Booking page not loading

Symptoms: When you or a customer visits your booking page URL, the page shows an error, loads blank, or shows "Page not found".

Step 1 — Check that your booking page is enabled

Go to Settings → Booking and confirm the "Enable booking page" toggle is turned ON. If it is off, customers will see an error when they visit your link.

Step 2 — Verify your URL slug is set

In Settings → Booking, make sure the "Booking URL slug" field is filled in. If it is empty, your booking page does not have an address to load from. Set a slug (e.g. smith-hvac) and save.

Step 3 — Check your plan

The public booking page requires a Growth or Pro plan. On the free and Starter plans, the booking page is not available. If you recently downgraded, your booking page will have been automatically disabled. See plans.

Step 4 — Try a different browser or device

Sometimes browser extensions (ad blockers, VPNs, privacy tools) interfere with page loading. Try opening your booking link in a private/incognito window, or in a different browser entirely.

Step 5 — Clear your browser cache

On most browsers, press Ctrl+Shift+Delete (Windows) or Command+Shift+Delete (Mac) to open the clear cache dialog. Clear cached images and files, then reload the page.

When to contact support
If you have confirmed the page is enabled, your slug is set, you are on a Growth or Pro plan, and the page still does not load in a fresh incognito window — contact support with your booking page URL.

Appointments not appearing in the dashboard

Symptoms: A customer says they booked, or you made a booking, but it does not show up in your Appointments list.

Step 1 — Refresh the page

This sounds simple but solves the issue most of the time. Press F5 (Windows) or Command+R (Mac), or click the refresh icon in your browser. Appointments are loaded when the page opens — if someone just booked, you need to refresh to see it.

Step 2 — Check your filters

The Appointments page has filters for date range and status. If you have a date filter set to "This week" and the appointment is next week, it won't appear. Reset all filters and check again.

Step 3 — Check the correct account

If you have multiple ApptGuard accounts (for example, a personal test account and your business account), make sure you are signed in to the right one. Check the account name in the bottom left of the sidebar.

Step 4 — Ask the customer to confirm they completed the booking

Sometimes customers get most of the way through the booking flow but don't click the final "Confirm" button. Ask them to check if they received a confirmation text message. No text = booking was not completed.

Reminders not sending

Symptoms: Appointments are in the system but customers are not receiving confirmation or reminder SMS messages.

Step 1 — Check your SMS balance and plan

Go to Settings → Account and look at your SMS usage. If you have used all your monthly SMS, messages will not send until your billing cycle resets. Upgrade your plan or wait for the reset.

On the free plan, you only have 5 trial SMS messages. Once those are used, no more messages will send until you upgrade.

Step 2 — Verify reminders are enabled

Go to Settings → Reminders and confirm you have at least one reminder slot configured. If the reminder count is set to 0, no reminders will send.

Step 3 — Check the phone number format

SMS only works with valid phone numbers. The number must be a real mobile phone number with a valid US area code. Numbers like 555-000-0000 are test/fake numbers and cannot receive SMS. Check the appointment's phone number for typos.

Step 4 — Check the reminder timing

Reminders are sent a certain number of hours before the appointment. If an appointment is booked less than your reminder lead time in advance, the reminder window has already passed. For example, if your reminder is set to "24 hours before" and an appointment is booked for 6 hours from now, the 24-hour reminder will not trigger.

Step 5 — Landline numbers do not receive SMS

If a customer gives a landline number instead of a mobile number, SMS cannot be delivered. There is no error shown to the customer when this happens. Confirm the customer provided their mobile number.

Carrier filtering
Occasionally, mobile carriers filter out automated messages. If a customer is not receiving SMS but everything else checks out, ask them to check if their carrier has spam filtering enabled, or try a different phone number.

Customer cannot book

Symptoms: A customer tells you they tried to book but couldn't — no available times showed, they got an error, or the page said they are outside the service area.

"No available times" or all dates are grayed out

  • Check your business hours in Settings → Booking. If today is Sunday and you only work Monday–Friday, no times will show for today.
  • Check if you have reached your monthly appointment limit. On the Starter plan, this is 75 appointments. If you have hit the limit, new bookings are blocked.
  • Check if the date the customer is trying to book is in your blocked dates list.
  • If your appointment slots are all taken (your schedule is full), no available times will show.

"Outside service area" message

If you have configured a zip code service area in Settings → Booking, customers outside those zip codes will see this message. Either add their zip code to your service area or let them know you do not service their location.

Booking form shows an error

Most booking form errors are caused by the customer not filling in all required fields (name, phone number) or entering an invalid phone number. Ask them to try again and make sure the phone number is a valid 10-digit US number.

Timezone issues

Symptoms: Appointments appear at the wrong time, reminders arrive too early or too late, or clients say the time on the booking page doesn't match what they expected.

Understanding how timezones work in ApptGuard

ApptGuard stores all times in your server's local timezone. The booking page shows times in the business's local timezone. If you are in Memphis, Tennessee (Central Time) and a customer is in New York (Eastern Time), they will see the times in Central Time — which is one hour behind Eastern.

Communicating your timezone to customers

Add a note to your booking page welcome message clarifying your timezone. For example: "All times shown are Central Time (CT). Please adjust for your local timezone." You can set this in Settings → Booking → Welcome message.

Website booking button not working

Symptoms: You added a booking button to your website but clicking it either does nothing, opens the wrong page, or shows an error.

Step 1 — Check the URL you pasted

The most common cause is a typo in the URL. Your booking URL should look exactly like: https://apptguard.nihnyx.com/book/your-slug. Go to Settings → Booking and use the Copy button to copy the exact URL, then re-paste it into your website builder.

Step 2 — Did you publish your website changes?

Most website builders (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, GoDaddy) require an explicit "Publish" step after making changes. If you saved but did not publish, visitors are still seeing the old version of your site without the button. Go back to your website editor and click Publish.

Step 3 — Check if your booking page is enabled

If your booking page is disabled in Settings, clicking the button will show an error. Make sure the page is enabled first.

Step 4 — Test in an incognito window

Your browser might be caching an old version of your website. Open an incognito/private browsing window and try clicking the button there. If it works in incognito, clearing your browser cache will fix the regular browser view.

Email verification issues

Symptoms: You registered but never received the verification email, or you click the link and it says "invalid or expired".

Did not receive verification email

  1. Check your spam or junk folder — verification emails are sometimes filtered automatically.
  2. Wait up to 5 minutes — especially with Gmail, delivery can be delayed.
  3. Make sure you entered your email address correctly during registration. If you made a typo, create a new account with the correct address.
  4. Use the Resend verification email option on the login page.

Verification link says "invalid or expired"

Verification links expire after 24 hours. If you are clicking an old link, request a new one using the "Resend verification" option. Make sure you are clicking the most recent verification email you received.

Mobile issues

Symptoms: The dashboard or booking page does not display correctly on a phone or tablet.

Dashboard on mobile

The ApptGuard dashboard is fully mobile-optimized. If something looks wrong, try:

  • Rotating your device to landscape orientation for more space
  • Zooming out (pinch out with two fingers) if the layout seems too large
  • Refreshing the page — some layout issues are resolved by a reload
  • Updating your mobile browser to the latest version

Booking page on customer's phone

The booking page is designed to work on all modern mobile browsers. If a customer reports problems, ask them to:

  • Try opening the link in their phone's default browser (Safari on iPhone, Chrome on Android)
  • Make sure they have a stable internet connection
  • Try the link in a different browser app
Still stuck?
If none of the steps above resolved your issue, contact our support team. Include a description of what you are seeing, which browser and device you are using, and (if applicable) a screenshot. See how to contact support.