From time to time the question arises whether emoticons and other emoji can be used in SMS messages sent via Quriiri. You can use emojis and special characters in text messages, but when sending text messages from Quriiri or a similar service, there are a few more technical issues to consider when using them.
To use an emoji, the text message must be sent in unicode format. Unicode is an encoding standard that allows you to send special characters, i.e. characters that are not part of the standard alphabet. The standard alphabet is known as the GSM character set or GSM-7 format. If you include an emoji in a text message, the message is automatically converted to Unicode.
The format of a text message affects the number of characters per message
In Unicode format, you can fit fewer characters in a single text message than in a regular text message. A standard SMS message can contain 160 characters, while a Unicode message can contain 70 characters. If your message requires more than one SMS (more than 160 or 70 characters), you can use 153 or 67 characters per SMS.
For messages sent via the Quriirin interface, you can conveniently see the number of characters used below the message field, whether the message is sent as a Unicode or as a regular SMS and the number of SMS messages needed to send the message per recipient.
For messages sent via the interface, you must know how to take into account the character limits allowed by each message format.
Text messages look different on different devices and software
You may have noticed that emojis look different depending on which program or device you are using. For example, iPhone displays emojis differently than Android phones.
If you want to include an emoji in a message, the safest way is to copy the emoji this table ”from the ”Browser" column directly into the message field of the Quriiri interface. In the other columns you can see how the emoji looks on different devices.
Whether an emoji adds value to the content of your message will certainly depend on the subject of the message, the tone of your brand and the target audience.
Would you like to know more or is there something you're still wondering about? Contact us, we are happy to help you with all your text messaging needs. If you have not yet tried text messaging, you can try Quriiria free of charge right now.
