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In 2024, Apple finally released as part of iOS 18, the ability to schedule text messages to be sent at a later date and time.
In 2021, this feature was available on Android, so for those of you on that line of devices, this is (hopefully) something you've already known and taken full advantage of.
For those in the Apple-verse, this feature release came with a massive sigh of relief. ABOUT TIME!
Now what are the multitude of ways I can use this feature?
I know this is a "work" blog, but right now, I've used this mostly in my personal life, but BECAUSE of my work, so it still counts, right?!
Typical suggestions for scheduling texts are happy birthday messages, anniversary well-wishes and other similar threads. But let me tell you, these timed text messages are GAME CHANGERS as a parent.
Sure, I can schedule texts to remind them to do chores. Yes, I even have a shortcut setup that I just tap and it automates sending them all a text nagging them - reminding them - to do their chores. I'm not saying it's always successful but let's leave that end alone for the moment.
Now, as spring season kicks into gear, our schedule has us constantly going back and forth to the schools, practices, rehearsals, meetings, etc. I've definitely leaned into a reliance on scheduled texts to keep our family gears turning!
In the past few weeks, here's a smattering of the texts my kids have received, pre-planned and scheduled to them at JUST the right time:
My two teenagers are usually up later than my husband and I. While they are responsible for their own schedules and knowing when they have activities and meetings, every once in a while I drop in a reminder or nudge. In this case, one of my boys does NOT like waking up in the mornings. Alarms, lights, pulling blankets off, yelling, using "find my phone" - all will be used in a single morning. Knowing I was off to bed and he had an especially early morning the next day, I scheduled this message at about 10:30pm - and I'm pretty sure I was sound asleep when he got it!
"Go to bed. You have an early meeting tomorrow before school."
My daughter has a quick turn-around between activities one day a week, shuttling from dance classes to softball. The first week this came into play, I knew she would get home before me with very little spare time, so I scheduled a message to hit her iPad about 10 minutes after I knew she would be home and have access to her device.
"Remember to pack your softball items with your dance items."
This week I left for the airport while the kids were at school. The dishwasher was running. There was a load of clothes in the washing machine. I knew my husband would be rushing home after track practice with two of our kids, to make dinner for all four of our kids, and would NOT be happy about having to unload the dishwasher and discover wet clothes that had been sitting all day. I also knew my three boys had a half day of school... Being out of state for work, I wanted to help make sure things still ran smoothly at home and that since the boys were home half the day, they helped their dad out. They all got pre-scheduled text messages within minutes of arriving home that day:
To one of them: "The dishwasher is clean - please unload it before 2pm."
To another: "Please move the laundry that's in the washer to the dryer."
To a third: "Take a package of beef out of the freezer (bottom back left corner), put it in one of the red bowls and fill it with cold water."
Knowing I couldn't make a track meet after school due to my onsite work and travel schedule one day, I made sure to schedule a message to each of the boys that were competing - one in the morning they would get before leaving for school reminding them to have fun, then one that they would get at some point after the track meet checking in on how they felt they did in their races and events. So while I was busy working and on a plane, I could still be part of the happenings at home and make sure they knew I was thinking of them!
Then, I discovered my absolute most favorite use of scheduled text messages.
We had an evening where most of us would be coming and going in various directions from about 3pm until about 6:30pm. Determined to not default to a drive-through dinner, as neither my husband or I would be home in that time span, I spent about 15 minutes preparing two different sheet pans worth of food - potatoes on one, chicken on the other. This was going to work. I put the meat back in the fridge and sat down with my phone before heading to pick up kids from school. What time would we all be home to eat? Working backwards from there, I figured out what time the chicken had to go in and what time the potatoes had to go in. Our oldest would be home while the rest of us were everywhere and he could do this!!
5:00pm: Preheat the oven to 375.
5:15pm: The pan sitting on the counter with potatoes needs to go in the oven now.
5:45pm: Now adjust the oven temperature to 450. Leave the potatoes in there.
5:55pm: The oven should be at 450 now - put the pan of chicken from the fridge into the oven.
6:15pm: Turn the oven off. Pull the chicken out and put it on the top of the stove. You can leave potatoes in the oven.
And guess what? Dinner was ready when we all got home and it was a beautiful thing! We cut up some veggies, had kids grab plates and utensils and even though we felt we were running all over and there was no way we could get a home-cooked meal on the table, we did! It took a bit of pre-planning, and the much appreciated cooperation of my 16 year-old (as well as crossing my fingers he would see the texts while busy gaming online with friends).
I wonder what other amazing things I can accomplish with scheduled text messages! What do you use them for? How are they most helpful to you?
