Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Why can't you italicize text in a text message?
- Thread starter TH55
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Haha I understand but it's also a hand held computer, not a StarTAC. I have had numerous cases where I wanted to use italics or bold text
You can't. It's a text message. In other words it's plain text, no formatting. Can you italicize text in a plain text email? No you cannot.
It's supposed to be a quick form of communication. Typing in all lower case letters, for example, would be perfectly acceptable if it wasn't for autocorrection.
Actually in the iOS default mail application, you do have the option to italicize/bold your words. Highlight the word with your finger and you will get the option to do so.
Doesn't matter if it's a DynaTAC or a cluster of 1,024 mac minis in a grid. SMS doesn't have a facility for rich text. It's a plaintext-only medium... which means, NO formatting.
Use e-mail then.
That's not plain text though...that'd be html formatted (you may not see the formatting codes but they'd be there if you looked at the source code of the email).
"italicize text in a text message?" in the title, being text precludes the ability to add formatting as mentioned.
Text messages pre-date all these fancy 'data networks.' They work by hiding the text data within the voice transmission signal.
Basically, the phone companies discovered they had a little bit of spare space in the signal and invented a way to use it. As such, they put in what they could fit. It's why texts are limited to 160 characters.
So the idea of tripling the amount of possible characters (regular, bold, and italic) was probably not high on their list of priorities.
Now, Apple could currently add such things to iMessage, but I'm sure they don't want to make it confusing. It would be kind of annoying to format texts and have your iPhone friends see it all but your Android friends not. So I guess iMessage is inheriting the limitations of SMS just so they can live together happily.
Basically, the phone companies discovered they had a little bit of spare space in the signal and invented a way to use it. As such, they put in what they could fit. It's why texts are limited to 160 characters.
So the idea of tripling the amount of possible characters (regular, bold, and italic) was probably not high on their list of priorities.
Now, Apple could currently add such things to iMessage, but I'm sure they don't want to make it confusing. It would be kind of annoying to format texts and have your iPhone friends see it all but your Android friends not. So I guess iMessage is inheriting the limitations of SMS just so they can live together happily.
indeed not via SMS. but one could (in theory) be able to via iMessage.
Way back in the day my friend and i had a specific verizon flip phone.. and as long as we sent SMS to other verizon users it would allow us to change font colors...italicize etc.. I was 14 then so i dont really remember how it did that.. not sure if it actually sent as a mms.. or if verizon had specific codes built into the phone it self to recognize those things.. or if it really just used a different way to send the text.. via a messenger. I do know for a fact it counted against my monthly SMS and didnt charge me data (that was back in the day when i had to watch my texts lol)
Nope. Just use asterisks if you need to emphasize something.
ex:
I really need the documents, *please* send them to me ASAP.
ex:
I really need the documents, *please* send them to me ASAP.
because if you want to get all fancy why don't you just send an email instead.
who the hell would want to italicize in an SMS? ..oh yeah..you would. (i forgot)
if you need to be "emotive" & get your point across why not just use a cute little emojii in your text?