| 100% | AOL | 3 | "A" in the instant messaging platform, AIM |
| 57% | AIM | 3 | Instant messaging platform from the '90s: Abbr. |
| 55% | AOL | 3 | ___ Instant Messenger aka AIM, instant messaging service that was popular in the '90s |
| 52% | AOL | 3 | Company that popularized instant messaging in the 1990s |
| 49% | CODE | 4 | A message from the Pentagon might be in this |
| 48% | IOO | 3 | "The view of the panel... " in a text message |
| 48% | TMI | 3 | "Spare me the details," in a text message |
| 47% | OPINION | 7 | What the "O" in IMO in a text message means |
| 46% | ICHAT | 5 | Old instant messaging app used on the Mac OS X and replaced by "Messages" in 2012 |
| 46% | TTYL | 4 | What best-selling 2004 young adult novel was written entirely in the form of instant messages? |
| 46% | IMO | 3 | "Here's what I think about the situation," in a text message |
| 45% | DYLAN | 5 | Bob ___, singer who covered the song "Take a Message to Mary" in 1970 |
| 44% | SOS | 3 | Critical message that's a hint to the six longest entries in this puzzle |
| 44% | SOS | 3 | Letters repeated in the Police's "Message in a Bottle" |
| 43% | SOS | 3 | The Police's "Message in a Bottle" distress call |
| 43% | ACE | 3 | Card with an A in the corner |
| 42% | SOS | 3 | "Sending out an ___" (line in The Police's "Message in a Bottle") |
| 42% | KIK | 3 | Instant messaging app released in 2010 |
| 42% | IMHO | 4 | "The way I see it," in a text message |
| 42% | MEMO | 4 | Short note with a message in the office |
| 42% | EMOJI | 5 | Smiley you send in text messages, and a word added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2015 |
| 42% | ACE | 3 | Playing card with an A in the corner |
| 42% | ALFA | 4 | Word that represents A in the phonetic alphabet |
| 42% | SOWN | 4 | In the ground, in a way |
| 42% | AHEAD | 5 | In the lead, in a way |
| 42% | AHEAD | 5 | In the lead in a race |
| 42% | UNLIT | 5 | In the midst of a blackout |
| 42% | SOBERLY | 7 | In the manner of a judge |
| 42% | TIMIDLY | 7 | In the manner of a milquetoast |
| 42% | RED | 3 | In the ___ (operating at a loss) |