Scheduling SMS Messages

Complete guide on scheduling SMS messages to be sent in the future on the httpSMS platform

With scheduled text messages, you can gain greater control over when your messages will reach your recipients, allowing you to perfectly time promotions, critical alerts, or follow-ups to hit your recipients' phones at the ideal moment.

You can schedule messages to be sent up to 20 days (480 hours) in the future.

Scheduling Messages with the httpSMS API

When sending messages with the httpSMS API you can use the optional send_at parameter to schedule the SMS to be sent at a future time and date. Send the time in the RFC 3389 format which also includes the time zone e.g. 1996-12-19T16:39:57-08:00

curl -L \
  --request POST \
  --url 'https://api.httpsms.com/v1/messages/send' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'x-api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --data '{
    "from": "[phone]",
    "to": "[phone]",
    "content": "Scheduling a text message in the future",
    "send_at": "2025-12-19T16:39:57-08:00"
  }'

Scheduling bulk messages with Excel

When ending bulk messages on httpSMS, you can use the optional SendTime(optional) column in the excel template to set the time when the SMS message will be sent out. When using excel, set the time in your local time zone in the following format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS e.g. you can set the time like this 2023-11-13T02:10:01