If you need to turn off two-way SMS — whether for compliance reasons, a temporary pause, or because you no longer want to receive replies — you can disable it directly from the Messages page.
How to disable
Open the Messages page
In the toolbar at the top, the top row shows: "Two-way SMS: Enabled · Disable"
Click the Disable button
A confirmation dialog will appear: "Disable two-way SMS? You will stop receiving reply notifications and cannot send messages from the portal until you re-enable."
Click OK to confirm, or Cancel to keep it enabled
Once confirmed, the page refreshes to show the disabled state — the centered "Two-way SMS is not enabled" panel with an Enable button.
What changes when you disable
Several things happen at the moment you disable:
The Messages inbox disappears from view — the disabled panel takes its place
You stop receiving notification emails when leads reply
You can't send messages from the portal — the compose box is hidden
Your outbound campaigns continue to work as before — outbound automation is unaffected
What stays the same
Even when two-way SMS is disabled:
Replies from leads still arrive at Twilio and are logged in the system (just invisible to you)
Opt-outs (STOP keywords) are still honored by Twilio at the carrier level
Your historical conversations are not deleted — when you re-enable, they reappear exactly as you left them
Your notification recipient list is preserved — when you re-enable, the same recipients are still configured
What happens to your subscription on add-on plans
If you're on an add-on plan (i.e., you're paying $15/month + $0.06 per outbound over 250):
Your Stripe subscription is canceled at the end of the current billing period — not immediately
You keep access to two-way SMS for the rest of that billing period (the portal will keep working until then)
No immediate charge or refund — you've already paid through the end of the current period
You won't be billed again at the start of the next period
If you re-enable within the current billing period, the cancellation is reversed and you continue without interruption — no new charge
If you re-enable after the period ends, a fresh subscription is created and you're charged the $15 flat fee again
For included plans (two-way SMS bundled with your contract), disabling has no billing implications — it's just a visibility toggle.
Why disable?
Common reasons:
Compliance changes — your firm's compliance officer has new restrictions
Pausing campaigns — you're temporarily not running SMS outreach
Staffing changes — no one's currently available to respond to replies
You can re-enable any time. The toggle is non-destructive — it just controls visibility and outbound capability.
Re-enabling
To turn two-way SMS back on, see Enabling Two-Way SMS. Your previous settings (notification recipients, conversation history) all come back exactly as they were.