OTP Not Arriving? Find the Fault and Fix It on Jio, Airtel, Vi, BSNL

Every OTP makes the same trip: from the sender, across your operator’s network, into the messages app on your phone. It can stall at any of those three stops, and each stop has its own fix. Find where yours stalled and you won’t waste time on settings that were never the problem.

In this article11 topics

1. Three questions that point to the fault
2. Suspect one: your recharge has run out
3. Suspect two: the code is hiding in a filtered folder
4. Quick checks on your number, signal and SIM
5. Two SIMs? The code follows the registered number
6. Storage full or the SMS app misbehaving
7. DND: rarely the cause, but worth a look
8. When one bank or app is the problem
9. No texts at all? Call your operator
10. OTP questions, answered
11. Where these facts come from

Three questions that point to the fault

Answer these before you open a single settings menu.

• Is every bank and app failing, or only one? If it’s one, the trouble usually lies in the way that sender sends its SMS. Jump to “When one bank or app is the problem” below.
• Have ordinary texts stopped as well? When messages from people are missing along with every OTP, suspect weak signal, a SIM problem, a lapsed plan or a setting on the phone. Begin with the recharge check and the quick checks.
• Ordinary texts arrive, but no OTP from anyone? The likely blocker is a filter (spam or unknown senders), your SMS app, or DND. The folder, dual-SIM, storage and DND sections deal with these.

The fixes below are ordered from fastest to slowest. The early ones clear up most cases, so work from the top.

Suspect one: your recharge has run out

Once a prepaid pack’s validity ends, your operator may switch off some services. What then happens to incoming SMS differs between Jio, Airtel, Vi and BSNL, and can even differ from one circle to the next. So check instead of guessing. Check the validity date in your operator’s app. That’s MyJio on Jio, Airtel Thanks on Airtel, the Vi app on Vi and BSNL Selfcare on BSNL. Operators often send an SMS saying how long incoming services will keep working, so search your inbox for it too.

If a number is mainly there to receive bank OTPs, keep it active; a small recharge is all it needs. A new TRAI rule is relevant here. On 22 September 2026, TRAI notified the Telecom Consumers Protection (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2026. For each data bundle valid for 30 days or less, operators must also sell a pack with only voice and SMS, plus a pack that renews on a fixed date each month. The rules start applying 30 days after publication, so check what your operator’s app is selling right now.

Suspect two: the code is hiding in a filtered folder

Messaging apps now sort texts by themselves, and once in a while a real OTP lands in the wrong pile. Here is where to look on each type of phone.

Android: the Google Messages spam folder

1. Open Messages, tap your profile picture in the top-right corner and go to Spam & blocked. If the OTP is sitting there, open the conversation and mark it as not spam.
2. To see how the filter is configured, go to profile picture → Messages settings → Protection & Safety → Spam protection.

Galaxy phones: the blocked list

If you use Samsung Messages, follow Messages → ⋮ → Settings → Block numbers and spam, then scroll through the messages blocked there.

iPhone: the Unknown Senders list

Since iOS 26, Screen Unknown Senders moves texts from numbers you don’t recognise into a separate Unknown Senders list. To check it, open Messages, tap Filter and choose Unknown Senders. If you use a text message filter, look in Transactions as well.

The control sits at Settings → Apps → Messages → Unknown Senders. From there you can turn Screen Unknown Senders on or off and pick which notifications still get through. Apple says notifications for time-sensitive texts, verification codes among them, are on by default. And if “Filter Unknown Senders” was switched on in iOS 18, the new screening comes on by itself after the upgrade.

Quick checks on your number, signal and SIM

1. Make sure the bank or app has your current number. One wrong digit, or an old number you no longer use, is a common reason codes never show up.
2. Look for network bars. To make the phone reconnect, put it in Airplane mode for 10 seconds, then take it out.
3. Restart and ask for the code again, then leave the resend button alone for at least 2 minutes. Many apps invalidate the previous code the moment you request another, so if you resend too early, the first code may be dead by the time it lands.
4. Still nothing? Put the SIM in someone else’s phone and ask for a code. If it lands there, the fault is in your handset’s settings: the folders above, or the SIM choice and storage covered below. If it doesn’t, suspect the SIM, your plan or the sender.

Two SIMs? The code follows the registered number

On a dual-SIM phone, the OTP goes to whichever number the bank has on file. Your default SIM makes no difference. Open the SIM settings (look for SIM manager or SIM cards & mobile networks; the name depends on the brand) and confirm that both SIMs are switched on and have signal. If one keeps losing network, turn the other SIM off for a moment and try the OTP again.

UPI and banking apps send a verification SMS from your phone when you first set them up. If the app offers a SIM choice at that point, pick the SIM whose number your bank holds.

