How long can my text message be?

Text messages are sent in various message 'parts', with a standard SMS being able to contain 160 characters for one text message, and 153 characters for each additional message part. This means that usually, if you send a message that is 200 characters long, it will send as 2 text messages. Phones in today's day and age are smart enough to convert these message parts and put them back together so they display as 1 text message.

How will Merge charge me for message parts?

It's important to know that as a 2-part message has to be sent as two separate text messages, you will be charged for 2 text messages per person you send the message to - so if you're sending a 2-part message to 100 people, you'll be charged for 200 text messages. Your text messages should be concise but also easy to understand, so if your messages are often going into 3 message parts, check out the tips at the bottom of this article. 

Sending messages with emojis and different languages

When SMS was created, it was based off the standard English alphabet, which was called UTF-8. So 160 English characters = 1 text message. Because of this set up, when non-English characters are used (UTF-16 characters), they take up more space in the text message. This means that when you send a message with a UTF-16 character, the character count per message will half.

This rule applies to emojis, different alphabets, and any characters that have a macron. The below table shows the character count for each message when using UTF-8 (English) characters, compared to UTF-16 (macrons & emojis) characters.

Tips to help reduce characters in your messages 

Create templates

If you're sending the same kinds of messages each time - for example, appointment reminders - make sure you create a template for this. Having a template not only makes it quicker when sending a message, but it ensures you don't get carried away and send a message that is 3 parts long, when it could just as easily be 1 part.

Replace macrons with other characters

If you're typing a message and using letters that have macrons, consider replacing them with an alternative. For example, if you have a 100 character message that contains ā, the message will be sent as 2 parts. However, changing the  ā to 'aa', a common alternative, your message will be 101 characters, but only sent as 1 message part!

Keep your message short and sweet

When typing a text message on your computer, it's easy to forget that sending an SMS can be a bit less formal than an email. For example, instead of typing "Hi there, this is Sally from ABC Health. You have an appointment with Dr. Jones tomorrow at 10am. Reply yes to confirm. Thanks and see you tomorrow.", you could put "Hi there, reminder for your appt tomorrow at 10am with Dr Jones. Reply Y to confirm. Sally from ABC Health". The messages have the same effect, but you'd save 40 characters with the second message.