Out of Office provides a network-generated personalised autoreply message for mobile phone users that may be unable to respond immediately to incoming text messages.

Users can specify how long they will be away or the date of their return together with their personal content for the message, which is sent by the network in response to people who send a message during the period the user is away.

Different market segments may use Out of Office in different ways. For example, a business user may provide contact details for a period of absence whereas other users may just provide a brief notification about what they are doing.

Out of Office response messages include network branding, which provides an opportunity for the operator to promote its services and stimulate customer acquisition.