When Did Texting Start? The Complete History of SMS (1984–2025)

You send texts on a daily basis without giving it a second thought. But if someone asked you, when did texting start, could you answer?

Most people are not aware of it but the story is more interesting than they think. SMS didn’t come out of nowhere and wasn’t even created for the reason most people use it today. It started out as a side project, sent its first message as a Christmas greeting, spent much of the 1990s being ignored, and then became the world’s most used communication channel.

This is the complete, verified story of texting: its origins, its development, and why it is more important than ever for businesses today.

When Did Texting Start? The Quick Answer

The first-ever SMS message was sent on December 3, 1992, by Neil Papworth to Richard Jarvis at Vodafone UK and read “Merry Christmas.” But the idea of SMS had been conceived long before. The idea of short mobile messages was first conceived in 1984 by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert in the context of the Franco-German GSM cooperation.

So if you define ‘start’ differently:

1984 – The Birth of SMS

Texting’s origins go back to a single question asked in 1984: how long is a normal message?

At his typewriter, German engineer Friedhelm Hillebrand was working on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and typed out random sentences and questions. Most of the time they were less than 160 characters. That observation formed the basis of SMS—and why texts were limited to 160 characters for decades.

Hillebrand contributed to the development of the SMS concept in the Franco-German GSM cooperation, together with his French colleague Bernard Ghillebaert. Another tale frequently told attributes a similar idea to Finnish engineer Matti Makkonen, who is said to have conceived it at a telecoms conference in Copenhagen in 1984. He himself played down his role, saying it was a team effort rather than a personal invention.

Either way, 1984 is the start of the story of texting.

The First Text Message: Dec. 3, 1992

The idea lay dormant for almost eight years before it was actually used.

The first SMS was sent on December 3, 1992. Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old software developer for Sema Group Telecoms, sent a message from his PC to Richard Jarvis, a director at Vodafone UK, who was holding a mobile phone. The message read simply: “Merry Christmas.”

Just a few things to note:

• Papworth sent the message from a computer, not a mobile phone—phones at the time did not have a keyboard
• Jarvis was given an Orbitel 901, a large brick-shaped handset
• Jarvis was unable to answer – his phone was unable to type text
• The message was a little early (Christmas was still weeks away)

That “Merry Christmas” became one of the most important messages in the history of communications.

Texting in its Infancy: 1993–1999

The first text message went out. And then… not much happened. SMS was scarcely used for years. Here’s why and how that has changed.

1993 — Nokia Enters the Game

Nokia was the first mobile phone maker to support SMS. This was a game changer — the hardware support meant consumers could actually get texts and not just engineers in lab environments.

1994 – The First Commercial SMS Service

The first commercial person-to-person (P2P) SMS text messaging service was launched by Finnish mobile operator Radiolinja. For the first time, mobile phone networks began offering SMS to paying customers. That same year, IBM introduced the Simon Personal Communicator, the world’s first smartphone.

1995 — T9 Predictive Text

T9 (Text on 9 keys). Invented by Cliff Kushler. This was an important step. Early phones required you to tap a number key multiple times to get to a certain letter (tap 2 once for A, twice for B, three times for C). T9 had predictive text, which made typing a lot faster. Without T9, texting might never have caught on.

1997 – The First QWERTY Phone

Nokia launched the 9000i Communicator, the first mobile phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. Suddenly users no longer had to rely on T9 at all.

1999 — Cross-Network Texting and the Business Use Case

1999 was the year that everything changed. Finally, users could text across carrier networks, not just between people on the same network. That’s when text messaging went from being a niche technical feature to a real communication tool.

That same year, 5- and 6-digit shortcodes were introduced for bulk text messaging, allowing businesses to text customers at scale for the first time.

Texting Goes Mainstream: 2000–2010

Cross-network texting was turned on, and adoption exploded — slowly at first and then all at once.

2000 — 35 Texts a Month

By the year 2000, the average American was sending about 35 texts a month. That number seems laughably small today, but it was a real cultural shift at the time. Texting was becoming a preferred way to communicate without a phone call.

