Whether you have friends or family members who work and live different schedules than you, or you find yourself sending more “happy belated birthday” messages than you’d like, having the ability to schedule text messages ahead of time is an incredibly useful feature.
Unfortunately, only certain Android smartphones let you do this out of the box. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible if you’re using, say, a Google Pixel phone. There are multiple ways to schedule texts on Android—provided you have the right app for the job.
Schedule Texts on Samsung Smartphones
Samsung Galaxy and Note smartphones users have it the easiest since they can schedule texts messages using the default Samsung SMS app that comes pre-installed on these smartphones:
Open the Samsung SMS app
Draft your text message
Tap the “+” button near the text field, or the three dots in the top right corner of the screen to open the calendar
Select the date and time
Tap “Send” to schedule.
While this is great news for Samsung Galaxy and Note owners, the stock SMS app on non-Samsung Android phones—like Google Pixel phones— lacks an equivalent feature. Scheduling texts is still possible, but you’ll have to use a third-party app messaging instead.
Use Pulse SMS to Schedule Texts
In order to schedule texts on non-Samsung Android phones, you’ll need to replace the basic Android SMS app—that’s where Pulse SMS comes in.
Pulse SMS is not only one of the best looking alternative text messaging apps for available on all Android devices, it also includes features that make it better than the stock texting app. While some of these features are only available when you upgrade to the premium version (which costs $10 for lifetime access), the free version includes a text scheduler.
You’ll need to download Pulse SMS from Google Play and then set it to your default texting app, but once you’ve done that you can begin scheduling messages immediately. Here’s how:
Tap the orange “+” button and then select the contact you wish to text.
In the conversation window, tap the three vertical dots icon in the upper right, then tap “Schedule a message.”
Set the date and time using the calendar interface
Draft your message. When you’re finished, tap “add” to schedule.
How to find, edit, or delete a scheduled message in Pulse SMS:
Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner to open the sidebar.
Tap “Scheduled Messages”
Tap the conversation, then tap and hold the message you wish to modify. Select “Edit” to edit the text, or “Delete” to delete the scheduled message.
Use IFTTT to Schedule Texts
This method of scheduling texts is a little more complicated than directly scheduling a text via Pulse SMS, but if you don’t want to swap to a whole new SMS app, it’ll get the job done.
This IFTTT applet can be used to schedule a text message when a Google Calendar event is triggered. The only requirements are an IFTTT account linked to the necessary apps (IFTTT will request permission if you haven’t linked to proper accounts/apps yet). Simply use the links above and follow the on-screen instructions to set up the message.
Use Alarms or Calendar Reminders
This last suggestion is only a half measure since it requires you to follow through and send the text yourself, but having a reminder loaded with a pre-written message is better than nothing.
While you can’t directly schedule and send a text message through Google Calendar, you can still use it to set up event reminders to send a text for special occasions. You can even write up a draft of the text you’re thinking of sending in the “Notes” section when setting up the reminder; that way you can copy and paste the text when the time comes to finally send it.
Unfortunately, only certain Android smartphones let you do this out of the box. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible if you’re using, say, a Google Pixel phone. There are multiple ways to schedule texts on Android—provided you have the right app for the job.
Schedule Texts on Samsung Smartphones
Samsung Galaxy and Note smartphones users have it the easiest since they can schedule texts messages using the default Samsung SMS app that comes pre-installed on these smartphones:
Open the Samsung SMS app
Draft your text message
Tap the “+” button near the text field, or the three dots in the top right corner of the screen to open the calendar
Select the date and time
Tap “Send” to schedule.
While this is great news for Samsung Galaxy and Note owners, the stock SMS app on non-Samsung Android phones—like Google Pixel phones— lacks an equivalent feature. Scheduling texts is still possible, but you’ll have to use a third-party app messaging instead.
Use Pulse SMS to Schedule Texts
In order to schedule texts on non-Samsung Android phones, you’ll need to replace the basic Android SMS app—that’s where Pulse SMS comes in.
Pulse SMS is not only one of the best looking alternative text messaging apps for available on all Android devices, it also includes features that make it better than the stock texting app. While some of these features are only available when you upgrade to the premium version (which costs $10 for lifetime access), the free version includes a text scheduler.
You’ll need to download Pulse SMS from Google Play and then set it to your default texting app, but once you’ve done that you can begin scheduling messages immediately. Here’s how:
Tap the orange “+” button and then select the contact you wish to text.
In the conversation window, tap the three vertical dots icon in the upper right, then tap “Schedule a message.”
Set the date and time using the calendar interface
Draft your message. When you’re finished, tap “add” to schedule.
How to find, edit, or delete a scheduled message in Pulse SMS:
Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner to open the sidebar.
Tap “Scheduled Messages”
Tap the conversation, then tap and hold the message you wish to modify. Select “Edit” to edit the text, or “Delete” to delete the scheduled message.
Use IFTTT to Schedule Texts
This method of scheduling texts is a little more complicated than directly scheduling a text via Pulse SMS, but if you don’t want to swap to a whole new SMS app, it’ll get the job done.
This IFTTT applet can be used to schedule a text message when a Google Calendar event is triggered. The only requirements are an IFTTT account linked to the necessary apps (IFTTT will request permission if you haven’t linked to proper accounts/apps yet). Simply use the links above and follow the on-screen instructions to set up the message.
Use Alarms or Calendar Reminders
This last suggestion is only a half measure since it requires you to follow through and send the text yourself, but having a reminder loaded with a pre-written message is better than nothing.
While you can’t directly schedule and send a text message through Google Calendar, you can still use it to set up event reminders to send a text for special occasions. You can even write up a draft of the text you’re thinking of sending in the “Notes” section when setting up the reminder; that way you can copy and paste the text when the time comes to finally send it.