Self-Texting via SMS: Prevalence, Demographics, and Motivations
Summary
As of 2025, approximately 2% of North American smartphone users text themselves via SMS, representing about 7 million users based on an estimated 350 million smartphone users in North America. Additionally, around 73% of U.S. adults regularly use texting, translating to roughly 182 million individuals. Self-texting serves primarily as a practical tool for reminders, note-taking, and transferring links or media between devices. Demographically, the practice spans various age groups, particularly appealing to professionals and students who frequently use their smartphones for productivity.
Prevalence of Self-Texting Among SMS Users
Self-texting – sending an SMS message to one’s own phone number – is a notable behavior among smartphone users. 1, 2, 3 In North America, where carrier SMS texting remains prevalent, some users treat their text inbox as a personal notebook. One informal 2017 survey 4 noted that approximately 2% of smartphone users engage in this behavior. That equates to about 7 million users across North America, assuming a total of 350 million smartphone users in the region.5
“The reason people use self texting is that they don’t want to use another app.“
– Y Combinator
Texting remains a dominant form of communication, especially in the U.S., where 73% of adults regularly send text messages.6 That translates to roughly 182 million people using texting regularly. Among these, a subset has adopted self-texting as a practical tool. Anecdotal evidence from user forums and tech articles confirms the value users place on this feature. Some power-users report texting themselves multiple times a week as part of their routine. While exact figures are limited, self-texting is a persistent behavior for many and aligns with broader trends in digital productivity.
User Demographics of Self-Texting
No large-scale study has published a detailed demographic breakdown of who texts themselves via SMS. However, we can draw inferences from general texting demographics and anecdotal evidence. Text messaging in general is ubiquitous among young adults (95–97% of 18–29 year-olds in the U.S. use texting) 7, so one might assume tech-savvy younger users are more likely to adopt self-texting. Many self-texting tips are shared by Millennials and Gen Z professionals who are heavy messaging app users. For example, journalists and productivity enthusiasts in their 20s–30s often describe texting themselves as a convenient way to save information.
On the other hand, older generations familiar with email may prefer emailing themselves over SMS. The habit of sending notes-to-self via email is very common (over 90% of email users have done so) 8, and some users continue to favor that method. Nonetheless, self-SMS users span various ages but share a common mindset: they are individuals who rely heavily on their phones and seek quick, on-the-go note-taking solutions. Gender differences have not been documented; it appears to be a personal workflow preference rather than a demographic-driven habit.
Motivations for Texting Oneself (Why People Do It)
People who text themselves via SMS overwhelmingly do so for practical, productivity-related reasons. A targeted Reddit search using the query “texting myself” yields approximately 1,500 results.9 Key motivations and use cases include:
Quick Reminders and Notes: The primary use is as a personal reminder system. Users text themselves about things they don’t want to forget – e.g. to-do items, grocery list additions, or timely reminders. It’s essentially a digital post-it note. The SMS inbox becomes a convenient archive of to-do lists, ideas, and memos.
Saving Links and Media: Many self-texters use SMS to store links, photos, or addresses they come across on one device and want to access later. This method takes advantage of messaging apps’ easy sharing integration – often faster than emailing oneself. Self-texting thus serves as a cross-device bookmarking tool.
Cross-Device Syncing: Texting oneself can help sync content across devices. If SMS apps are available on both phone and laptop (e.g., iMessage on Mac or web SMS portals), a self-text becomes a lightweight way to maintain a unified personal scratchpad.
Memory Aid and Habit: Some users find that sending themselves a text is the most frictionless way to capture a thought in the moment. The convenience of using the SMS app already frequently opened makes it a natural choice for spontaneous information capture.
Other Uses: Occasionally, people text themselves for reasons such as testing their phone or transferring small files.
“I have been using the scheduled text feature for a while now to send reminders to myself.“
Regional Notes and Context
Self-texting behavior also reflects regional messaging habits. In North America, where carrier SMS is still widely used and often comes with unlimited plans, using SMS for self-notes makes sense for many.
In contrast, in regions where SMS is less dominant, people achieve the same goal using other channels – for example, Europeans or Asians message themselves on WhatsApp or Telegram instead of SMS. WhatsApp users globally now have the in-app “Message Yourself” function. This means the idea of self-messaging is becoming more normalized across the globe, even if the transport (SMS vs. internet messaging) differs. The underlying impulse is the same: people everywhere seek easy ways to offload information from brain to phone. North American users just happen to do it through carrier texting more often, given the longstanding texting culture.
When it comes to telco-owned SMS, the available evidence indicates it’s a consistent and practical behavior among a subset of mobile subscribers.
- The Verge, I text myself all day every day — and you should, too, David Pierce, 2022. ↩︎
- L’ADN, S’envoyer des messages à soi-même, Marine Protais, 2022. ↩︎
- Lifehacker, You Can Now Text Yourself via RCS on Google Messages (and You Should), Jake Peterson, 2025. ↩︎
- The AWL, The Joys of Texting Myself, Rachel Miller, 2017. ↩︎
- ConsumerAffairs, Cell phone statistics 2025, Alexus Bazen, 2025. ↩︎
- Pew Research Center, Americans and Text Messaging, Russell Heimlich, 2011. ↩︎
- Deseret News, How many texts does a teen get? Study says half get at least 237 a day, Lois M. Collins, 2023. ↩︎
- Microsoft, The Role of Emails-to-Self in Personal Information Management, Horatiu Bota, 2017. ↩︎
- Reddit, Can’t text myself, Sheriatthebar, 2023. ↩︎
