app. Still no code from that sender? Ask it for a voice call or email OTP (see Fix 7). If you want fewer unwanted calls and texts in general, read how to stop spam calls and SMS in India for more options.
Fix 7: If the sender is at fault
In India, each bank and app has to register every SMS template it uses, along with its sender name (called the “header”), with the telecom operators. A mistake anywhere in that registration can get their texts stopped before they land on a single phone, and no change you make on your end will help.
- See who it claims to be from. From May 2025, operators tack a one-letter suffix onto business SMS headers: -T means transactional, -S service, -G government and -P promotional. An OTP would normally carry a header that ends in -T (occasionally -S).
- Traceability isn’t slowing SMS down, according to TRAI. A TRAI note dated 19 December 2024 stated that the framework operates “without compromising data security or delays in SMS delivery”. Anything sent via an unregistered route has been rejected since 11 December 2024, which means a sender whose setup is broken may fail entirely.
- Request a different way to verify. Most banks and apps let you receive the OTP by voice call or email, or approve the action inside the app. On the code entry screen, watch for options such as “Get OTP on call” or “Try another way”.
- Let the sender know. Get in touch with the bank’s or app’s support team and mention which operator you are on. When just one sender’s OTPs fail, the fix has to come from their end.
Still stuck? Call your operator
If you have tried every fix and still receive no texts whatsoever, ring your operator from the affected number and ask them to look into the SMS service on your line.
| Jio | From a Jio number: 199 for queries, 198 for complaints; from any other network: 1800-889-9999 · MyJio app |
| Airtel | From an Airtel number: 121; complaints: 198 (toll-free) · Airtel Thanks app |
| Vi | From a Vi number: 199 for queries, 198 for complaints · Vi app |
| BSNL | From a BSNL number: 1503; from any other network: 1800-180-1503 · BSNL Selfcare app |
Mobivault shop note: Across the counter at our Mobivault shop, the two culprits we come across most often are an expired prepaid plan (incoming SMS can stop once it lapses) and an OTP that actually arrived but is sitting unnoticed in the unknown-senders or spam folder. Rule out those two before anything else.
Common questions
Regular texts arrive but OTPs don’t. Why?
It could be that your phone or SMS app is filtering out messages sent by businesses. Look in the spam and unknown-sender folders (Fix 3) and review your DND setting (Fix 6). If it is only one bank or app whose codes fail, the fault lies with them (Fix 7).
Can DND stop OTPs from reaching me?
Usually not. TRAI’s rules keep transactional and service messages, OTPs included, outside the scope of DND. A code may still get blocked if the business put it in the wrong category when registering. In that case, moving from FULLY BLOCK to BLOCK PROMO (by SMS to 1909), or asking the business for another verification route like a voice call or email OTP, generally sorts it out.
My recharge has run out. Will OTPs still come?
That varies by operator and by circle. Your operator’s app, or the SMS you got about the expiry, will tell you the date up to which incoming services continue. On any number you rely on for banking, keep a small plan running.
OTPs keep going to a number I no longer use. How do I fix that?
Get the bank or app to change the mobile number linked to your account. Most banks will want this done via net banking, at an ATM or at a branch, since they won’t send a code to any number missing from their records.
Sources
- Apple Support: View conversations from unknown senders in Messages on your iPhone
- Google Messages Help: Spam & blocked conversations · Spam detection
- TRAI Press Release No. 92/2024: SMS traceability framework
- TRAI: TCCCPR (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2026 (FULLY BLOCK moves to BLOCK PROMO)
- TRAI: Preference registration (1909 by call or SMS, IVR, app or web)
- TRAI: Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Amendment) Regulations, 12 February 2025 (Schedule-II lists the 1909 options)
- MediaNama: Telcos add -P, -S, -T, -G suffixes to commercial message headers (July 2025)
Last revised 10 October 2026: Fix 6 was expanded to cover how BLOCK PROMO differs from FULLY BLOCK, the call and app routes for 1909, and TRAI’s September 2026 move to withdraw FULLY BLOCK.
