Millions of iPhones getting feature to schedule texts in weeks – but there’s a trick that lets you do it today

APPLE users are discovering that they can already schedule message delivery on iPhones — and that an even simpler hack will be rolled out soon.

Although Apple products have been synonymous with high quality and customer satisfaction for years, some of their products have persistently missed out on including much-wanted features.

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One glaring gap in services can be found in the company's widely popular iMessage communication platform.

Millions of people rely on the network for work and personal chats — but there has never been a simple way to schedule messages for future delivery directly through the app.

Until now.

Fans are anxiously awaiting the debut of iOS 18, which will include several software upgrades to the overall system and many apps.

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iMessage users will finally be able to draft a message and choose to send it later with just a couple extra clicks thanks to iOS 18's new Send Later feature.

"Whether it’s too late at night or too important to forget, you can now schedule a message to send at a specified time," Apple wrote in the iOS 18 Preview.

A sample screenshot shows a new alert on the messaging screen that says when the words will be delivered with an arrow indicating how to change the time.

Tech insiders said they expect the beefed-up operating system to be publically available in mid-September.

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But iPhone users who cannot wait can take advantage of another hack to schedule messages from their phones right now.

HOW TO SCHEDULE MESSAGES NOW

Sending a message to coworkers in the middle of the night or to friends in the middle of the workday is not always a good idea.

To avoid inconveniencing your recipient, try using your iPhone's automation tool.

The helpful tip was shared by an iPhone user on an Apple customer forum about managing applications and services.

"Please follow the following steps:

1. Go to the Shortcuts app
2. Select Automation window
3. Create Personal Automation
4. Choose the time of the day
5. Choose the event type (daily, weekly, monthly)
6. Click Next
7. Select Action>Send message (do check out their various convenient actions by clicking '+' and section 'all actions')
8. Click on Message to input the message
9. Click on Recipients to select the receiver of the message
10. Click Next and disable 'Ask before sending'
11. Click Done

This automation will have to be manually deleted in order to end its occurrences," he wrote.

JUST TOO MUCH WORK

Some other Apple users thought the advice was too laborious to be useful.

"This is insanely complicated compared to Android. I just switched and I like iPhone but I don’t understand what Apple is thinking here," one person commented.

"I came here to find out the process to do this. Wow! What a pain in the proverbial tukus. I expected better from Apple. Do they realize what a black eye this is for them?" another added.

"This is unbelievably lame. Just stick a 'Send later' feature in the Messages app," a third prescient user suggested.

"This is one of the biggest reasons I would never go back to iPhone," a fourth claimed.

BIGGEST IOS UPDATE IN YEARS

Apple fans will not be disappointed with the packed suite of new services and capabilities that will be rolled out in the new iOS 18 update.

Users will be able to move apps anywhere on the Home Screen, customize the buttons at the bottom of the Lock Screen, and edit the Control Center.

The Photos app will be better organized the Mail app will automatically sort emails into categories.

Customers will also be able to lock specific apps and even hide them inside special folders with just a few clicks.

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There's also a new Apple Intelligence feature — only available on select iPhone models — that will upgrade Siri with new AI capabilities to make the assistant much smarter.

These are just the tip of the iceberg: Check out all of the expected upgrades in the iOS 18 rollout.