Is Twilio Down? How to Check Twilio Status in Real-Time

Quick Answer: To check if Twilio is down right now, visit apistatuscheck.com/api/twilio for real-time status monitoring, or check status.twilio.com for official incident reports. If your SMS messages aren't sending or voice calls are failing, you're likely experiencing a Twilio outage.

When Twilio goes down, thousands of applications stop working. Two-factor authentication fails, customer notifications don't send, and call centers grind to a halt. For developers building on Twilio's platform, knowing how to quickly detect and respond to outages is critical.

How to Check Twilio Status in Real-Time

1. API Status Check (Fastest Detection)

API Status Check monitors Twilio's API endpoints every 60 seconds, providing real-time status updates before official announcements. Our monitoring covers:

• SMS API - Text message delivery endpoints
• Voice API - Call routing and telephony services
• Programmable Messaging - WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger integration
• Verify API - Two-factor authentication services
• Lookup API - Phone number validation

Unlike relying solely on status pages, our automated monitoring detects API degradation and errors in real-time, often before Twilio's team posts an incident update.

// Example: Check Twilio status programmatically
const response = await fetch('https://apistatuscheck.com/api/twilio');
const status = await response.json();

if (status.operational === false) {
  // Trigger fallback SMS provider
  console.log('Twilio outage detected, switching to backup...');
}

2. Official Twilio Status Page

status.twilio.com is Twilio's official status page, showing real-time operational status for all services:

• Programmable Voice - Inbound/outbound calling
• Programmable SMS - Text messaging
• Programmable Messaging - Multi-channel messaging
• Verify - 2FA and phone verification
• Lookup - Phone number intelligence
• Conversations - Multi-party messaging
• Flex - Cloud contact center platform

The page includes historical uptime percentages and detailed incident post-mortems. However, status page updates can lag behind actual service degradation by several minutes.

3. Twilio Developer Console

Check your Twilio Console logs for error patterns:

• Error Code 30001 - Queue overflow (high volume)
• Error Code 30003 - Unreachable destination
• Error Code 30005 - Unknown destination handset
• Error Code 20003 - Authentication error
• Error Code 21408 - Permission denied

A sudden spike in error codes across multiple phone numbers often indicates a platform-wide issue rather than individual number problems.

4. Twitter/X Monitoring

Search Twitter for "Twilio down" or check @TwilioStatus for real-time community reports. Developers often tweet about outages before official acknowledgment.

Common Twilio Issues and How to Identify Them

SMS Delivery Delays

Symptoms:

• Messages queued but not sent
• Delivery callbacks timing out (>30 seconds)
• Status webhook showing "queued" for extended periods

Typical causes:

• Carrier network congestion
• Twilio message queue backlog during outages
• Regional SMS routing failures

Voice Call Failures

Symptoms:

• Calls immediately disconnecting
• "Call failed" errors in console
• No audio/one-way audio on connected calls
• TwiML execution timeouts

Typical causes:

• SIP gateway failures
• WebRTC infrastructure issues
• Regional voice API outages

API Authentication Errors

Symptoms:

• 401 Unauthorized responses
• 403 Forbidden errors despite valid credentials
• Token validation failures

Typical causes:

• Auth service degradation
• Database connectivity issues on Twilio's side
• API key validation system outages

Webhook Failures

Symptoms:

• Status callbacks not received
• Message delivery receipts missing
• Call event webhooks timing out

Typical causes:

• Webhook delivery queue failures
• Twilio's egress network issues
• Regional webhook infrastructure outages

API Rate Limiting Issues

Symptoms:

• 429 Too Many Requests errors
• Throttled requests exceeding normal patterns
• Sudden rejection of previously working API calls

Typical causes:

• API gateway failures causing aggressive rate limiting
• Load balancer misconfigurations during incidents
• Protection measures during DDoS attacks

The Impact of Twilio Outages

Broken Two-Factor Authentication

When Twilio's Verify API goes down, user authentication fails across thousands of applications:

• Users can't log in to banking apps
• E-commerce checkout flows break
• Healthcare portals become inaccessible
• Enterprise SSO systems fail

A 15-minute Twilio outage can lock millions of users out of critical services.

Failed Customer Notifications

Applications relying on Twilio for transactional messaging experience:

• Order confirmations not sent
• Shipping notifications lost
• Appointment reminders missed
• Critical alerts undelivered (security, fraud, emergencies)

Disrupted Call Centers

Contact centers built on Twilio Flex face complete operational shutdowns:

• Inbound customer calls can't be answered
• Agent routing fails
• Call recording and analytics stop
• Queue management breaks

Even a brief outage can create hours of backlog and customer service chaos.

Financial and Reputational Damage

For businesses relying on Twilio:

• E-commerce: Lost sales during checkout failures
• SaaS: Inability to onboard new customers
• Healthcare: Missed appointment reminders costing $150+ per no-show
• Finance: Regulatory compliance violations for delayed notifications

The average cost of a communications outage for enterprises exceeds $5,600 per minute according to industry estimates.

