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OS Authority

Count characters

See the exact character count of your text as you type, with and without spaces, how many SMS messages it takes, and how much room is left for an X post, a page title or an Instagram caption.

Your text stays on this device. We don't see, store or log it.

How it works

  1. Type or paste your text into the box.
  2. Read the counts and the limits below; they update as you type.
  3. Copy the counts if you need them.

Why count here

Your text never leaves your device, so it's fine for drafts, emails and private messages. Emoji, accented letters and combined characters count as one, as people see them.

SMS length: 160 or 70 characters

An SMS written only with basic Latin letters, digits and common punctuation (the GSM-7 alphabet) holds 160 characters; longer messages are split into parts of 153. A single character outside that alphabet, such as Arabic or Urdu letters, many accented letters or an emoji, switches the whole message to Unicode: 70 characters, or 67 per part. A 150-character Urdu text therefore costs 3 messages, not 1. A few symbols (€ [ ] { } ~ ^ | \) take two of the 160.

Limits worth knowing

X (Twitter) posts: 280 characters, with links counted as 23 and Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters counted double. Search result titles show about 60 characters and descriptions about 160 before Google cuts them off (it measures pixels, so wide letters use more). Instagram captions: 2,200 characters, but only about 125 show before "more".

Frequently asked questions

Do spaces count as characters?

Yes, on most platforms and forms. Both counts are shown, with and without spaces.

Why is my emoji counted as one character but takes two in SMS?

People see one character, but SMS Unicode stores most emoji as two 16-bit units, so they use two of the 70.

Does it count Arabic and Urdu correctly?

Yes. Letters, diacritics and joined forms are counted as people read them, and the SMS count switches to the 70-character Unicode limit.

Is my text saved?

No. It stays in this tab on your device and disappears when you close it.

Sources

Last reviewed: October 1, 2026

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