Character Limits of inReach Text Messages

Use the following information to estimate how many characters you are using when sending or receiving a message. 

The following count as 1 character toward the limit:

• ! " # $ % ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ _ ¡ £ ¥ § ¿ & ¤

• 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

• A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

• a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

• Ä Å Æ Ç É Ñ Ø ø Ü ß Ö à ä å æ è é ì ñ ò ö ù ü Δ Φ Γ Λ Ω Π Ψ Σ Θ Ξ

The following count as 2 characters toward the limit:

• | ^ € { } [ ] ~ \

Including any of the following will reduce the character limit of the message by approximately half due to SMS coding.

• Â, â, Ā, ā, Ą, ą, Á, á, Ã, ã, À, Ă, ă

• ɑ, ɒ, ɐ, ʙ, ɔ, ʗ

• Č, č, Ć, ć, ç, Ċ, ċ, Ĉ, ĉ

• Ď, ď, ɓ, ɕ, Ð, ð, ʤ, đ, ʣ, ɗ, ɖ, ʥ

• Ė, ė, È, Ě, ě, Ĕ, ĕ, Ê, ê, Ë, ë, Ē, ē, Ę, ę

• ɛ, ɘ, ɜ, ɝ, ɚ, ə, ɞ, ʚ, ʩ

• Ĝ, ĝ, Ğ, ğ, Ġ, ġ, ģ, Ģ, ɡ, ɠ, ɢ, ʛ

• Ħ, ħ, Ĥ, ĥ, ɦ, ɧ, ɥ, ʮ, ʯ, ʜ, ɣ, ɤ

• Í, í, Ì, Ï, ï, Ĩ, ĩ, ɩ, ij, IJ, İ, Ĭ, ĭ, Į, į, ɫ, Î, î, Ī, ī, ı, ɨ, ɪ

• Ĵ, ɟ, ʄ, ĵ, ʝ, ĸ, ʞ, Ķ, ķ

• Ľ, ľ, Ĺ, ĺ, Ļ, ļ, Ŀ, ŀ, Ł, ł, ʟ, ʪ, ɭ, ɮ, ɬ, ʫ, ɱ, ɰ, ɯ

• Ń, ń, Ņ, ņ, ʼn, Ň, ň, Ŋ, ŋ, ɴ, ɳ, ɲ

• Ò, Ŏ, ŏ, Ő, Ó, ó, Ô, ô, Ō, ō, ɵ, ɷ, Õ, õ, Œ, ő, œ, ɶ, ɸ, ʠ

• Ř, ř, ɼ, Ŕ, ŕ, Ŗ, ŗ, ɾ, ɹ, ɺ, ɻ, ʀ, ʁ

• Š, š, Ś, ś, Ş, ş, Ŝ, ŝ, ʂ

• ʃ, ɿ, ʅ, Ť, ť, ɽ, ʆ, ſ, ʇ, Ţ, ţ, Ŧ, ŧ, ʧ, ʨ, ʈ, ʦ

• Ú, ú, Ù, Ŭ, ŭ, Û, û, Ū, ū, Ũ, ũ, Ű, ű, Ů, ů, ʉ, ʊ, Þ, þ

• Ų, ų, ʋ, ʌ, Ŵ, ŵ, ʍ

• ʏ, Ý, ý, ʔ, ʡ, Ŷ, ŷ, Ÿ, ÿ, ʎ, Ź, ź, Ž, ž, Ż, ż

• ʕ, ʢ, ʐ, ʑ, ʒ, ʓ, ʖ, ʘ, ʬ, ʭ

NOTE: Any other symbols (e.g. emojis) or letters not listed will reduce the character limit of the message by approximately half due to SMS coding. This is also true for languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or Cyrillic alphabet languages.

The amount of characters that are taken up by a contact depend on how the contact was entered:

• Contact Entered at the Garmin Explore™ Website: Only use one character for each email address, phone number, or inReach address that has been synced to the device's contacts when sending a message directly from the inReach device.

  • • Example: Sending a message to four email addresses and six SMS phone numbers that have all been added as contacts and synced to the inReach device would use 10 characters from the message's character limit.

• SMS Numbers Entered Manually or Selected When Sending a Message From a Connected Garmin App: Each character of the phone number and country code reduces the number of characters available for the message.

  • • Example: Sending a message to a US phone number would use 12 characters from the message's character limit.

• Email Addresses Entered Manually or Selected When Sending a Message From a Connected Garmin App: One character for each letter, number, or symbol.

  • • Example: Sending a message to john.doe@garmin.com would use 19 characters from the message's character limit.

• Multiple Contacts: Each additional contact will use one extra character in addition to the number of characters in the phone number or email address.

  • The number of contacts that are selected reduce the number of available characters in a message, and is dependent on how the contacts are added to the message.

    • Example: If a US phone number and john.doe@garmin.com are both added manually, this would use 31 characters from the message's character limit.

• MapShare™ page as a Contact: Reduces the available character limit of a message by two.

• Contact Phone Numbers or Email Addresses Saved to an InReach Without a Name: Use the same number of characters as manually-entered contact information.

Any optional information added to an SMS text message based on the SMS Message Configuration section in the inReach account settings will not limit the number of characters available for a message. This optional SMS Message Configuration information is added to the SMS message after the inReach device sends it, and can include:

• Latitude and longitude as text in the message.

• A link to an online map with your location.

• Your name as a signature (otherwise, your name is not shown to the recipient).

Some smartphones may show this additional information as the second part of the SMS text message, but it still does not count towards the number of characters available for a message.