A single SMS is considered to be 160 characters for GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) characters and 70 for non-GSM characters. If the length of a message is more than 160 characters for GSM characters and 70 for non-GSM characters, the SMS is sent as a multipart SMS (a single message with more than one SMS). A multipart message can have up to 1530 characters but for the best user experience it is recommended to maintain at most 320 characters.

When a message is more than 160 GSM characters, it is divided into smaller units by 153 characters (NOTE: not 160). This is because the extra 7 characters are used to assemble the message into one block on the receiving phone. The resulting SMS counts are as below:

• 0 – 160 characters – 1 segment and charged as a single message
• 161 – 306 characters – 2 segments and charged as two messages
• 307 – 459 characters – 3 segments and charged as three messages
• 460 – 612 characters – 4 segments and charged as four messages
• 613 – 765 characters – 5 segments and charged as five messages
• 766 – 918 characters – 6 segments and charged as six messages
• 919 – 1,071 characters – 7 segments and charged as seven messages
• 1,072 – 1,224 characters – 8 segments and charged as eight messages
• 1,225 – 1,377 characters – 9 segments and charged as nine messages
• 1,378 – 1,530 characters – 10 segments and charged as ten messages

When a message is more than 70 non-GSM characters, it is divided into smaller units of 67 characters each (NOTE: not 70) because 3 characters are used to reassemble the message on the receiving phone.

NOTE: A single non-GSM character in a message renders the entire message non-GSM and the non-GSM count is applied.

The different character types are as below:

GSM Characters

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GSM Extension Characters Counted as two

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Non-GSM Characters (Unicode characters)

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Non-GSM Characters (Emojis)

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