How appointment reminders work
Updated September 30, 2026
LOCLbox can remind each client about their appointment automatically, about 24 hours before it starts. Reminders start once your account can send texts (step 1) or once you choose email for client notifications (step 2). Until one of those is true, no reminders go out.
Step by step
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Make sure your account can send reminders
Text reminders go out when your account can text: LOCLbox Pro or the No-Show Protection add-on with your texting number activated (see Your texting number and how texts work). Until your own number is activated, a Pro account sends reminders from a shared LOCLbox number, the same way the Text Appointment Reminders add-on does, and they count toward your included texts. You can also add the Text Appointment Reminders add-on ($9 a month), which sends from a shared LOCLbox number. Add-ons are in Settings > Billing > Add-ons. Text reminders start once LOCLbox's shared-line verification is approved; until then clients get these by email.
If none of these apply, choose Email in the next step, or no reminders are sent.
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Choose text or email
Go to Settings > Notifications and find Client Notifications. Pick one:
- Text message (recommended): texts are usually seen within minutes.
- Email: booking updates go by email, and the booking form then asks every client for an email address.
- Text until my included texts run out, then email.
Press Save Notification Settings.
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Decide on the manage link
On the same page, Client Self-Service controls whether reminders and confirmations include a private link where the client can view, reschedule or cancel that one appointment. It is on unless you turned it off. Your cancellation policy still applies to a cancel through the link.
What clients receive
- On your own texting number, a client who has not confirmed yet is asked to reply YES to confirm or NO to cancel.
- A confirmed client usually gets the reminder with their manage link, or "Reply NO to cancel" when there is no link.
- Until your own number is activated (on Pro), or with only the Text Appointment Reminders add-on, reminders come from a shared LOCLbox number. Clients cannot confirm or cancel there by replying YES or NO. If they text back, the message lands in your Messages and they get a secure link to keep talking to you. When your business phone is on your profile, the reminder includes it so they can call you to reschedule.
Who does not get a text reminder
- Clients who did not agree to texts when they booked. The agreement checkbox is part of the booking form and starts unchecked.
- Clients who replied STOP to your texts.
- A booking whose texts have not been turned on yet. Texts for a booking start only after the client types a one-time code (on the booking page or from the link in the code text, on any device), replies YES from that phone, or books again from a device already recognised as theirs from an earlier code (remembered for 90 days). Until then confirmations and reminders go by email. The agreement checkbox always starts unchecked: a client who left it unchecked can tap "Get text updates for this booking" on the confirmation page, and gets the same code step.
- Every booking at a business that cannot send a booking code. That is a business with no texting number of its own, unless booking codes from the shared LOCLbox line have been switched on for the platform (they are off until that line is approved to carry them), and a Free plan with only the protection add-on. Those businesses show no text option on the booking form and keep clients informed by email.
- Appointments booked for less than about 20 hours away. The booking confirmation they just received does the job.
- Cancelled appointments.
Each appointment gets one reminder. The 24-hour timing is the same for every business and cannot be changed.