The only things you'll need to make this work are an Android device with a data plan.

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Have you ever composed a text message on your Android device and thought, "I should wait to send this." And then you delete the message and make a mental note to take care of it later.

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When later comes, you might well have forgotten what you were going to say, who you were going to say it to, and why you were going to say what you wanted to say. 

That can be frustrating (at best). 

Or, maybe you wanted to send yourself a reminder to do something at a specific time and you don't want to set an annoying alarm that could interrupt meetings, sleeping babies, or just your sense of peace.

Either way, knowing how to schedule the sending of text messages in Android can come in very handy. Let me show you how easy this is to accomplish.

How to schedule text message sending

What you'll need:The only things you'll need to make this work are an Android device with a data plan (for the sending of texts). The feature is found in Android Messages, which is pre-installed on all Android phones, so there are no apps to install. It's all there, ready to go.

1. Unlock your phone and open Messages

The first thing to do is unlock your Android phone and open the Messages app.

2. Start a chat

For this, you can either create a new chat (by tapping the Start chat button) or open a pre-existing chat. If you create a new chat, you'll then select the recipient as you normally would.

Start composing a new chat or open a pre-existing chat.

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3. Type your message

On the resulting window, type the message you want to send. 

Start typing the message you want to schedule.

Jack Wallen/

4. Open the scheduler

After you've completed typing the message, long press the Send button (right-pointing arrow at the bottom right of the screen). 

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From the resulting popup, select either later today (5:00 PM), later tonight (9:00 PM), Tomorrow (8:00 AM), or a custom time.

If you want a custom date/time for sending, tap Pick date and time.

Jack Wallen/

5. Set a custom time

If you opt for a custom time, tap Pick date and time. In the next popup, you'll first select the date, tap Next, and then set the time.

First select a date and then you'll select a time for custom schedule sending.

Jack Wallen/

6. Save the custom time

In the last window of the custom time wizard, verify the time and date and then tap Save. Once you've done that, you'll see the text and time at the bottom of the window. 

Also: How to enable read receipts in Android Messages

Tap the Send button and your text is scheduled to be sent. It will appear in the chat timeline with a special Schedule icon.

If all is correct, tap Save to schedule the custom time.

Jack Wallen/

And that's all there is to scheduling text message sending in Android. You can use this to either schedule a message to a friend or family member or even to send yourself reminders, without having to rely on an awkward (and sometimes jarring) alarm. I use this feature regularly to ensure I don't miss or forget something when a noisy alarm won't do.

See also

These are my 5 favorite AI chatbot apps for AndroidHow to transfer data from Android to an iPhone quickly and easilyHow to enable the free Google One VPN on your Pixel deviceHow to customize your Pixel screensaver (and why you should)

• These are my 5 favorite AI chatbot apps for Android
• How to transfer data from Android to an iPhone quickly and easily
• How to enable the free Google One VPN on your Pixel device
• How to customize your Pixel screensaver (and why you should)