iOS 18: How to Use the New Send Later Feature in Messages

Apple released iOS 18 to the general public on Sept. 16, a week after the company announced its new iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10 and more at its September event. The update brings many new features to your iPhone, including RCS messaging and more ways to customize your home screen. One helpful new Messages feature iOS 18 introduces is the Send Later function.

Send Later does what its name implies and lets you schedule a message to send later. So if you remember someone’s birthday is coming up or your friend asks you to remind them of something later, you can schedule a message now so you don’t forget.

Here’s how you can schedule messages to send minutes, hours or days later.

How to schedule a text on iOS 18

1. Open Messages.
2. Tap into the correct chat.
3. Tap the plus (+) sign next to the text box.
4. Tap Send Later — you might have to tap More to see this option.

A message that says, "Don't forget to swing by the store on your way home please!!" — You can send reminders to people now so you don’t forget later.

Apple/Screenshot by CNET

A message that says, — You can send reminders to people now so you don’t forget later.

Apple/Screenshot by CNET

Your text box will now read Send Later, and a blue bar will appear over it showing when your message will be delivered. You can tap this bar to adjust the date and time.

You can only schedule a message up to two weeks in advance despite the date wheel showing months in the future. So if it’s July, you can’t schedule a message to send in December, unfortunately.

Once you’ve selected the date and time to send your message, tap the text box to pull your keyboard back up. Type your message and hit the send button.

After hitting send, your message will appear in the chat with a dotted outline and a message over it that shows when the message will be sent. There’s also a button that says Edit.

Tapping Edit opens a dropdown menu with the options to Send Message, Edit Time and Delete Message. If you want to edit the content of the message, you have to long-press on the actual message and tap Edit like you would a message you already sent.

A message being sent at 5 p.m. — What a message looks like when you schedule it to send later.

Apple/Screenshot by CNET

If you know a friend’s birthday is in the next week or two, you can schedule a message now to send to them later so you don’t forget on their big day.

For more on iOS 18, here’s my iOS 18 review, how to change your lock screen’s flashlight app and our iOS 18 cheat sheet. You can also check out everything Apple announced at its September event.