I keep forgetting to return texts.
December 2, 2012 11:35 AM   Subscribe

How do you keep track of your texts? I get texts that ask to set up drinks with a friend (or a playdate for my child), or asking how things are, or sending me a link to something silly to check out. If I can't answer then, inevitably a new text from someone else will come in later and I lose track of the unanswered one(s). This is an iPhone, by the way.

Sometimes I manage to scribble down a note or email myself the text to remind me to get back to it later. But when I can't, it just gets lost in my text inbox because I've forgotten it came.
posted by xo to Computers & Internet (8 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Start regularly going through all the texts in your inbox every hour or so. Spend like 5 minutes scanning every text thread and make a point to jot down the important stuff.

Or, as soon as you get a message that contains an event you need to remember, you could use Siri to set a reminder in iCal. You would need an iPhone that supports Siri though. (iPhone 4s, iPhone 5)
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 11:40 AM on December 2, 2012


Can you not see the texts above to figure out who they are from and the gist of the conversation/nature of what they said?

Unless you are getting hundreds of texts per day, this doesn't seem that difficult.

I often will not open the push notification of a text if I'm too busy to reply in a timely manner. Then later, I'll see the whole line of however many texts from however many people and deal with them all as I read them. Not unlike how most people respond to email.
posted by Sara C. at 11:44 AM on December 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


I hold my thumb down on the text to get the "copy" button and then send it copied in an email to myself right away. It's a clunky solution, but my email system is tight and I know I won't miss anything if it's in email. (I probably send myself about 10 emails a day about various things.)
posted by iamkimiam at 12:08 PM on December 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


I close the text threads that have been answered or responded to. So whatever is open is a text that I still need to respond to.
posted by Swisstine at 12:10 PM on December 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


Best answer: BiteSMS allows you to mark texts as unread. There are a number of jailbreak ways to do this as well.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 12:19 PM on December 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


I use Google Voice, which copies my texts to my email. Then I treat them exactly like emails - mark them as unread and star them if I dont want to deal with them right that second.

No idea of the compatibility of Voice with iPhones, but I love it to death and it would be a major loss if I switched off Android and discovered it didn't work well with whatever phone I bought instead.
posted by town of cats at 12:25 PM on December 2, 2012 [2 favorites]


Check your phone before you go to bed. The most recent texts that each contact in your phone has sent you is time stamped and dated in an iPhone. Add important dates to your planner. Answer texts you haven't. Unless you are getting hundreds and hundreds of texts a day, this should not be difficult.
posted by SkylitDrawl at 12:43 PM on December 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


I don't get many text messages, but I've had the same problem with personal email, which I fixed by simply not reading new emails unless I have the time and are in the right headspace to reply to/deal with them. Scheduling a few 30 minute slots a day should hopefully be enough. If you can't handle seeing the little notification saying "new messages" (I couldn't) then just turn it off.

On the other hand, if your friends find their text messages to you go unanswered, they'll eventually learn to email or call you instead. You might even be able to set up an auto-reply that says "I'm overwhelmed with text messages right now, if this is important please email me". I know this is possible on Android phones, not sure about the iPhone.
posted by bizwank at 1:19 PM on December 2, 2012 [2 favorites]


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