SMS is over thirty years old and has barely changed. It's precisely this plainness that makes it, even today, an ideal channel for a discreet message.
1992: three words from a computer
The very first SMS, "Merry Christmas", was sent in December 1992 from a computer to a phone. Even then, the sender wasn't a person clearly identified by the handset, but a technical entry point. SMS was born on the machine side.
A constraint turned signature
Short of space in the network signalling, engineers limited the message to 160 characters via the GSM-7 alphabet. This constraint forged a style: short, direct, no frills. Ideal when you don't sign.
Universal where apps fragment
Where RCS and messaging apps seek to enrich the conversation — and tie it to an identity — SMS remains a lowest common denominator: it arrives on every mobile, with no account. Our comparison SMS or RCS shows what you gain and what you expose in moving from one to the other.
Still alive
Billions of SMS still travel every day. Curious about the volume passing through our gateway? The real-time counter and our statistics give a sense of the scale. An old format, but a discretion that hasn't aged a day.
