A required phone field must carry an SMS disclaimer beside it
The requirementstatement
Where the phone-number field is mandatory, the text next to it must say whether the number will be used for text messages.
- Severityseverity
- HighHIGHRejected by at least one carrier or provider, and a common cause of failure at the rest.
- When it bitesphase
- Gates approvalapprovalGet this wrong and the brand or campaign is refused at registration.
- What is checkedobject
- text adjacent to the phone field
- Where it liveslayer
- Consent flowCONSENT_FLOW
- How Ekas settles itdetectability
- AI · crawlCRAWL
- Needs your live site or policy page fetched and read. Ekas crawls it the way a reviewer would.
- What the fix involvesfailureClass
- Fix the websiteTERMINAL_WEBSITE
- The fix lives on your site. No amount of rewording the form clears it.
- Who requires itauthorities
- TelnyxZoom (ISV)
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies when consent was collected by web form, checkout, account settings, QR code and third party.
Why this rule existsrationale
Somebody typing a mandatory number needs to know at that moment what it will be used for — a number given for a delivery call is not a number given for marketing texts, and the difference is decided by what was written beside the box. This is the disclosure half of the required-field problem: even a form that legitimately needs the number owes the consumer that sentence.
How to fix itremediation
Put a one-line disclaimer directly under the phone input saying what the number is for and whether texts are part of it. Done when the sentence sits within the field's own block rather than in a disclosure lower down the page.
A compliant exampleexample
Mobile number (required — we text delivery updates to this number). Marketing texts are separate and optional; see the box below.
Common mistakespitfalls
- A disclaimer that appears only after the field is focused or filled is not present at the moment the consumer decides to type.
Notesnotes
Distinct from CON-043, which requires a separate optional CONTROL where the number is mandatory. This rule is about the TEXT beside the field, and a form can satisfy one and fail the other.
Rules you will hit next
Other consent flow rules at the same severity. A registration is judged as a whole, not rule by rule.
CON-017An offline opt-in still needs a findable business behind itHighHIGHCON-033Opt-in evidence must be the live surface, not a mockup of itHighHIGHCON-038Verbally-collected informational campaigns need the mockup and the messagesHighHIGHCON-042The phone field must be optional on a general-purpose formHighHIGHCON-064A kiosk or terminal must not pre-fill the consumer's numberHighHIGHCON-071The decline path must be as usable as the accept pathHighHIGH
CON-044 is one of 101 consent flow rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.