He says that he’s sorry, but does he really mean it, and what’s the reason behind it?
Clearly, he apologized because he was busy, or something caught his attention, right?
Not always. Here’s everything that you need to know when a guy says that he is sorry for getting back to your text much later.
What It Means When A Guy Apologizes For Texting Late
When a guy apologizes for texting you late, take that as a good sign. He’s respectful of your time, and clearly, something must have come up.
After all, we’re not always immediately able to get back to someone when we’re texting:
- Life happens.
- Things grab our attention.
- Even phones sometimes need to be charged back to life.
On the other hand, there are going to be sometimes when him texting you “sorry” just isn’t going to cut it. For example, it’s not a good sign if he:
- Constantly has to keep apologizing for texting late.
- Says he will text you at a specific time, but then never does.
It’s okay to make a mistake here and there, but it’s certainly not a coincidence if he keeps making the mistake of texting you back later.
With that being said, let’s talk more about all of the possibilities when it comes to the guy apologizing to you for texting late.
1) He Is Genuinely Sorry
Without overthinking the situation too much, if he apologizes for texting you late, it can simply mean that he is genuinely sorry about what he did.
If a guy is interested in you, this is pretty straightforward as he doesn’t want to create any type of weird vibes, especially during an interesting or engaging text conversation.
Plus, it can be pretty weird when you’re texting someone quickly back and forth, and then the guy suddenly stops texting in the middle of a conversation. In a situation like that, he’s most likely genuinely sorry.
If he didn’t tell you exactly why he didn’t text you back sooner, here are some more possibilities that can be responsible for him delaying his response.
2) He Was Busy At The Time
He apologized for texting you later because he was simply busy at the time. This is pretty common when it comes to texting since conversations can be pretty subtle and not super detailed.
Has a situation ever happened to you where you were texting someone and then realized that you had something to take care of?
- Maybe you were running late.
- Maybe you needed to drive somewhere.
- Maybe you needed to quickly get ready for something.
Whatever the reason was, he might just have been busy at the time and couldn’t get back to you. Maybe he had to put his phone in his pocket and keep it there for a specific amount of time.
3) He Got Distracted By Something
Similar to being busy, he might have apologized to you for texting back late because he got distracted by something. You can’t really blame him here, right?
Just think about all of the possible things that might have distracted him from texting back sooner:
- Texts from his other friends.
- A trending video that caught his eye.
- TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
- Just about any other app on his phone (they were created to grab your attention).
There’s always the possibility that he saw your message, thought about what he should text back, and then something else came up. I know that this happened to me quite a few times, how about you?
And even in the same scenario like that, it’s easy to see why he would apologize to you. Especially if the texts were being sent and received at a pretty quick and constant pace.
4) He Was Just Trying To Be Nice To You
If he was apologizing for texting back to you late, you also have to keep in mind that he might have been just trying to be nice to you.
This is something that I’ve seen a few times from guys when texting. They are apologizing, but the words just don’t match up with their typical type of response. Their texts might as well have said:
Sorry not sorry.
So was it pretty uncharacteristic of him to say sorry about him getting back to you? That’s something that you’re going to have to use your gut feeling when it comes to finding the answer.
If you feel like it’s pretty uncharacteristic of him to apologize for texting back late, then he might be trying to be nice. Or even worse, maybe he’s lost interest and him not responding quickly enough is a sign that you need to look out for.
How Do You Respond When Someone Says Sorry For Late Reply?
Someone apologizing for a late reply can sometimes be awkward. The good news is that there are a wide variety of responses that you can use when the time comes.
In my opinion, there are three great responses. The best part about these responses is that they have the power to direct the conversation in a specific direction.
Whether that’s a good or bad thing, let’s talk about these three types of responses.
1) Acknowledge Their Apology
The easiest and nicest thing that you can do when someone says sorry for their late reply is simply acknowledging their apology.
Here are a few laid-back and simple responses that you can even use yourself:
- It’s cool.
- No worries.
- No problemo.
- Don’t worry about it at all.
Upon using a response related to what I added above, be sure to add something else that will continue the conversation from where you previously left off.
There’s not a whole lot of thought that goes into this type of response, and that’s why I like it so much. It also shows the other person that:
- You’re capable of forgiving them.
- You understand that people can be busy.
- You don’t create mountains out of molehills (it’s not a big deal).
- You also don’t take yourself too seriously (no narcissistic vibes here)!
On the other hand, someone who couldn’t acknowledge their apology just might let their ego get in the way. So all in all, this is the ego-free and respectful response. It’s easy to do and I highly recommend it.
If you’d like to make the person think a little bit more about what’s going on in your mind, then perhaps you can move on to the next type of response.
2) Continue On As If Nothing Happened
Sometimes the best response to someone who apologies for texting late, is the almost-no response. Here you have the option of continuing on as if nothing happened.
Keep in mind that you won’t be ghosting the person here. Rather instead, you’ll continue on where you left off in the conversation as if they never apologized or were late to reply.
This is one of those options that can certainly generate quite a lot of possible outcomes. Here are some of the thoughts that might come across the person’s mind who apologized to you:
- Are they mad at me?
- Did they not see my apology?
- I guess it’s not a big deal, let’s continue on.
I’m sure that it’s easy to see that this type of response can be responsible for many different outcomes.
This is also a great way to let the person know that you don’t appreciate what they did, without actually saying it.
All in all, you’ll probably want to use this type of response sparingly. However, if the person has been anything but nice, then maybe they deserve it. Maybe their apology wasn’t sincere enough, but you’ll have to be the decider of that.
Last but not least, we have a response that aims to dig a little deeper into the scenario.
3) Ask Why The Person Was Late In The First Place
So they apologized for their late reply, and another possible response could be to ask them why they were late in the first place.
This type of response can be seen in a lot of different ways which include:
- Rude.
- Simple curiosity.
- More than curious, snooping around.
- Wanting much more than just an apology.
- Subtly letting them know that their apology just isn’t going to cut it.
This response can be seen as rude because not only are you not acknowledging their apology, but you’re also asking for them to explain themselves for the late response.
Once again, it’s pretty easy to see why this response can be both a good or bad thing, depending on how the person responds (or doesn’t respond).
All in all, I generally recommend that you simply acknowledge their apology and then continue on with the conversation from where it left off.
If being polite and respectful isn’t enough for you, then there’s always the option of disregarding their apology. And if that’s still not enough for you, feel free to dig around and ask questions as to why they didn’t get back to you quickly.
Should I Apologize For Texting Late? Final Words
If you ever find yourself on the side of texting someone late, it certainly doesn’t hurt to apologize to them.
After all, everyone’s time is very valuable and it shows that even though something got in the way, you were still respectful enough to apologize.
On the other hand, just keep in mind that the person on the other side doesn’t have to accept your apology. They can always continue on as if nothing happened or dig deeper into why you texted back late. Hopefully, they didn’t also read this article 😉
