Troubleshooting

If something isn't working, work through the relevant section below. If you're still stuck after that, email formfence@harbourlabs.app with a description of what you did, what you expected, and what actually happened.

Legitimate enquiries are getting blocked

1. Lower the sensitivity on the Settings page from High to Medium, or from Medium to Low.
2. Rescue the blocked enquiry from the Blocked log using Move to passed (Pro plan).
3. Check the verdict reason shown on the blocked submission. If a real customer is hitting the rate limit (unlikely outside abusive scrapers), or the disposable-email check is flagging a legitimate provider, email us so we can investigate the rule.

If the pattern persists, the false-positive rate at your current sensitivity is too high for your customer base. Lowering one step usually solves it.

Spam is still getting through

1. Raise the sensitivity on the Settings page from Low to Medium, or from Medium to High.
2. Forward a sample of the spam that got through to formfence@harbourlabs.app. If a new pattern is showing up across multiple merchants, we add it to the central catalogue and every shop on FormFence benefits.

The honeypot and rate limit always run, so the spam that gets through is almost always content the pattern catalogue hasn't seen yet. The catalogue grows from real submissions, so reports help.

The dashboard says zero submissions but I know we received some

Check three things in order:

1. The theme block is enabled. Go to Online Store → Themes → Customize, open your Contact page template, and confirm the FormFence shield block is present in the contact-form section.
2. The block is on your live theme, not a draft. The Theme App Extension only runs on whichever theme is currently published.
3. The submission came through your Shopify contact form, not a third-party form (Klaviyo, Mailchimp embed, custom Liquid form). FormFence protects the standard /contact form via the theme block; third-party form widgets bypass it.

If the block is enabled on the live theme and submissions still aren't reaching FormFence, email us with your shop domain and we'll check the install.

FormFence isn't showing in the theme customiser

The theme block only appears for Online Store 2.0 themes. If you're on:

• A vintage theme (Brooklyn, Boundless, Debut, Minimal, Narrative, Simple, Supply, Venture). Vintage themes don't support app blocks. Upgrade to a 2.0 theme to use FormFence.
• A Hydrogen storefront. Hydrogen doesn't use the Theme App Extension system. FormFence doesn't currently support Hydrogen.
• A 2.0 theme but the block doesn't appear. Make sure you're inside a Contact page template and adding the block inside the contact-form section, not the page header or footer.

Replies aren't being delivered

Replies go out via Resend from your verified sending domain. If a reply you sent isn't arriving:

1. Check the recipient's spam folder. First-time sends to a new domain sometimes land there.
2. Confirm your support email is set on the Settings page. If the reply-to field is blank, replies land back at our address, not yours.
3. Check that your sending domain is verified in Resend. If your shop hasn't completed Resend's DNS verification, replies will fail to send. Email us if you're not sure whether your domain is verified.

Billing didn't activate after I upgraded

1. Refresh the embedded admin. Plan-state caches can take a few seconds to refresh after Shopify confirms the subscription.
2. Check Shopify's confirmation. Go to Settings → Apps and sales channels in the Shopify admin and confirm FormFence shows an active subscription.
3. If both look right and Pro features still aren't appearing, email us with your shop domain and the time of the upgrade.

Something else

Email formfence@harbourlabs.app. If it turns out to be common, your message becomes a new section on this page.