What does 'SMS' stand for in mobile messaging?

In mobile messaging, SMS stands for Short Message Service. It is the standardized system used to send brief text messages between mobile devices over cellular networks, and it became one of the most widely used communication technologies in the world.

SMS was developed within the GSM telecommunications standards during the 1980s. The first person-to-person SMS was sent in the United Kingdom in December 1992, when Neil Papworth sent “Merry Christmas” from a computer to a Vodafone executive’s mobile phone. Early SMS use focused heavily on network alerts before everyday texting became common.

A standard SMS traditionally allows up to 160 characters when using the GSM-7 character set. Messages containing many non-Latin characters, such as Chinese characters or emoji, commonly use Unicode and have a lower single-message limit. Longer texts may be divided into multiple linked messages. SMS is different from internet-based services such as WhatsApp, iMessage, and Signal because it relies on a carrier’s mobile network rather than an internet data connection.