Silent Send

Sometimes when I don't know someone's schedule, I'm not sure when to send messages. I wouldn't want to have their phone beep at them in the middle of class or work when I don't expect them to get back to me immediately. E-mail, in my opinion is better in this regard except of said person has E-mail on their phone, which is becoming common these days.

I realize that people should set their phones on silent or turn them off when they are busy, but I'm texting people, not elephants.

I think there should be a "Silent Send" option which allows you to send a message to someone without causing their phone to go "Beep Beep" at them. This would also be helpful if you know they're busy but you have a tenancy to forget to send it later. Basically, the phone shows the same "New Message" icon that it normally would, along with a "silent" icon next to the message itself so that people won't think their phone is broken when it doesn't beep despite being on ring.

This way, the person won't know they have a message until they actually have time to check them, which means they won't press the buttons to hide the notification to stop the phone from beeping, and then forget that they had the message in the first place! I actually did that once myself and the person, after about a week, got mad at me for not responding, and only then did I remember that I clicked off the phone. When I turned it back on it no longer said "New Message" so I just plain forgot. Thankfully they understood, but that was embarrassing nonetheless.

Most phones can check for updates via the network-even my old flip phone from 2007 had this feature. This feature could be added via a system software update, and the message should come with a notification at the bottom that shows up if the message is "Silent Sent" but the person who received it doesn't have that feature. The message should say something like this "This message was sent with a "silent" option on it, which displays a notification on screen but does not cause your phone to ring, regardless of the volume setting, but your phone does not support this feature. However, it can be added via a software update. If you would like to use this feature, please check for updates"