Do you know another way to fit a 3000 long message into a 160ish SMS?

Don't write long messages in an emergency. If it can't fit in one message, it probably doesn't matter. Instead of trying to predict everything, allow communication. Let them figure it out, don't command them.

19 SMS messages.

Does anyone still pay per text?

> Does anyone still pay per text?

It makes much more sense outside the US than to pay for a text bundle. My phone plan includes 0 SMS messages, and I don't know what was the last time when I've had to send one was. It's only useful when someone doesn't have internet, which only happens once every few months at most.

Why 3000 ? Set a character limit. If the detail is important they can just send 2.. or 10.

Ok I understand the usecase now.

I would have used two textboxes, Title and description, but this works as well.

write a shorter emergency message?

"I was in a car accident, come to general hospital downtown"