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…
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.
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.
If you want to simply set up an easy reminder for yourself, you can use your phone’s Apple Reminders app.
You can:
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.
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:
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:
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?
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.
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 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!
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.
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.
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.
You’ll then choose who you’d like to receive your message.
You can either:
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.
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:
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.
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