--- title: "Text Message Character Limits, Segments and Guidelines" canonical: "https://resourcecenter.kenect.com/space/Messaging/488570966/Text%20Message%20Character%20Limits%2C%20Segments%20and%20Guidelines" format: markdown --- ## **Purpose** This article clearly outlines how to correctly navigate the ever advancing world of text message limits, segments and guidelines. We will provide insights into what each of these topics means and how to use your Kenect account accordingly. Recently, AT&T enabled a hard limit to the size of messages that can be sent via Application to Customer Services, limiting the size of messages to 10 segments long. (We will get into what a segment is further into the article.) For anyone who had a cellphone previous to 2008, you knew that you couldn’t have a message longer than '160' characters or 1 “Segment”. As time went on, these limits seemed to disappear from public view as technology progressed. In reality the size was just hidden rather than needing to be displayed as modern phones, the networks the messages were sent over, and their capabilities improved. Today, Many people have no knowledge or memory of these limitations. These elements have always been in place, and as the landscape evolves, you as a business must now more than ever abide by them in order to ensure your messages’ deliverability.   #### **Character Limits** The current **RECOMMENDED **limit for any messages sent via your Kenect account is 1500 or fewer characters which includes your Kenect signature (anything more than this will risk the message not delivering to AT&T users). Now, what to keep in mind with this: Be cautious of special characters, unintended formatting (copying and pasting from another app or service into Kenect), or emojis when sending text messages. A standard SMS message supports up to 160 characters using the GSM-7 encoding, which includes most Latin letters, digits, and common symbols. If your message contains any characters outside this set, such as emojis, non-Latin scripts, and even some Microsoft Word formatted characters, it switches to UCS-2 encoding, reducing the limit to 70 characters per segment which would make the “adjusted” character limit 600.   #### **Segments** Depending on how a message is encoded, when an SMS exceeds either 70 or 160 characters, it's split into multiple segments: - **GSM-7 Encoded Messages**: Messages longer than 160 characters are divided into segments of 153 characters each, as 7 characters are used for segmentation data. For example, a 320-character message would be sent as three segments: two with 153 characters and one with 14 characters. - **UCS-2 Encoded Messages**: Messages exceeding 70 characters are split into 67-character segments, with 3 characters reserved for segmentation. For instance, a 140-character message in UCS-2 would be sent as two segments: one with 67 characters and another with 73 characters. **Note**: Even one character that is formatted for UCS-2 encoding will change how the entire message is encoded, not just the segment that has the formatted character/emoji.   #### **Guidelines** To optimize your SMS communications: - **Keep Messages Concise**: Aim to stay within the 160-character limit to avoid segmentation. - **Be Mindful of Encoding**: Using special characters or emojis can switch the encoding to UCS-2, reducing the character limit and increasing the number of segments. - **Use Clear Calls-to-Action**: Encourage recipients to take specific actions, such as "Reply YES to confirm." - **Provide Opt-Out Options**: Include instructions like "Reply STOP to unsubscribe" to comply with regulations and respect client preferences. - **Test Messages Before Sending**: Use SMS length calculators such as the one in the “Tools to assist you” section of this article to determine how many segments your message will use, helping to manage costs and ensure message integrity.   #### **Tools To Assist You** “How Messages Get Split Tool”: [SMS Split Tool](https://chadselph.github.io/smssplit/) - This tool will assist you with being able to see which characters may be causing your message to be encoded as UCS-2 (600 Character Limit) rather than GSM-7 (1500 Character Limit) - Copy the message that you would like to send and Paste it into the “message in here” box. Select GSM as the option and scroll through your message. Any characters that are not formatted for GSM-7 will be highlighted in red. - This tool will also tell you how many segments the message is, as well as the character count. (REMEMBER: any message above 10 segments will cause your message to not be delivered to customers that have AT&T as their provider)   #### **Tips and Tricks** 1. Using Copy and Paste from another source - When copying and pasting text from another source into the message editor, we advise that you use the tool above, the “How Messages Get Split Tool,” to confirm that there is no unexpected formatting. Pasting text from another source such as Microsoft Word can introduce hidden formatting, increasing the character count or changing the encoding format to reduce the allowed size of segments from 160 to 70. To minimize the potential impact, we recommend pasting text using “`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `V`" (PC) or `“Cmd` + `Shift` + `V"` (Mac) to paste without formatting. 2. Accented Letters - Most accented letters (like á or ç) are treated as special characters. Accented letters can change your message encoding and reduce a message segment’s character limit. 3. Be Aware of Your Signature When counting characters and segments, be aware of your signature in Kenect. Since signatures are added automatically to your sent messages, it may push your message over the size limit even if the core message is within bounds. ***See this article on how to ******[add and edit your signature](https://resourcecenter.kenect.com/space/Messaging/42009023/How+To+Enable+Your+Text+Message+Signature)******.***