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

stoatsngroats wrote:

I’ve just checked my iPad and iPhone and have the ‘send later’ button on both, BUT only for conformed iMessage contacts.

for people who have an non iPhone, or an unknown phone, the ‘send later! Button is NOT visible.So, some functionality appears to be there, just not for every phone.

Yes, as has been explained repeatedly in this thread, "Send Later" only works with other iMessage contacts.

Pscholey wrote:

Once your enter the email address/persons name to who you are sending the email to and complete your message, press and hold the arrow up bottom to the right of the recipient’s name to whom you are sending the message to. You will see 4 options of what to do and ‘send later’ is one of the options.

As has been noted repeatedly in the year since the person you're replying to posted this, the option is only available if you're messaging someone else with iMessage.

No option to send later if sending a test message to yourself! How I normally check things out in Messages. First thing that didn’t work. Weird. Used another iPhone recipient, and option was there. For green bubble receivers won’t be there either.

The update stipulates that the “Send Later” function is only for IOS users via messenger. Does not work for SMS.

Really a bummer because Apple is the only one what doesn’t have this text function. It’s disappointing. Hopefully, this will be resolved.

Based on what everyone is saying Apple Support is in denial when it comes to customer feedback with the Send Later function. Apple Support, the issue is real and has not been fixed. Find a fix!

My specific situation: Send Later does not appear as an option unless I am texting another iPhone user. I tried to find a work around. The closest I got was when I created a new message (no recipients). I was able to use the function, but as soon as I put the contact in (an Android user) the message went from looking like a scheduled message back to a normal message. The blue box showing when it was scheduled went away and Send Later was no longer an option when pressing the + button. But it worked fine when I tried the same for an iPhone user.

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. Two apps that will make life easier are Tips and Support by Apple. Hope this helps.

I’ve just checked my iPad and iPhone and have the ‘send later’ button on both, BUT only for conformed iMessage contacts.

for people who have an non iPhone, or an unknown phone, the ‘send later! Button is NOT visible.So, some functionality appears to be there, just not for every phone.

HTH

remodelor wrote:

Same deal 2 days and it’s gone. Bizarre for sure

• You cannot send messages to yourself.
• Send Later is only available when sending to other users who have iMessage turned on.

Samson_1 wrote:

Based on what everyone is saying Apple Support is in denial when it comes to customer feedback with the Send Later function. Apple Support, the issue is real and has not been fixed. Find a fix!

There is no fix because it's not broken.

My specific situation: Send Later does not appear as an option unless I am texting another iPhone user.

Yes, that's the way it's supposed to work. The feature only works with iMessage users.

Note: You must be using iMessage with iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, watchOS 11, visionOS 2, or later. 

Schedule a message on iPhone to send later - Apple Support

I had the same problem where I could see the "send later" on my MacBook but not on iPhone 16 ProMax. I then went to the iMessage's settings on my iPhone and noticed that "Focus" was turned off. I turned "Focus" on and the functionality returned to my iPhone. I hope this helps.

Same for me. After some trial and error, I think the option only appears if you’re sending to other iPhones. So if the recipient is an Android user (or a group with at least one SMS user), you won’t see the option.

[Edited by Moderator]

I think I’ve solved this for me anyway.

and forgive me I don’t know all the proper terminology….but what happened was so was testing the feature and trying to send a text and an email to myself from iMessage. In either of those instances the send later button didn’t show up. So I selected another text chain with someone I know is on the iPhone, and it worked fine. I have not tested this with sending to non-Apple devices but will report back if I get any good info….actually just did a little testing and it does not work for me with Android devices. It seems only to work btwn Apple devices.

but in any case I was finally able to use that feature and it is very handy!

good luck!

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.