We have the same experience Rusty - even though my Maricel paid for the SMS service she never got a SMS from them - except the first one saying "Your application has been forwarded to the Embassy". I've had to find out myself through the online tracking at VFS website.
Other point is that VFS web is sometimes unreliable and the tracking simply doesn't work.
Otherwise I agree with BlueBird - the status never changes- except at the end when it says either "Processed application ready for collection" or "Processed application returned by courier" (in case you've paid for the courier delivery service).
Babykoh - take a look at the VFS web, click on the "Track your application" on the left hand side of their homepage and enter your application reference Nr. - usually look like this: AMAN/..../..../.... - the dots represents your unique application ref. Nr....
Good luck...![]()