Storage full or the SMS app misbehaving

A phone that has run out of storage may fail to save new texts. Delete old promotional SMS and any large files. Android users should also empty the messaging app’s cache:

1. Open Settings → Apps and pick your SMS app from the list.
2. Tap Storage, then Clear cache.
3. Restart the phone and ask for a new OTP.

DND: rarely the cause, but worth a look

DND (Do Not Disturb) is meant to stop promotional calls and texts. Under TRAI’s rules, OTPs and other transactional or service messages aren’t covered by it at all. The exception is a business that puts its OTP template in the wrong category when it registers it.

Is your number on full DND (FULLY BLOCK), with one sender’s OTPs never reaching you? Switch to BLOCK PROMO by texting BLOCK PROMO to 1909. TRAI’s 2025 rules draw the line clearly: BLOCK PROMO filters out promotional messages and nothing more, whereas FULLY BLOCK also stops service messages that need your explicit consent. TRAI’s September 2026 amendment scraps FULLY BLOCK entirely. When that takes effect, operators will automatically move anyone still on FULLY BLOCK over to BLOCK PROMO.

Prefer not to text? Call 1909 and follow the voice menu, or change it in the TRAI DND app or your operator’s app. If that one sender’s codes still fail, request the OTP by call or email instead (see the next section). For more ways to keep junk calls and texts out, read our guide to blocking spam calls and messages in India.

When one bank or app is the problem

Indian rules make every bank and app register its SMS templates and its sender name, called the “header”, with the operators. If something in that registration is wrong, the message can be stopped before it reaches any phone, and nothing on your handset can override that.

• Read the sender name. From May 2025, operators tag business SMS headers with a final letter: -T for transactional, -S for service, -G for government and -P for promotional. OTPs normally come with -T, and sometimes -S.
• TRAI says traceability isn’t what slows codes down. In a note dated 19 December 2024, TRAI said the system neither compromises data security nor delays SMS delivery. One thing has changed, though: since 11 December 2024, SMS sent through unregistered routes are rejected, so a sender with a broken setup may simply never get through.
• Switch the delivery method. Most banks and apps offer the code as a voice call or an email, or let you confirm the login inside their own app. Check the OTP screen for a “Try another way” or “Get OTP on call” option.
• Raise it with the sender. Contact the support team of that bank or app and tell them which operator you’re on. If only their codes fail, only they can fix it.

No texts at all? Call your operator

If you’ve worked through everything above and your phone still receives no SMS of any kind, ring your operator from that number and ask them to check SMS service on your line.

Jio	From a Jio number: 199 (queries), 198 (complaints) · Other networks: 1800-889-9999 · MyJio app
Airtel	From an Airtel number: 121 · Complaints: 198, toll-free · Airtel Thanks app
Vi	From a Vi number: 199 (queries), 198 (complaints) · Vi app
BSNL	From a BSNL number: 1503 · Other networks: 1800-180-1503 · BSNL Selfcare app

OTP questions, answered

Texts from people arrive, but bank codes don’t. Why?

Something is probably filtering messages from businesses: a spam or unknown-sender folder in your SMS app, or your DND choice. Check those first. If the problem is limited to one bank or app, the sender has to fix it.

Could DND be what’s blocking my codes?

Rarely. TRAI’s rules put OTPs among the transactional and service messages that DND doesn’t touch. A code can still get stuck if the business registered it in the wrong category. Switching from FULLY BLOCK to BLOCK PROMO with an SMS to 1909 usually fixes it. So does asking the business to send the code by phone call or email.

My validity has ended. Will OTPs still come?

That depends on your operator and your circle. The operator’s app, or the SMS it sent at expiry, shows how long incoming services stay on. For any number linked to your bank, keep a small plan running.

How long should I wait before asking for another code?

At least 2 minutes. In many apps a new request cancels the previous code, so tapping resend too soon can leave you holding one that no longer works.

Codes keep going to my old number. What now?

Update the mobile number registered with your bank or the app. Banks usually want this done through net banking, an ATM or a branch visit, because they only send OTPs to the number already in their records.

Where these facts come from

• Apple Support: where iPhone Messages puts texts from unknown senders
• Google Messages Help: managing spam and blocked conversations · Google Messages Help: how spam protection works
• TRAI press release 92/2024: SMS traceability and message delivery
• TRAI: the TCCCPR (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2026, moving FULLY BLOCK users across to BLOCK PROMO
• TRAI: ways to set your DND preference (call or SMS 1909, IVR, app or website)
• TRAI: 12 February 2025 amendment to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (Schedule-II lists the 1909 options)
• MediaNama, July 2025: operators start tagging business SMS headers with -P, -S, -T and -G