What to Do When Twilio Is Down

1. Implement Fallback SMS Providers

Don't rely on a single communications provider. Set up automatic failover to backup services:

const providers = [
  { name: 'twilio', sendSMS: twilioSend, priority: 1 },
  { name: 'messagebird', sendSMS: messagebirdSend, priority: 2 },
  { name: 'plivo', sendSMS: plivoSend, priority: 3 }
];

async function sendWithFailover(to, message) {
  for (const provider of providers) {
    try {
      await provider.sendSMS(to, message);
      console.log(`Sent via ${provider.name}`);
      return;
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(`${provider.name} failed, trying next...`);
    }
  }
  throw new Error('All SMS providers failed');
}

Alternative providers:

• MessageBird - Global coverage, similar API
• Plivo - Cost-effective for high volume
• Vonage (Nexmo) - Strong international reach
• Bandwidth - US-focused, reliable infrastructure
• Amazon SNS - Good for AWS-native applications

2. Queue Messages for Retry

Implement a message queue to retry failed sends automatically:

// Using Bull queue with Redis
const messageQueue = new Queue('sms-queue', {
  redis: { host: 'localhost', port: 6379 }
});

messageQueue.process(async (job) => {
  const { to, message } = job.data;
  try {
    await twilio.messages.create({ to, body: message });
  } catch (error) {
    // Retry with exponential backoff
    throw error;
  }
});

// Add with retry configuration
messageQueue.add({ to: '+1234567890', message: 'Hello' }, {
  attempts: 5,
  backoff: { type: 'exponential', delay: 2000 }
});

3. Alert Customers Proactively

When you detect a Twilio outage affecting your service:

• Update your status page - Be transparent about the issue
• Send email notifications - Use email as backup for critical alerts
• Post on social media - Keep customers informed
• Enable maintenance mode - Prevent new transactions that require SMS

4. Store Critical Data Locally

Don't depend on Twilio APIs for real-time data retrieval during incidents:

• Cache phone number lookup results
• Store message history in your database
• Keep local copies of call recordings
• Maintain your own analytics

5. Monitor and Alert Your Team

Set up automated monitoring with instant alerts:

// Example monitoring script
const checkTwilioHealth = async () => {
  try {
    const testMessage = await twilio.messages.create({
      to: process.env.TEST_NUMBER,
      from: process.env.TWILIO_NUMBER,
      body: 'Health check'
    });
    
    if (testMessage.status === 'failed') {
      await alertTeam('Twilio health check failed');
    }
  } catch (error) {
    await alertTeam(`Twilio API error: ${error.message}`);
  }
};

// Run every 2 minutes
setInterval(checkTwilioHealth, 120000);

Subscribe to API Status Check alerts to get notified within seconds of Twilio outages.

6. Review Your Error Handling

Ensure your application gracefully handles Twilio failures:

• Catch API exceptions - Don't let Twilio errors crash your app
• Provide user feedback - Tell users if SMS verification is temporarily unavailable
• Offer alternatives - Allow email verification as backup for 2FA
• Log everything - Detailed logs help diagnose issues faster

Twilio Outage History

While Twilio maintains strong uptime (typically 99.95%+), notable outages have occurred:

• March 2023 - SMS delivery delays affecting North American customers (~2 hours)
• September 2022 - Voice API authentication issues causing call failures (~45 minutes)
• June 2022 - Programmable Messaging API degradation in EU region (~90 minutes)
• February 2022 - Verify API outage affecting 2FA globally (~30 minutes)

Even brief outages have cascading effects across thousands of dependent applications.

FAQ: Twilio Status and Outages

How do I check if Twilio is down right now?

Visit apistatuscheck.com/api/twilio for real-time monitoring with 60-second checks, or check status.twilio.com for official status updates. You can also monitor error rates in your Twilio Console logs.

What is the Twilio status page URL?

The official Twilio status page is status.twilio.com. It shows real-time operational status for all Twilio services including SMS, Voice, Verify, and more.

How long do Twilio outages typically last?

Most Twilio incidents are resolved within 30-90 minutes. Minor degradations may last 15-30 minutes, while major outages rarely exceed 2-3 hours. Twilio's engineering team typically responds within 15 minutes of detection.

Does Twilio have a status API I can query programmatically?

Twilio doesn't provide an official status API, but you can use API Status Check's API to programmatically query Twilio's operational status and integrate it into your monitoring systems.

What should I do if Twilio SMS messages aren't sending?

First, check status.twilio.com and apistatuscheck.com/api/twilio for outages. Review your Twilio Console for error codes. If there's no platform-wide issue, verify your account balance, check phone number validation, and ensure your API credentials are correct.

How can I get notified about Twilio outages instantly?

Subscribe to API Status Check alerts for real-time notifications via email, Slack, or webhook when Twilio experiences downtime. You can also subscribe to Twilio's official status page notifications at status.twilio.com.

Are Twilio incidents published publicly?

Yes, Twilio publishes detailed incident post-mortems on their status page after major outages, typically within 72 hours. These reports include root cause analysis, impact assessment, and prevention measures.

What's the difference between Twilio degradation and a full outage?

Degradation means Twilio services are operational but performing below normal standards (slower API responses, partial delivery failures, higher error rates). A full outage means services are completely unavailable. Both can significantly impact your application.

Stay Ahead of Twilio Downtime

Don't wait until your customers report broken 2FA or missing notifications. Monitor Twilio's status proactively with API Status Check.

Get instant alerts when Twilio goes down:

• ✅ Real-time monitoring every 60 seconds
• ✅ Email, Slack, and webhook notifications
• ✅ Historical uptime data and incident reports
• ✅ API access for programmatic monitoring

Start monitoring Twilio for free →

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Last updated: February 4, 2026. Monitoring data provided by API Status Check.