Long SMS will be blocked – Send MMS instead
Messages sent with greater than 10 segments will be blocked by the mobile carriers. If your message contains three or more segments, consider sending it as MMS using a text file as an attachment.
Before sending messages in Captivated, please use this segment calculator to understand how many segments your message will be. If it is over 3 segments, send it as an MMS instead. Learn how to do that at the end of this page.
Below states in greater depth how a text message segment is calculated.
Types of Encoding
When sending text messages, especially in announcements, the type of SMS encoding determines how your message is transmitted and how many characters you can include.
There are two main types:
GSM-7 Encoding
This is the standard and most efficient SMS character set.
It supports common Latin letters, numbers, and a basic set of symbols.
With GSM-7, a single SMS allows up to 160 characters.
Unicode (UCS-2) Encoding
Required when using special characters like emojis, non-Latin alphabets (e.g., Arabic, Chinese), or accented letters (é, ü, ñ).
Messages using Unicode are limited to 70 characters per SMS.
Using special characters or emojis can engage your audience, but it may reduce the message length and increase cost if messages are split. For effective SMS marketing, balance creativity with efficiency—use special characters intentionally and test message length before sending. Learn more about encoding.
What is a segment?
SMS segments are the chunks your message is divided into before being sent. A standard SMS allows 160 characters (or 70 if using special characters like emojis). If your message exceeds this, it’s split into multiple segments — which can impact cost and delivery. Learn more about segments here.
How to make a text message an MMS
Copy your desired text and paste it into a word document. Then, screenshot the text to make it a .png. Then send the.png as your message in Captivated.