How to Schedule a Text on iPhone, Android, & Texting Platform

Texting has a problem.

It’s a great and convenient and now universal thing - for most people, it’s the easiest way to communicate with someone quickly.

Here’s the rub.

What if you want to schedule your text message ahead of time?

What if you…

• …think of something you want to say, but don’t want to send it at 12am?
• …want to make sure you don’t forget to tell a family member “Happy Birthday”?
• …want your message to go out at just the right time?

Is there a way to designate the day and time you’d like your message to be sent, so that you’re not stuck in that conundrum?

The answer for Android users: you bet!

The answer for iPhone users: it’s complicated.

We’ll walk you through how to schedule a text on both platforms. We’ll also take you through how to schedule a business text using a mass texting platform.

First, the iPhone.

How to Schedule a Text on iPhone

Unfortunately, your iPhone’s default text messaging app doesn’t have scheduling capabilities.

That means you can’t schedule a text ahead of time without using a separate app.

A couple of built-in apps may help, but don’t truly offer the experience of being able to actually schedule a message.

We’ll go through those options here.

Reminders

If you want to simply set up an easy reminder for yourself, you can use your phone’s Apple Reminders app.

You can:

• Open up the Reminders app
• Tap to add a “New Reminder”
• Enter a description for the reminder
• Tap the “i” icon
• Enter the text content you’d like to send for the reminder into the “Notes”
• Set the date/time you’d like to be reminded
• Click “Done”

After doing that, your phone will automatically remind you when it’s time to send the text, and it will even have the content for the text easily available to you to copy and paste.

Obviously, the limitation to this option is that it won’t actually send the message. It’s merely a reminder to you so that you can go in and send the message on your end.

Shortcuts

Another default option available to you is to set up an automatically recurring message using the Shortcuts App.

The “Automation” function in this app allows you to set up automated actions for your phone to take under conditions that you specify.

One of those options is to have a specific message sent to the same recipient or group of recipients daily, weekly, or monthly at a certain time.

Here’s how it works:

• Open up the Shortcuts app
• Tap the “Automation” section at the bottom
• Select to “Create Personal Automation”
• Choose the “Time of Day” option and select the time you’d like your message to regularly go out
• Select “Add Action” and choose the recipient(s) for your recurring message under the “Send Message” section
• Tap “Message” to type in the content for your message and click “Next”
• Confirm your automation

Once that’s set up, it will automatically show a popup that you can click to send out the message at the intervals you designated.

The limitations to this option include:

• It’s complicated and cumbersome to set up
• It sets up your message on a repeating basis and there’s no option for a one-time message
• It won’t actually send the message, but will show a popup that you will still have to tap to send out the message

Third Party Apps

Although those makeshift options are available, the only way to truly schedule a message ahead of time on an iPhone is through third-party scheduling apps like Mobile Text Alerts and Scheduled.

The cons?

Most third-party message scheduling apps will require a payment to really function as intended.

Also, third-party scheduling apps most likely won’t be able to send texts from your personal number unless you’re able to port the number over.

Full text alert platforms like Mobile Text Alerts will cost more but will have more robust features.

Smaller third-party apps like Scheduled will cost a lower fee, but the quality will likely not be on the same level.

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Now that you know the in’s and out’s of scheduling options on iPhone, what about Android?

How to Schedule a Text on Android

The good news for Android users is that most phones by default now come with the ability to schedule texts ahead of time.

That means no complicated workarounds and no third-party apps needed.

The experience is a bit different for Samsung users and non-Samsung users, because they have different default messaging apps.

For Non-Samsung Users

Non-Samsung Android phones often have the standard Google Messages app preloaded.

When typing up your messages in Google Messages, you can simply press and hold the Send button to open up the scheduling option.

Any time before the scheduled message is sent, you can also go into the conversation thread and tap the “Schedule” option to make any changes.

If you’re not a Samsung user but also don’t have Google Messages on your phone, there unfortunately wouldn’t be a built-in scheduling option for you.

In that case, one option would be to schedule a reminder to yourself via Google Calendar to help you remember to send out a text.

Another option is to use a third-party app such as the texting platform Mobile Text Alerts or the more low-key Do It Later.

For Samsung Users

For Samsung users texting through the Samsung Messages app, scheduling a message is cake.

The main difference from the Google Messages app is that you select the scheduling option before you type out the content for your message.

You do this by hitting the “+” icon when you’re setting up your message in your messaging app, and the scheduling option will appear.

Easy!

How to Schedule Business Texts with a Mass Texting Platform

Thinking about sending texts for your business?

Great idea!

But how?

Mass texting platforms allow you to easily schedule, send, and manage your business texts, either from a mobile app on your phone, or by logging into an online dashboard.

The process is not complicated.

It comes down to 2 steps: add contacts and schedule your message.

For a text alert platform like Mobile Text Alerts, there are 6 ways you can add contacts to receive your texts.

The simplest ways are by manually adding people through dragging and dropping a spreadsheet, or by having your subscribers text in to your account’s phone number.

After your contacts are loaded in, you’re ready to schedule your messages.

Step 1: Navigate to “Send a Message”

To schedule your message, you’ll first navigate to the “Send a Message” tab in your online dashboard.

Or if you’re using the mobile app, you’ll go to Messages and then tap the “paper airplane” icon.

Step 2: Select the Date and Time for Your Message

Next, you can designate the day and time for your message.

(If you’d like to send it right away, you can select “Send the message now.”)

If you’re using the online dashboard, you can also select whether or not you’d like the message to repeat, and if so, how often you’d like it to repeat.

Step 3: Select the Recipients for Your Message

You’ll then choose who you’d like to receive your message.

You can either:

• Send the message to all of your subscribers
• Send the message to individual recipients (you’ll manually select which individuals you’d like to send it to)
• Send the message to groups you’ve organized in your contact list

If you select the “individual” or “groups” option, you can search or filter the lists to help you narrow down exactly which contacts you’re looking for.

Step 4: Input the Content for Your Message

Lastly, you’ll set up all the content for your message.

You can type out the content you want to send and leave it at that, or you can utilize several different options, including:

• Sending your message as SMS (a “regular” text message) or an MMS (a multimedia/picture message)
• Filling in your message content from an existing template
• Including a trackable link
• Inserting “name” variables for your individual recipients so that they each receive the text with their personal name included
• Inserting emojis into your message content
• Attaching a contact card in your message so that your recipients can easily save your number on their phone

Once your message is all set up, you can simply click the “Send / Schedule Message” button at the bottom and your message will be sent as designated.

Want to see how it works?

Try it now for free.