Manage suppressions

What is the suppression list?

The suppression list is a set of email addresses and phone numbers that Torpedo blocks from receiving messages. Each entry has a channel (email, sms or whatsapp), so a number suppressed for SMS can still receive WhatsApp codes. Email addresses are added when:

Hard bounce — the address doesn’t exist or the domain doesn’t accept mail
Spam complaint — the recipient marked your email as spam

Torpedo adds addresses automatically to protect your sender reputation. Sending to bounced or complaining addresses damages your deliverability scores.

What happens when you send to a suppressed address

The send request returns 422 Unprocessable Entity:

{
  "errors": [{ "message": "Recipient is suppressed" }]
}

The email is not queued and no credit is consumed.

View suppressed addresses

curl https://api.torpedo.co.mz/api/v1/suppressions \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Response:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "address": "user@example.com",
      "reason": "hard_bounce",
      "channel": "email",
      "suppressedAt": "2026-04-15T10:00:00.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "meta": { "total": 1, "perPage": 20, "page": 1 }
}

Remove a suppression

Only remove a suppression if you have a legitimate reason — e.g. the recipient confirms they want to receive emails and the bounce was a temporary issue.

curl -X DELETE "https://api.torpedo.co.mz/api/v1/suppressions/user%40example.com" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

URL-encode the address — replace @ with %40.

Suppression vs unsubscribe

Suppressions are triggered automatically by delivery events (bounces, complaints).
They are not the same as user-initiated unsubscribes — Torpedo does not manage marketing unsubscribe preferences. That is your application’s responsibility.

SMS suppressions

SMS numbers are suppressed automatically when a permanent delivery failure is detected. Torpedo does not expose carrier-specific error codes — the reason is always recorded as "hard_bounce".

What happens when you send to a suppressed number

The send request returns 422 Unprocessable Entity:

{
  "errors": [{ "message": "Recipient '+258841234567' is suppressed (reason: hard_bounce)" }]
}

The message is not queued and no credit is consumed.

View suppressed numbers

SMS suppressions appear in the same list as email suppressions. Filter by channel:

curl "https://api.torpedo.co.mz/api/v1/suppressions?channel=sms" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

The channel field in each entry will be "sms".

Remove an SMS suppression

curl -X DELETE "https://api.torpedo.co.mz/api/v1/suppressions/%2B258841234567?channel=sms" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Phone numbers contain a + sign — URL-encode it as %2B. For example, +258841234567 becomes %2B258841234567.

WhatsApp suppressions

WhatsApp failures don’t suppress a number automatically. A failed WhatsApp code is refunded, and SMS fallback can still reach the user. Torpedo support can suppress a number on WhatsApp, for example when its owner asks to stop receiving codes. These entries use channel: "whatsapp", and reason holds the note support wrote. Starting a verification for a number suppressed on its channel returns 422. Resending on a suppressed channel returns 422 with code CHANNEL_UNAVAILABLE, and an SMS fallback to a number suppressed for SMS is skipped (you get a verification.delivery_failed webhook instead).

curl "https://api.torpedo.co.mz/api/v1/suppressions?channel=whatsapp" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

curl -X DELETE "https://api.torpedo.co.mz/api/v1/suppressions/%2B258841234567?channel=whatsapp" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Getting started

SDKs

Email

SMS

WhatsApp

Manage suppressions

What is the suppression list?

What happens when you send to a suppressed address

View suppressed addresses

Remove a suppression

Suppression vs unsubscribe

SMS suppressions

What happens when you send to a suppressed number

View suppressed numbers

Remove an SMS suppression

WhatsApp suppressions

​What is the suppression list?

​What happens when you send to a suppressed address

​View suppressed addresses

​Remove a suppression

​Suppression vs unsubscribe

​SMS suppressions

​What happens when you send to a suppressed number

​View suppressed numbers

​Remove an SMS suppression

​WhatsApp suppressions

What is the suppression list?

What happens when you send to a suppressed address

View suppressed addresses

Remove a suppression

Suppression vs unsubscribe

SMS suppressions

What happens when you send to a suppressed number

View suppressed numbers

Remove an SMS suppression

WhatsApp suppressions