A feature that exists on almost all other mobile phones, a counter which shows how many characters your SMS message has, was not deemed important enough by Apple to be included in it’s iPhone OS. Why is this feature important you ask ?
Mainly, because when writing a long enough message, your mobile carrier can split the message into 2 till 5 msgs, according to it’s length, and bill you for each one of them.
I know many of you have been looking for this feature on your phones, and now it’s finally here. SMS Helper adds to MobileSMS (The builtin iPhone SMS program) a counter that updates as you type with the current message limit, and how many messages your SMS will be split into.
Using english, the character limit is about 160 per message, but using non-english languages lowers it to about 70 per message.
This jailbreak application requires iPhoneOS 3.0 and up, and is free of charge. To install, just launch Cydia, update your list, and search for “SMS Helper”.
Donate to the authors here:
October 8th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Works really great! Thank for that handy little helper thingy!
(iPhone Classic, OS 3.1)
October 8th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
A simple addition — thanks.
Soooo happy some people are looking after us, it sure isn’t Apple !!!
October 8th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
I would recommend anyone that wants some quality SMS features to download BiteSMS. Awesome app, has a counter and many other awesome features for only $5 US or free if you buy BiteSMS credits.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Very slick and simple! Thanks!
October 9th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Awesome!! Exactly what I’ve been wanting. Thanks!
October 9th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I use iREALSMS do`s this only work with the DefaultSMS on Iphone only ? I am not sure if iREALSMS has a feature like this . Never asked anyone if my long messages in 2 parts or more after sending .
October 9th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
i just want to say thanks..iused to like ireal sms just bcoz it shows..character count..(^___^)..bt now its ok..thanks again.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Hello bigboss, I really like smshelper,but could you add a toggle to stop counting the number of sms been sent? It’s really easy to be touch when I press ‘back’ in sms.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:12 am
yeah. the popup when i press the back button is probably a bug i suppose. anyway, i’ve been waiting for an app like this for a long long time (since 1.1.4) and i’m loving it. great work and continue to perfect this app. THANKS!!
October 11th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
It’s not BigBoss who is writing this app. Anyhow, wait for the next update which will fix this issue.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
think there is a bug. worked well for some days and then all of a sudden it shows i have more than 2 million sms! reset it and in a few days, again. uninstalled and reinstalled and in a few days again!
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:09 pm
elaine,
Are you using Quick SMS or another SMS program to send SMSes as well ?
November 25th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Very hand tweak, I love the character counter with its little flip animation. :D
Is there any way to have the popup show both received and sent messages for a given period? I assumed the totals shown included both until I looked closer, whoops.
December 5th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Cannot download sms helper, message says download failed. Please advice how to fix this?
December 24th, 2009 at 8:46 am
i am using other caracters than english and i would like it to count from 160 not 70 because my carrier has a limit of 160. or if i rite ă ş ţ is longer than a simple a s t?
January 8th, 2010 at 4:01 am
i like this app :-)
how can i see the number of sms sent? I do not get a pop up :-(
thanks
July 27th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Just upgraded to 4.0.1 on a 3G iPhone. I don’t see the counter and when I tap on “Messages” to to back to the list of messages, the Messages App crashes everytime. Only fix is to remove the SMS Helper app :( I hope an update comes out soon!
August 3rd, 2010 at 7:47 am
Echoing Anon’s sentiment…iOS 4.01 on a 3GS (MC) jailbroken with JailBreakMe.com.
SMS Helper causes message app to crash when tapping “Messages” to move back to the message list. Removing the app fixes the issue.
Also hoping for a quick update, as I’m sure that many, many people find this tool to be extremely useful.
August 3rd, 2010 at 8:49 am
Scratch that…just found that it’s no longer necessary.
If you go to Settings – Messages, you’ll find a toggle for Character Count, as well as options for repeat alert (for which I’d been using Notifier – which shows up in the springboard as Reminder), group messaging, and a subject.
September 15th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
I cannot download it from cydia, I even cannot find it. Could you please help me?
October 4th, 2010 at 5:00 am
everybody running IOS 4.0+, u don’t need this app as it’s found under Settings/Messages/Character Count
probably that’s why it’s crashing, 2 functions runnin at the sametime doin the same task…
March 28th, 2011 at 10:54 am
hello
after install SMS helper my speaker for talk are quiet, I tested it on ios 3.1.2 3.1.3 and whited00r ios.
Someone have that problem too?
Thanks.