When procedures text and call

A procedure works on its own, so it keeps the law for every text and call it sends. It never relies on consent, an earlier inquiry, or a past relationship to reach someone outside these hours.

The hours

• The federal limit applies everywhere. Texts and calls go out only between 8 AM and 9 PM on the contact's own clock.
• Many states are tighter. Some start later, end earlier, or allow nothing on Sundays or holidays. Procedures follow each state's rules, listed below.
• Calls can be tighter than texts. Some states have extra rules for automated and AI-voice calls, so a call may have to wait while a text could go.
• Emails go out any time.
• The calling window in Settings does not apply. Settings > Calling & Messaging > Outbound Call Window is for calls you ask a voice agent to make. Procedure calls keep the legal hours only, the same as procedure texts.

A text or call that is outside the hours waits. It goes out at the first minute the hours open where the contact is, and it is written fresh at that moment.

Where the contact is

Every place the contact might be has to allow it:

• The state on their mailing address.
• The state of their phone number's area code. Some states assume a person lives where their area code is from, so both count when they differ. For example, a California address with a Miami number stops at 8 PM Eastern, which is 5 PM in California.
• Every time zone of a state that has two. An area code narrows it when it can. A Dallas number is on Central time. An El Paso number can be on either, so it waits for both, as does a Texas address with no number to narrow it.
• Where their visit came from, only when neither of the above is known.
• Your firm's own time zone, when nothing places them, with the federal 8 AM to 9 PM.

Area codes follow the official US list, including the newest ones.

What can go outside the hours

• A reply to their text. An answer to a text the contact sent in the last 15 minutes goes right away, at any hour. They wrote first and are awake.
• Booking texts. Confirmations, reminders, reschedule notices and cancellation notices for a meeting the contact booked are not procedure messages and are not held.

Follow ups the procedure starts on its own also wait for a weekday on the contact's clock.

States with tighter hours

Times are on the contact's own clock. "Holidays" means every federal holiday, plus the state's own, such as Mardi Gras in Louisiana or Pioneer Day in Utah.

Texts and calls

Calls only, on top of the rules above

Every other state uses the federal 8 AM to 9 PM.

These rules come from a review of each state's law in October 2026, read strictly. They are not legal advice.

Related guides

• Voice agent setup
• Tasks