How Long Can Text Messages Be and Why Are There Character Limits?

Text messages have a character limit to prevent them from being too long and confusing to read. This limit varies depending on the carrier and the type of message.

In the US, the standard limit for a text message is 160 characters, which is the length of a single SMS message. This is because older phones used to store messages in a single line of 160 characters.

Carriers like Verizon and AT&T have increased their limits to 2000 characters or more, but these are considered MMS messages, which require a data connection to send.

The 160 character limit has been in place since the early days of text messaging, when phones were limited in their ability to store and send messages.

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Text messages have a character limit of 160 characters to ensure quick and reliable delivery. This limit was set in the 1990s to optimize network space and prevent overloading.

Mobile networks have improved significantly since then, but the 160-character limit remains in place to maintain reliability and efficiency across different devices and networks.

Exceeding this limit can result in higher charges, questionable deliverability, and a potentially fragmented customer experience.

Character encoding can be a bit tricky, especially when sending SMS messages. Most texts use GSM-7, which lets you fit up to 160 Latin characters in one message.

Non-Latin characters or special characters, like emojis or letters from other languages, get automatically converted to Unicode language (UCS), and can only hold 70 characters.

If your message is too long, it breaks into smaller parts, and each part costs extra. A message with more characters means more parts and higher costs.

Twilio's Smart Encoding feature can replace certain non-GSM characters with equivalent GSM characters, to reduce message cost when possible. This can be a lifesaver for messages that need to be sent quickly and efficiently.

Messages containing one or more UCS-2 characters can contain up to 70 characters in a single, non-segmented message. Any messages that exceed this limit will be split into 153 characters.

Infobip platform automatically counts the characters in your messages, so you'll know if you've exceeded the limit. If you choose, you can also choose the character set (language) you are writing in.

A message with 80 UCS-2 characters will be sent as one 67-character message followed by a 13-character message.

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SMS messages have a long history dating back to the 1990s. Mobile networks at the time had limited capacity to handle data, which led to a 160-character limit being set to ensure messages could be sent quickly and reliably.

This limit helped optimize the use of available network space and ensured messages were delivered efficiently. Unfortunately, it also means you can't circumvent the limits of a single SMS.

The 160-character limit remains in place to maintain the reliability and efficiency of SMS across different devices and networks.

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The history of SMS message length is rooted in the original design of the Short Messaging Service. It was standardized as part of the 1985 GSM protocol.

SMS message length is limited to 160 7-bit characters, which is a direct result of being designed to fit between other signalling protocols. This limit was set to accommodate the 7-bit character set.

GSM-7, the original character set designed for SMS, can only encompass 128 different characters. This limitation is due to the 7-bit character set.

Using UCS-2, which can include extended Latin or non-Latin scripts, reduces the character limit from 160 to 70 characters. This is because UCS-2 characters take up more space than GSM-7 characters.

A common mistake is to inadvertently use a UCS-2 character, which can happen when using text editors that don't support GSM-7.

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Text messages have been a staple of communication for decades, but they come with their own set of limitations. The most notable one is the character limit, which has been stuck at 160 characters since the 1990s.

This limit was set to ensure messages could be sent quickly and reliably without overloading the system. Technology has improved since then, but the limit remains in place to maintain reliability and efficiency across different devices and networks.

If you need to send longer messages, you're not entirely out of luck. Concatenated SMS allows you to send messages longer than 160 characters, but each additional text has a character count of just 153 characters.

The remaining 7 characters are used as code to instruct the mobile handset to stitch the messages back together, so that they arrive as a single, long text rather than a series of individual messages.

If you're using non-standard unicode characters, the maximum message length is reduced to just 70 characters. This is because unicode characters take up more space than standard characters.

Here's a comparison of the maximum message lengths offered by some popular SMS API providers:

As you can see, some providers offer much longer message lengths than others. It's worth noting that these limits can vary depending on the provider and the specific service you're using.

You can increase the character limit of your text messages by transforming non-GSM characters into equivalent GSM characters. Twilio's Smart Encoding feature can do this automatically, replacing characters like angled quotation marks with straight quotation marks.

Staying within limits will also ensure you include only relevant content for your customers, leaving out unnecessary words, phrases, and details. This will simplify your communication and improve customer satisfaction.

National Language Shift is a good example of an encoding technology that allows an SMS containing 16-bit Unicode to be delivered as GSM text, deducting only five characters from the maximum SMS length. This way, you get 155 characters instead of the usual 70 characters.

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Staying within character limits ensures you include only relevant content for your customers.

Including unnecessary words, phrases, and details can simplify communication and improve customer satisfaction.

You can increase your message limit by transforming UCS characters into GSM characters, allowing you to send more than 70 characters in one message.

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National Language Shift is an encoding technology that allows an SMS containing 16-bit Unicode to be delivered as GSM text, deducting only five characters from the maximum SMS length.

This results in 155 characters instead of the usual 70 characters, giving you more space to communicate with customers.

The longer the text, the more text credits will be used to send the message, with the first 160 characters using one text credit.

Subsequent blocks of 153 characters will use additional credits, with the 7 character difference used as code to allow the messages to arrive as one text.

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Long text messages are necessary when you need to convey more information than the standard 160 character limit allows.

Texting Base allows you to send texts up to 300 characters, surpassing the standard 160 character limit.

Sending long text messages can be a task if you're limited to 160 characters, and it might restrict your creativity.

With Texting Base, you can also send links and unicode symbols, which can alone take up to 70 characters.

If a short text message exceeds the character limit, it will go out as multiple messages.

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RCS and MMS are great options for sending longer messages. They support multimedia content like images or links.

RCS is considered the next step in the evolution of SMS, supporting features like verified sender, custom branding, and analytics. It's also a rich messaging channel native to Android.

MMS and RCS Business Messaging allow you to send messages with up to 1000 characters. This is much longer than standard SMS messages.

If you want to include multimedia content, consider using MMS or RCS Business Messaging. This is especially useful for sending photos or videos.

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