A standard SMS message caps out at 160 characters using the basic GSM character set — go one character over, and the message can split into two texts, sometimes doubling the cost for whoever's sending it in bulk.

Push notifications have their own limits

Mobile push notifications typically truncate around 40-50 characters for the title and roughly 150 characters for the body, though exact limits vary by device and platform. Anything past that gets cut off with an ellipsis, often mid-sentence.

Writing tight inside a hard limit

• Lead with the single most important piece of information
• Cut filler words like "please," "just," and "simply"
• Use numerals instead of spelled-out numbers to save characters

Check your exact count before sending

Paste your message into a character counter before it goes out, especially for automated or bulk sends where a truncated message could confuse hundreds of recipients at once instead of just one.