> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.bird.com/applications/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.bird.com/applications/channels/channels/supported-channels/sms/concepts/sms-destination-management.md).

# SMS Destination Management

### Overview

Destination management gives you control over which countries your workspace is permitted to send SMS to. By maintaining an explicit allowlist, you can:

* **Prevent unintended spend** — block countries you don't operate in so accidental or misconfigured sends don't incur charges.
* **Reduce fraud exposure** — high-cost or high-fraud destinations (often used in SMS pumping attacks) can be blocked at the workspace level before any traffic is attempted.
* **Meet compliance requirements** — some organizations are legally restricted from communicating with recipients in certain jurisdictions. Blocking those countries enforces this at the workspace level.

Any message sent to a country not on your allowed list is rejected immediately with a `DestinationBlocked` error before a message record is created.

***

### How to manage destinations

You can manage the allowed destinations list via the UI or directly through the API.

#### Via the UI

Navigate to the Manage Destinations page using either path:

* **Settings → Channels → SMS → Manage Destinations**
* **Developer → SMS Setup → Manage Destinations**

**To allow a country:**

1. Open the **Select a country** dropdown.
2. Select the country you want to enable.
3. Click **Save**.

**To block a country:**

1. Find the country in the **Allowed destinations** list.
2. Click the **×** next to the country name.
3. Click **Save**.

Changes take effect within 1 minute for new send requests.

#### Via the API

For programmatic management — for example, updating allowed destinations as part of a provisioning workflow or enforcing policy across multiple workspaces — use the [Destination Management API](https://docs.bird.com/api/numbers-api/api-reference/destination-management-api).

The API lets you list current allowed destinations, add countries, and remove countries without going through the UI.

***

### API behavior when a destination is blocked

When a message is sent to a blocked destination, the API responds synchronously:

| Field       | Value                                                   |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| HTTP status | `422 Unprocessable Entity`                              |
| `code`      | `DestinationBlocked`                                    |
| `message`   | The destination is blocked and cannot receive messages. |

Because the rejection happens before message creation:

* No message object is created
* No status webhook is fired
* No credits are charged

For additional help resolving SMS errors, see [Troubleshoot SMS Delivery Failures](https://docs.bird.com/applications/channels/channels/supported-channels/sms/quickstarts/toubleshoot-sms-deliveries-faliures).


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