"Send Later" option not appearing in Message app iOS 18

send later only appears if you are sending a message to an iphone. If recipient is using an android phone it wont appear.

Steve from Oz

I found the send later option only appears if the person you’re sending to has an iPhone.

carly_thomas1 wrote:

I didn’t look at how old this thread is but I’ve spoke to Apple and the option to send later only is visible on our iPhone if we are sending a message to another iPhone user.

Yes, that's been stated repeatedly on every page of this thread. And in Apple's Support document. Reading even a page or two of this thread would have made that clear.

Restarting my phone worked. It made it appear.

For some reason in my message settings, I-message had been turned off, so send later now appears.

I tried this feature and noticed it was there sometimes and then not others. A little internet searching show that it apparently only works with other iOS devices. Then it all made sense.

After years of my partner teasing me about how she can schedule texts to be sent later I was thinking to myself, "Finally I'm going to be able to do that too." But..., no. How shockingly out of touch with its user base Apple must be to only allow that feature to other iPhone users. Hard to comprehend really - I didn't think they would stoop that low. I guess I will finally move on to Android now, I can't take the embarrassment any longer and I'm tired of waiting for basic features that the rest of the world gets years before Apple decides to bless us with them.

I have the iPhone Pro16 (IOS 18.3.1) and it works for me if I send a message to myself or another iPhone user (a big let down that it doesn’t include Android phones as well). Don’t know if it helps but the first time I tried it I had opened a new message and typed the recipient’s name in then pressed the + sign and didn’t get the Send Later option. I had to press the + sign before entering any text and then the option was there (on mine anyway). Sorry if you’ve already done it that way with no luck. I’ve also tried it with the Focus setting on and off and it still gives me the Send Later option.

Use the Shortcuts App. This will allow you to write and send your text message to anyone, anyphone, anytime. Shortcuts>new shortcut > send message.

It’s a workaround and inherently clunky compared to the ‘Send Later’ function, but it works.

Have you tried clicking on the "+" key before writing the text and before filling out the recipient's name/number? That's the only time it appears for me.

Punkin0001 wrote:

The Send Later feature of my iPhone is missing

Assuming you are using iOS 18, do you have the + button next to where you would type the message. That is where you would find the Send Later option that can only be used to send later to other users with iMessage. That means it is not possible to send later to an Android phone.

mjfromrockville wrote:

Interesting. I have the latest iOS (18.3.1), and there's no "send later" option. What iOS are you using? I have the option on my MacBook Air, but not on my phone.

You will only see the "Send Later" option if you are sending to someone using iMessages.

THIS! Thank you, laj397. That's the key. Clicking the "+" sign FIRST did, indeed, give me the "send later" option on my iPhone. Yippee!!!

redmondta wrote:

As a matter of fact, there used to be all sorts of choices when you pressed the plus sign to the left. Now when I press it, I only get pictures to select immediately. This is definitely a glitch. I’ve been using the send later function quite often, so I really miss it. Please somebody fix this glitch. Yes I have the latest update. That’s when the issue started. Anyone found what to do?

The glitch lies with your phone so no-one else but you can fix it.

Sometimes, just restarting will fix something like that. The next step I'd take is a forced restart.

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

Yes it is just with other IOS users. I tried to send messages to Android user and it doesn’t show.

It appears when sending to other iPhones but you have to hunt for it in the list of apps. However even though it is advertised that it is not dependent on the recipient phone it is not showing up for non-iPhone users.

sounds like a bug that needs to be fixed. Or documentation needs to be updated.