> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.smartrr.com/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.smartrr.com/docs/support/troubleshooting/why-did-my-customers-subscription-automatically-pause.md). # Why did my customer's subscription automatically pause? Your customer's subscription paused, and both you and your customer are not sure why? Below are some common reasons and solutions. ## Cause of Subscription Pause A customer's subscription pauses whenever a subscription order has *not* been successfully generated 45 minutes or more after an upcoming transaction was scheduled to occur. The failure of the upcoming transaction can be caused by a variety of issues, including: 1. Required phone number is missing 2. A variant in the subscription was deleted, archived, or out of stock in Shopify 3. The subscription contains an invalid discount code 4. The shipping address for the subscription is invalid
A list of subscriptions shown in Smartrr, and their statuses. 1 subscription bears the "Paused" status.

Here's an example of a paused subscription.

In an opened subscription, you will see the status next to the subscription's ID. This subscription is paused due to the variant no longer being available. This happens if the product had no variants before, and now one was created; or the product was archived, drafted, unlisted or deleted.

In this example, a product a customer subscribed to has been removed. Because of this, the subscription has been automatically paused.

## Recommended Solution 1. Confirm you have ***not*** updated your Shopify settings to require a phone number for all orders 2. Confirm you have ***not*** deleted any products/variants in Shopify 3. Confirm you have ***not*** switched a product from "Default variant" to another variant 4. Confirm any applicable subscription discount codes are valid 5. Confirm the shipping address for the subscription is valid If you have completed all troubleshooting steps outlined above and the warning still appears, please contact your Customer Success Manager or email [support@smartrr.com](mailto:support@smartrr.com) to manually resync the subscription. {% hint style="info" %} **Tip:** To check your store's Shopify settings on requiring a phone number for orders, navigate to **Settings** > **Checkout** and scroll to **Shipping address phone number**. We recommend this be set to either or **Don't include** or **Optional**. If set to Required, than all previously purchased customer subscriptions without a phone number will fail to process. {% endhint %}
Gif guiding through the Shopify admin to the checkout settings. If phone number is required for shipping address, then subscriptions that include no phone number before this setting update, will fail create recurring orders and will pause. This will happen because Shopify will reject all order requests when the setting is in effect and no phone number is provided in the address.
{% hint style="info" %} The customer's profile could include a phone number, that was captured at some point after making this field mandatory. So, it is common to see the phone number in the customer's contact information section but not in the shipping address. While the phone number field is required, if the subscription doesn't include the number in the shipping address, Shopify will reject any requests from Smartrr to create an order. Shopify will return an error that the address is either invalid or phone number is missing and Smartrr will pause the subscription. ![Subscription including phone number under contact information, but no phone number in the shipping address. This means the phone number wasn't required at the time the subscription was created, but the customer added their number at checkout for a recent order.](https://3658670565-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FndNAuxS4koYyI8AQTpS9%2Fuploads%2FGLt5xMVOARxgMMuexeHr%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=f5e3bb75-dc30-4f39-89f5-c778ae371c3d) {% endhint %} --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://help.smartrr.com/docs/support/troubleshooting/why-did-my-customers-subscription-automatically-pause.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.