There is a growing literature on diabetes behavioral change interventions; however interventions are often developed and implemented without consideration of patients readiness to engage in lifestyle changes. Additionally, patient-tailored interventions require intensive clinical and financial resources, making them difficult to integrate into clinical practice. Mobile text messaging (SMS) programs have been successfully used to promote smoking cessation, alcohol cessation, and weight loss in diverse patient populations. SMS interventions for diabetes have also been developed, but they have been designed primarily to provide feedback on blood glucose management, rather than to motivate behavioral change. The few studies that included motivational content as a primary feature, did not tailor their intervention to a patient's readiness for change or rigorously describe their motivational intervention, and show limited efficacy.