How to Schedule a Text on an iPhone: Workarounds & Third-Party Apps

Learn how you can schedule a text on iPhone even without a dedicated messaging feature

This article was co-authored by wikiHow writer, Hannah Dillon. Hannah Dillon is a technology writer and editor at wikiHow. She graduated from North Dakota State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2013 and has since worked in the video game industry as well as several newspapers. Hannah has had a love of writing and technology from a young age and hopes to use these passions in tandem to help others through the articles she writes for wikiHow. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of all quoted facts and confirming the authority of its sources. Find out more…

If you’re an iPhone user, you might be wondering if there’s a way to schedule a text message. Unfortunately, there’s no way you can schedule a text message in the Messages app. There are, however, a few workarounds you can try—and if those workarounds don’t work for you, we’ve also suggested a few third-party apps that can help you schedule texting later.

While you can’t schedule an SMS in the Messages app, there’s an easy workaround: Set up an automation in the Shortcuts app. You can also use the Reminders app to remind yourself to send a text later, or try a text scheduling app like Moxy or Reminderbase.

  1. Step 1 Open the Shortcuts app.

    iOS doesn’t have built-in text scheduling, but you can use the Shortcuts app as a workaround.

    • If you have iOS 13 or later, shortcuts are automatically installed on your phone. If you’re on an iOS version older than 13, you can download the Shortcuts app from the App Store.[1]
  2. Touch Automation tab at the bottom of the screen. The tab is located between Shortcuts and Gallery and has a clock icon.

  3. Touch New automation. You won’t see this button if you’ve already created some automations. Tap instead + in the upper right corner.

  4. Touch Time of day and enter when you want to send your message. To create an automation for a scheduled message, you need to choose:

    • Time of day: Set this for the time you want your message to be sent.
    • Per month: Set this for the date you want your message to be sent.
    • Run now: This will trigger your automation as soon as the scheduled date and time arrives.

      • Touch Following to continue to the next screen.
  5. Touch Send a message. It is located at the top, next to Start an empty automation. If you don’t see this option, search for “Send a message” in the search bar, then select it.

  6. Tap the word Message and enter your message. This instructs the automation what message to send when the scheduled time arrives.

  7. Tap the word Recipients and enter who you are sending the message to. You can select one or more people to whom you want to send this text.

  8. Touch Done in the upper right corner. Shortcuts will send your message on the scheduled date and time. If you want to edit your message before sending, go back to your automation in the Shortcuts app and change things as needed.

    • Note that this workaround creates an automation that will send a scheduled message once a month on the date and time you entered. If you only want to send the message once, be sure to go to Shortcuts and disable automation after the message is sent.
  1. Step 1 Open the Reminders app.

    If you have iOS 13 or later, you can use the Reminders app to remind yourself to send an SMS. It doesn’t send the text for you, but it does create a reminder so you remember to send the text later.

  2. Touch + New reminder button. It is located in the lower left corner of your screen.

  3. Write your reminder. Give the reminder a title so you know who you should send the message to. You can even write the body of your text in the “notes” section of the reminder so you don’t have to do it later.

  4. Set the date and time for the reminder. You can do this by clicking on “I” button next to the reminder.

  5. Send a text when your phone sends a reminder. If you’ve written text in your reminder’s notes, you can send it directly from the Reminders app by doing the following:

    • Open the reminder.
    • Highlight the content of the note.
    • Touch Share button that appears in the context menu.
    • Touch Messages and select a contact.
    • Touch Send when you are ready to send the message.
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Categories: How to
Source: HIS Education

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