Texting was ‘a new fever’ sweeping college campuses, the Wall Street Journal said. Text language — LOL, OMG, BRB, ROFL — became part of everyday communication and even made it into the dictionary itself. (The word “texting” was officially added as a verb in 2010.)

2002 — Arrival of MMS

In 2002, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) launched, allowing users to send photos, videos, and audio, in addition to text. This opened the medium to much more than 160-character plain text.

2003 – Text to Vote

American Idol was the first major “Text to Vote” campaign to use shortcodes. This was one of the first times SMS was used to trigger mass consumer action, a concept that defined business texting for years to come.

2007 – The iPhone Changes it All

Apple launched the first iPhone in June 2007. SMS adoption exploded because the touchscreen keyboard made texting a lot easier. The same year saw the invention of Rich Communication Services (RCS), a next-generation messaging standard that would eventually try to replace SMS with richer features.

2009 – WhatsApp is Created

Launched in May 2009, WhatsApp was an alternative to SMS over the internet. Carriers will develop RCS and other advanced messaging protocols as growth eventually pressures them to evolve.

2011 — SMS Reaches its Peak in the US

Americans sent 2.4 trillion text messages in 2011, up from 162 billion five years earlier. For the first time, texting had become the most common form of digital communication in America, surpassing phone calls.

Business Texting is Growing Up: 2010–2025

Consumer texting had levelled off, overtaken by smartphones and messaging apps on the internet, but business texting was just beginning.

10DLC Registration (2019–2021)

The most significant change for business SMS occurred in 2019, when the CTIA revised the standards for A2P (Application-to-Person) messaging to reflect the rise of 10-digit long codes (10DLC) for business texting. From 2021, all US business owners sending large volumes of SMS messages are required to register for 10DLC via The Campaign Registry, which includes registering your brand and campaigns to ensure compliance and minimise spam.

Apple Embraces RCS (2024)

Apple added RCS support in iOS 18 in 2024, after years of resistance. iPhone and Android users could send each other rich messages for the first time — with read receipts, high-res media, and interactive buttons — using their native messaging apps. It was the biggest thing to happen to mobile messaging since the iPhone was released in 2007.

SMS in 2025: Key Stats to Know

SMS isn’t going anywhere — it’s become the highest engagement marketing channel available to businesses:

Sources: Forbes, Gartner, SimpleTexting, Infobip (2025)

In 2025, 83% of consumers use texting as their primary mobile activity, ahead of social media (75%) and email (66%). Brands that text their customers are 683% more likely to report success with digital marketing than those who don’t.

The Complete Timeline: When Did Texting Begin and Where Did It Go?

How Salesforce Teams Use SMS Now

Texting has come a long way since Neil Papworth’s Christmas greeting. For companies built on Salesforce, the channel is now a pillar of customer engagement — used for appointment reminders, onboarding flows, fundraising, donor communication, student outreach, and real-time support.

MessageBlink is an AppExchange SMS and WhatsApp messaging platform that is 100% native to Salesforce. Unlike third-party SMS tools that require data to leave Salesforce, MessageBlink keeps everything inside your CRM – conversations, contact history, opt-in records, automation flows and compliance logs.

MessageBlink, created by a team with extensive Salesforce ISV experience, enables you to:

• Send SMS and WhatsApp messages right from within Salesforce records
• Automate messaging flows without ever leaving your CRM
• Manage opt-ins and compliance in your existing Salesforce environment
• Track delivery, engagement and replies in real time

→ Find MessageBlink on the Salesforce AppExchange

SMS vs WhatsApp: Which One Should You Use for Your Business?

With both channels now mature, businesses often ask which one to prioritise. It depends on your audience and use case.

With native support for SMS and WhatsApp in Salesforce, MessageBlink gives you the best of both worlds.

Summary

Texting was born with a simple holiday message in 1992. In the 2000s it became a cultural phenomenon. And today, it is one of the most effective channels a business can use to reach and engage customers – with performance metrics that are consistently unmatched by any other channel.

It’s a clear opportunity for Salesforce teams in particular. Your contacts are already using SMS and WhatsApp. The question is: is your CRM set up to use them effectively?

MessageBlink ties that together seamlessly – 100% Salesforce native, no data ever leaves your org.

→ Experience MessageBlink on the AppExchange