SUPPORT.TWILIO.COM END OF LIFE NOTICE: This site, support.twilio.com, is scheduled to go End of Life on February 27, 2024. All Twilio Support content has been migrated to help.twilio.com, where you can continue to find helpful Support articles, API docs, and Twilio blog content, and escalate your issues to our Support team. We encourage you to update your bookmarks and begin using the new site today for all your Twilio Support needs.

Germany Short Code Best Practices

The following topics are discussed in this guide. Click a topic to skip directly to this information:

To apply for German Short Code please follow the guidelines here.

Germany Short Code Content Restrictions

See the table below for the type of content that is or is not allowed in Germany.

Please also refer to Twilio’s AUP for additional content restriction details. 

Type of Message Content Allowed  Not Allowed
Adult   (error)
Alerts (tick)  
Gambling / Casinos   (error)
Illegal products or services   (error)
Malware   (error)
Marketing (tick)  
Multilevel trading   (error)
Notifications (tick)  
OTP (tick)  
Political causes / politicians   (error)
Promotions (tick)  
Religious   (error)
Sensitive data (end user)   (error)
Sexual content (explicit)   (error)
Spam / phishing   (error)
Special offers (tick)  
Third-party rights violations (copyrights, registered trademarks)   (error)

Other German Short Code Restrictions

Restriction type Explanation
Hours No restrictions (tick)
Message Length  No restrictions (tick)
SMS Communication  
No restrictions (tick)
Mandatory Keywords None (error)

Opt-In and Opt-Out Requirements

There is no specific regulation on opt-in process, but carriers can request evidence of opt-in at any time, so following these best practices is recommended:

  • Prior consent or right to opposition will be collected by means of a checkbox, either online or offline. Pre-checking the box as default is to be avoided at all times.
  • Advertising by SMS is possible provided that people have explicitly agreed to be approached, at the time of collection of their mobile phone number.

Two exceptions to this principle:

  • if the person being prospected is already a client of the company and the prospecting concerns products or services similar to those already provided by the company.
  • if the prospect is not of a commercial nature (charitable for example).

In both cases, the person must, at the time of collecting his telephone number:

  • be informed that their mobile phone number will be used for prospecting purposes.
  • to be able to oppose this use in a simple and costless way.

Each message should:

  • specify the identity of the advertiser.
  • propose a simple way to oppose receiving new messages (for example, a non-premium phone number where it is possible to unsubscribe at the end of the message). 
  • have various possibilities (mobile, desktop, website etc) for the subscriber to opt-in and especially to opt-out.
  • In case of marketing purposes the opt-out must be well documented - users can opt-out by sms, via email or website, sending a form, contacting the brand etc. There must always be a way out and it must be well documented.

Opt-in must meet Valid Consent GDPR Requirements. 

Opt-in and Opt-out processes must be very well documented on the customer side in the Terms and Conditions.

Have more questions? Submit a request
Powered by Zendesk