Mobile Character Counts

SMS Messages traditionally allow for a maximum of 160 characters, however, when a non-standard (Unicode) character is entered, the character limit drops to 70.

Below, you will find information on 3 types of characters and their effect on the character limits of your mobile message.

GSM-7 characters count as 1 character towards your character count limit

A Capital A a Small a 0 Digit zero @ At sign Ξ Greek xi
B Capital B b Small b 1 Digit one $ Dollar sign Æ Capital AE
C Capital C c Small c 2 Digit two Carriage return æ Small ae
D Capital D d Small d 3 Digit three § Section sign ß German Eszett
E Capital E e Small e 4 Digit four £ Pound sign É E with acute accent
F Capital F f Small f 5 Digit five ¥ Yuan/Yen sign Ä A with diaeresis
G Capital G g Small g 6 Digit six è e with grave accent Ö O with diaeresis
H Capital H h Small h 7 Digit seven é e with acute accent Ñ N with tilde
I Capital I i Small i 8 Digit eight ù u with grave accent Ü U with diaeresis
J Capital J j Small j 9 Digit nine ì i with grave accent ¿ Inverted question mark
K Capital K k Small k Space ò o with grave accent
L Capital L l Small l ! Exclamation mark Ç Capital C with cedilla
M Capital M m Small m Quotation mark Ø Capital O with stroke
N Capital N n Small n # Number sign ø Small o with stroke
O Capital O o Small o $ Currency sign Å Capital A with ring
P Capital P p Small p % Percent sign å Small a with ring
Q Capital Q q Small q & Ampersand Δ Greek delta
R Capital R r Small r Apostrophe _ Underscore
S Capital S s Small s ( Left parenthesis Φ Greek phi
T Capital T t Small t ) Right parenthesis Γ Greek gamma
U Capital U u Small u * Asterisk Λ Greek lambda
V Capital V v Small v + Plus sign Ω Greek omega
W Capital W w Small w , Comma Π Greek pi
X Capital X x Small x Minus sign/Hyphen Ψ Greek psi
Y Capital Y y Small y . Full stop/Period Σ Greek sigma
Z Capital Z z Small z / Slash Θ Greek theta

GSM-7 extended characters count as 2 characters towards your character count limit

{ Left curly bracket [ Left square bracket ~ Tilde
} Right curly bracket ] Right square bracket Euro sign
\ Backslash | Vertical bar ^ Caret / Circumflex

Unicode characters will shrink your character count max from 160 to 70.
Anything other than what is listed above, includes emoji’s.

Additional information on Unicode characters, including character charts, please visit https://www.unicode.org/charts/#symbols.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Updated on August 19, 2020

Was this article helpful?

Related Articles