---
title: "Why does Sarbacane block certain characters in my SMS?"
description: "Find out which characters are allowed in an SMS, which are rejected, and how to correct your message before sending."
url: https://help.sarbacane.com/en/articles/54-why-does-sarbacane-block-certain-characters-in-my-sms
collection: "Frequently Asked Questions about text messages"
updated: 2026-10-13
language: en
alternates: [fr, es]
---

# Why does Sarbacane block certain characters in my SMS?

Find out which characters are allowed in an SMS, which are rejected, and how to correct your message before sending.

In Sarbacane Campaigns, SMS messages are encoded according to the GSM 7-bit standard. Unaccented letters, numbers, common accented characters (é, è, à, ç) and commonly used symbols work without any issues. Emojis, certain accented characters (ê, ï, œ), typographic apostrophes and quotation marks, and non-Latin alphabets are not supported: Sarbacane flags them in the editor and suggests replacing them before sending.

Basic characters count as one character:

-   the letters A to Z and a to z;
    
-   the numbers 0 to 9;
    
-   common accented characters: é, è, à, ç…;
    
-   common symbols: @, ?, !, &…
    

Double characters are supported, but count as two and reduce the available length:

-   braces { } and square brackets \[ \];
    
-   the vertical bar |;
    
-   the characters ^, ~ and \\;
    
-   the euro symbol €.
    

![Table of double characters, which count as two characters in an SMS](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/helpcenter/683050d8834924b5aeaea8b7/20260325205026_2526.jpg)

Unsupported characters:

-   emojis (😊, 👍, ❤️…);
    
-   characters from other alphabets (Chinese, Arabic, Cyrillic…);
    
-   accents such as ê, ï or œ;
    
-   typographic quotation marks “ ” and curly apostrophes ‘ ’.
    

## Prerequisites

-   A Sarbacane Campaigns license.
    

## Steps

1.  In the **Message** step, write your SMS in the phone-shaped preview.
    
2.  If your message contains an unsupported character, Sarbacane will notify you and suggest a replacement: accept it or edit your text.
    
3.  Check the character counter in the panel on the right. Double-byte characters count as two.
    
4.  In the **Review** step, click **Send a test**, then review the SMS you receive on your phone.
    

**Best practice**: use simple characters and avoid emojis. Your SMS will display the same way on all phones and cost fewer credits.

## Expected result

The test SMS displays exactly as you wrote it.

## Troubleshooting

### Sarbacane reports an unsupported character

Your message contains a character that phones cannot display. Accept the suggested replacement (for example, ê becomes e, ï becomes i, œ becomes oe) or rephrase your message. If it is an emoji, remove it from your message.

### I can't move on to the next step

An unsupported character is still present in your message. Correct it or accept the suggested replacement, then try again.

### Sarbacane reports apostrophes or quotation marks

If you wrote your message in another software application (Word, Google Docs, an email, etc.) and then pasted it into Sarbacane, the apostrophes and quotation marks are probably typographic (’ “ ”). They are not supported. Type them directly in the Sarbacane editor.

### My SMS costs more credits than expected

Double-byte characters (€ , \[ \], { }…) count as two. Your message may exceed 160 characters without you realizing it, increasing the cost from 1 to 2 credits. The full pricing scale is in the article about creating an SMS campaign.

## Related articles

-   [How do I create an SMS campaign in Sarbacane?](https://help.sarbacane.com/fr/articles/52-comment-creer-une-campagne-sms-dans-sarbacane.md)