Character counter for your SMS
The real count: the characters that weigh double and the ones that tip the whole message into UCS-2.
How many characters does an SMS hold? Rarely what you think. Some signs take up two slots, a single emoji halves the capacity, and a long text splits into slices of 153, not 160. This tool applies the network's rules on every keystroke, without your text ever leaving your browser: simple and no installation, nothing is transmitted or stored.
- Characters
- 0
- Encoding
- GSM-7
- Segments
- 0
- Remaining
- 160
0 — GSM-7 — 0
The rules the network applies
160 possible signs in GSM-7
An SMS carries 140 usable bytes. In the GSM 03.38 alphabet, a character fits into 7 bits, or precisely 160 characters for a single message.
Only 70 signs in UCS-2
A single sign outside this alphabet — emoji, Cyrillic letter, ideogram — tips the whole message into UCS-2, where each character weighs 16 bits. The ceiling drops to 70.
Nine signs that weigh double
The signs ^ { } \ [ ~ ] | as well as the € symbol appear in the GSM-7 extension table: preceded by an escape character, they take up two slots instead of one.
153 usable signs per segment
Past the limit, the message is split and each piece carries a 6-byte reassembly header. That leaves 153 usable characters per segment in GSM-7, and 67 in UCS-2.
Your most frequent questions
Why do 161 characters make two SMS?
Beyond 160 characters, the message is split and each part gives up 7 characters to the reassembly header: only 153 remain per segment.
Does an emoji count as a single character?
Almost never: most emojis take up two units in UCS-2, and their mere presence already lowers the limit from 160 to 70 characters.
Do French accents tip the SMS into UCS-2?
No for é, è, à, ù, ç and ô, which are included in the GSM-7 alphabet; yes for the other accented letters, which are absent from it.
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