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SMS character limit
One SMS holds 160 characters, as long as every character is in the basic GSM-7 alphabet. A single emoji or special character switches the whole message to Unicode, which fits only 70. Longer messages are split into parts of 153 (or 67) characters.
Check the same text against X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google and SMS at once, with your own limit set to this one.
Open the character counterSMS text message: the numbers
| Maximum | 160 characters |
|---|---|
| One message with emoji or other Unicode | 70 |
| Each part of a long GSM-7 message | 153 |
| Each part of a long Unicode message | 67 |
| How it counts | GSM-7 characters (a few symbols count 2); any other character switches the whole message to Unicode. |
| English words that fit | 24–29 |
Last reviewed October 2026. Platforms change their limits; when it matters, check the platform’s help pages.
What counts as a character
- GSM-7 covers English letters, digits, common punctuation and some accented letters (é, ü, ñ, à).
- A few symbols are in an extension table and take 2 places: € [ ] { } ~ ^ \ |.
- Anything else, such as an emoji, a curly quote pasted from a word processor, or letters like ł or ş, makes the whole message Unicode (UCS-2): 70 characters per message.
- Long messages are sent in parts and joined on the phone; each part loses 7 characters (GSM-7) or 3 (Unicode) to the joining header.
Best length vs the maximum
- For bulk or paid messages, keep to one part: every extra part costs another message.
- Replace curly quotes and dashes with straight ones; the text cleaner does it in one click.
- The counter shows which characters forced Unicode, so you can swap them.
Questions and answers
How many characters are in one text message?
160 with the GSM-7 alphabet, or 70 if the message contains any other character, such as an emoji.
Why does one emoji cut my message to 70 characters?
The emoji is not in GSM-7, so the whole message is sent as Unicode, which uses 16 bits per character instead of 7.
How are long text messages split?
Into parts of 153 GSM-7 characters or 67 Unicode characters, which the phone joins back together.
Do iMessage and WhatsApp have the same limit?
No. They send over the internet, not as SMS, and have much larger limits.