SMS Usage & Balance Report

Where your SMS balance is actually going

SMS in ClinyPal is used for two quite different purposes: automatic reminders that fire on their own ahead of an appointment, and broadcasts that staff compose and send deliberately to a group of patients. Both draw from the same clinic-wide SMS balance, which means it's easy to lose track of which one is actually driving your spend. SMS Usage & Balance exists to make that split visible, alongside a running check on how much balance you have left.

The report matters most when a balance is running low, because the consequence of running out isn't a warning banner — it's reminders and broadcasts that simply stop going out, silently, until the balance is topped up. Checking this report periodically, rather than only after a patient mentions they never got a reminder, is the difference between catching a low balance and discovering it the hard way.

At a glance

Splits SMS spend between automatic reminders and manual broadcasts
Filters by date range
Messages sent, Segments used, and Balance left KPI tiles
Real links to where balance, top-up, and the payment method behind it are managed

The SMS Usage & Balance report showing the Balance left KPI tile and the By type table comparing reminder and broadcast message counts.

Filters

Date range — limits the report to messages sent inside the selected period.

KPI tiles

Messages sent — total SMS messages sent in the period, across both reminders and broadcasts.
Segments used — total SMS segments consumed in the period.
Balance left — your clinic's remaining SMS balance as of now, not as of the end of the selected date range.

Why Segments used and Messages sent aren't the same number SMS providers bill by segment, not by message. A single message longer than roughly 160 characters, or one using certain characters such as emoji, splits into multiple segments behind the scenes, and you're billed for each one. This is why Segments used will often run higher than Messages sent, especially for clinics that write longer reminder or broadcast text.

The By type table

This is where the reminder-versus-broadcast split actually shows up as numbers. If your balance is draining faster than expected, this table is the first place to look — a spike in Broadcast segments usually traces back to a recent large campaign, while a steady climb in Reminder segments tends to track appointment volume instead.

Type	Count	Segments
Reminder or Broadcast	Number of messages sent of that type in the period	Total segments consumed by that type

Keeping the balance from running dry

If Balance left is trending toward zero, you have two real options: top up manually when you notice it's getting low, or configure auto top-up so a shrinking balance replenishes itself before reminders and broadcasts get interrupted. Auto top-up, along with the low-balance reminder threshold that warns you before it's urgent, is configured on the SMS Settings page rather than here — this report is where you notice the trend, not where you act on it.

SMS Settings

Check your SMS credit balance, configure reply forwarding, and set auto top-up and low-balance reminder thresholds so outgoing SMS never silently stops.

Clinic Payment Methods

Manage the card your clinic uses for SMS top-ups and your ClinyPal subscription itself — the payment method auto top-up charges against.