Unicode and extended characters

The cost of your SMS messages is directly tied to the character count. A single SMS segment consists of (160 characters or 70 characters for a Unicode message). You can send multiple segments per message but will be charged more. As you compose a message, keep an eye on the character count and SMS segments displayed in the top right corner of the compose message textbox. Each character in messages is counted based on GSM 7-bit encoding. Emojis and special characters consume additional space. Make sure to factor this in when estimating the character count.

Here's a breakdown of the character count:

• GSM7 Characters (1 character each): Includes letters, numbers, and most punctuation marks.
• Extended GSM characters (2 characters each): Includes special characters like | ^ € { } [ ].
• Unicode Characters (1+ characters each): Includes Emojis and characters from Cyrillic, Arabic, or Chinese scripts.

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GSM7 Characters

A single SMS can contain up to 160 characters, following the 7-bit default alphabet defined by GSM 3.38. This character covers the Latin alphabet, digits, punctuation, and some special characters. It also supports some languages like Polish, Turkish, or Spanish, with accented letters.

However, if you want to use characters not part of the 7-bit default alphabet (e.g., Cyrillic, Arabic, or Chinese characters), a different encoding is required (Unicode), limiting your message to 70 characters per SMS segment.

Here are some examples of GSM 7-bit default alphabet:

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Extended GSM characters

When you want to use characters or symbols not found in the standard GSM7 set, there's a special extension called the GSM 7-bit default alphabet extension table.

Extended GSM characters include various symbols, diacritics, and special characters that go beyond the standard GSM 7-bit character set. Remember, you'll need two standard GSM characters for each of these extra characters.

Here are some examples of extended GSM characters:

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How extended characters can impact character count

Here is a short message that includes extended characters:

In this example, we've included some extended characters that go beyond the standard GSM 7-bit character set. Each of these characters take 2 character count.

Same message without any extended GSM character:

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Unicode characters

When your SMS includes characters outside the GSM 7-bit set, it becomes a Unicode SMS. Unicode includes a range of characters from different scripts, emojis, mathematical symbols, and more. Unicode messages are limited to 70 characters per segment instead of the standard 160 due to different encoding.

Here are a few examples of Unicode characters:

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How unicode characters can impact character count

Here is a short message that includes unicode characters:

In this example, we've included some unicode characters and symbols that go beyond the standard GSM 7-bit character set. These characters are counted more than 2 characters.

Emojis

While using emojis helps make your messages more friendly, adding an emoji to your message will convert it to a Unicode message, limiting you to 70 characters per segment instead of the standard 160.

Emojis can vary in character count, for example, most smiley emojis 😎 are one character but hands with skin tone 👋🏼 are 2 characters, and some more complex emojis 👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼 can be up to 10 characters. So keep an eye on the count at the top right of the compose message textbox.

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How emojis can impact character count

Here is a short message that includes unicode characters:

In this example, we've included some emojis characters that go beyond the standard GSM 7-bit character set.

Same message without any emojis