In its WWDC 2024 keynote last week, Apple led off its iOS 18 preview by unveiling the ability to schedule text messages to send later — a feature I’ve sorely missed since I switched from a Google Pixel 3 XL to an iPhone 12 Pro Max three years ago.
Google Messages debuted its own schedule message feature back in 2021 for Android phones, and Apple’s announcement is one of several Android-like features that are now making their way into iOS 18. The keynote briefly described the feature with an example of prescheduling a morning birthday text so you don’t forget later, but message scheduling allows for so much more flexibility.
Prescheduling your texts has more benefits than you’d might expect, even if you’re just scheduling a text out by a couple minutes. Similar to writing up a draft, or when hitting the Undo button on an email, something about the satisfying moment where you hit send is inevitably followed by the moment you realize you made a mistake or could’ve better phrased your message.
Often it’s a mild typo — like an autocorrect error or the wrong time or date. But other times it’s because your first take through composing a thought didn’t really communicate what you meant.
This extra time to rethink your texts is the sleeper reason why scheduling messages to send later is so cool. Unless your text really does need to go out immediately, message scheduling gives you the satisfaction of hitting send with a time buffer to make sure you really have written out the best version of what you mean.
While we won’t know precisely how to use this Send Later feature for iOS 18 until the operating system’s public launch this fall, here are a few ways you can make the most of the feature whether you have access to it right now on Android or on iPhone in a few months.
Read more: Apple and Samsung Have Different Visions of AI for Our Phones
More personable event planning
I love throwing potlucks and picnics. But when I’m inviting six to 12 people to a get-together, I don’t want to create an impersonal Facebook event, shout into the ether of a group chat or copy-paste text from one message to the next.
Currently you could take your time writing and sending these individualized texts out as a series, but what if during this 30-minute texting session you get distracted by another task? That task might delay you from finishing off the invite texts until later, at which point you might then discover your original timing now has a conflict — leading you to have to text the first batch of guests again while texting the rest.
This is where scheduling comes in handy. By using scheduling, I can write out these personalized text messages, and set them all to go out at the same time after I’ve had the chance to compose them all. And if details change during this buffer period, it’s easy enough to edit these drafts as needed.
This way everyone I’m inviting to the event finds out at the same time, and gets the same information about the plan. After that, I can just sit back and let people tell me if they are free to attend.
The Send Later texting feature includes a timestamp for when the message would send.
Sending texts when you shouldn’t
Sometimes it might feel like you need to send a text to someone while you are insanely tired, or worse, completely drunk. While it’s possible that you really need to put together your next vacation plans with a friend or family member late at night after closing out a bar, the fact of the matter is these texts can wait.
But if your mind is saying “No, I must write this note now,” at least with message scheduling you can give yourself the ability to check this over before it actually goes out. Admittedly this could take some self-control, but by writing out your late night message for a scheduled send sometime the next day, you might give yourself the ability to check yourself — literally.
You’ve written out and “sent” your message, but you also now have the freedom to get your sleep (and sober up) and look at this note again with fresher eyes.
This same trick can be useful for times when you know you cannot send texts, such as when you are on a plane or commuting on an underground train without signal. Prewrite a few texts, and schedule them to send for a later time when you know you’ll have signal again.
Presumably the ability to send later would apply to both blue iMessage conversations as well as green SMS, MMS and RCS chats.
Giving texting the same powers as your email box
The Undo button in most email boxes is a godsend for me. While it does not truly revoke an email, it instead creates a short buffer of time before your email gets sent. This lets you “retrieve” the email if you realize an important detail was forgotten, or if you realize something isn’t accurate.
Message scheduling gives you the same ability, especially if you’re not having a back-and-forth conversation with the person you are reaching out to. Just set a short buffer, even as little as a couple minutes, and schedule your text for then.
Of course, context is everything when it comes to using message scheduling for this purpose. I wouldn’t schedule a simple “How are you” ahead of time, but I would schedule a text that relates to giving an instruction or if I’m giving my opinion about a topic. This gives me a few extra minutes to rethink the text, and even if no changes are necessary, the message is still scheduled to send.
So whether you already have message scheduling on an Android phone, or you are looking forward to getting the feature later this year in iOS 18 for an iPhone, these are a few ideas to make the most out of setting up a text to send later. Adding these scheduling buffers might help you improve the way you communicate, just by adding a few extra moments before the notes shoot out into the universe.
