SMS encoding determines how many characters fit in one part and how many parts are charged.
Character limits
| Encoding | One part | Each part in a multipart message |
|---|---|---|
| GSM-7 | 160 characters | 153 characters |
| Unicode | 70 UTF-16 units | 67 UTF-16 units |
Characters in the GSM-7 extension set, such as ^, {, }, \, [, ], ~, |, and €, use two character positions.
If the content contains a character outside the supported GSM-7 sets, the whole message uses Unicode encoding. Some emoji and other characters use two UTF-16 units, so the visible character count can differ from the SMS length.
Multipart messages
cloudnumbering automatically splits longer content into parts for sending. Each part is charged as a separate SMS.
Outbound API messages can contain no more than six parts. The API rejects longer content with message too long.
Reduce the number of parts
- Remove unnecessary text.
- Replace Unicode punctuation or emoji with GSM-7 alternatives when suitable.
- Check extension-set characters that count twice.
- Send a link instead of long content when that is appropriate for the recipient.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.