Discover the secrets and hidden features of iMessage and master iOS messaging at your fingertips.
Simple as it is, iOS’s messaging app is packed with features. Combining both iMessage and SMS / MMS, it is important from the start to distinguish between the two.
IMessages, recognizable by their blue bubble, are specific to Apple devices and can therefore only be sent to iPhones, iPads and Macs. They are completely free and pass through an Internet connection. Classic SMS / MMS messages (green bubbles) require a specific subscription from your operator and can be sent to any mobile.
But beyond sending simple messages, iOS messaging offers much more to its users by including certain sometimes unrecognized features. Here’s everything you need to know to master iMessage like a pro.
1. Choose a name and a photo
Since iOS 13, Messages allows its users to configure a kind of profile with your name and a photo, which can, if you wish, be automatically shared with contacts in your address book who have an iPhone when you send them a message. .
To do this, open Messages, tap the three little dots at the top right and choose to Edit name and photo. Fill in your first and last name, and then tap Edit. You can then select the image you want to associate with your profile or create an animoji.
2. Display the time of receipt of a message
If the trick is known to old users, some newcomers still do not know how to display the time of sending / receiving a message.
Open a conversation, and drag the bubbles to the left of the screen to show the sending / receiving time of each message in the conversation.
3. Delete a message from a conversation
It is quite possible to individually delete a message from a conversation without completely erasing the conversation. To do this, tap and hold the message bubble and tap More.
The message should automatically be selected. If necessary, select other messages, and tap the trash can icon at the bottom left of the screen to delete the messages from the conversation.
4. Search for a message
Are you sure that a friend sent you a message on a specific subject but couldn’t find it?
Open Messages, then in the Search field, enter keywords that might be contained in the message and that might help you find it.
5. Mute some conversations
Running out of notifications from this group chat in Messages? Open the chat and tap the name of the chat group to expand options. Then press the Info button, and activate the Hide alerts option.
6. Manage read confirmations individually
What’s more annoying than being spied on while reading a message? To prevent your interlocutors from knowing if you have read the messages they have sent you, it is possible to deactivate the read receipt by going to Settings, then in the Messages menu by deactivating the Read receipt option.
This method turns off read receipts for all messages.
But it is also possible to manage this parameter individually for each contact with whom you exchange messages.
To do this, open a conversation, tap the contact name to display options and enter info. Then turn Read Receipts on or off for that contact.
Repeat the operation as many times as necessary, depending on the contacts you wish to authorize or not, ie whether you have read their messages correctly.
7. Send GIFs
There is no need to install any additional app to illustrate your words using GIFs in a conversation.
Open a message, then in the application bar above the keyboard, tap the pink magnifying glass icon. Then you just have to enter a keyword to find the perfect GIF.
If the GIF access button does not appear, press the button with three small dots, then Edit, and activate the #images option.
8. View links, images and videos shared in a conversation
Finding a link, an image or even a video sent by a loved one among hundreds or even thousands of messages is not an easy task.
Fortunately, it is quite easy to find all the multimedia content shared, by or with your interlocutor, by going to the conversation info. The images and videos but also the shared links will all be grouped together in a menu dedicated to them.
9. Hide the display of iMessage apps
Not using iMessage apps? No problem, it is possible to hide them in your conversations by simply holding your finger on the App Store icon.
You can also choose which ones you want to keep displayed. To do this, press the button with three small dots, then Edit. You will just have to deactivate those you do not need, and delete those present in the favorites.
10. Install apps for iMessages
Conversely, if you frequently use iMessage applications and want to explore the many possibilities they offer, you can explore the section of the App Store dedicated to them.
To do this, tap on the App Store icon and download the apps as you usually do. stickers, games, translation tools and other extensions can be added to Messages to add new features.
11. Configure a personalized ringtone or vibration for your contacts.
Know who just texted you without even having to take your iPhone out of your pocket? It’s possible.
On iOS, you can easily configure a personalized ringtone or vibration for each contact in your address book, for both a call and a message.
- Find out how to set up a personalized ringtone or vibration
12. Respond to a message
Like on Facebook, iOS allows users to react to messages they receive. You will simply find the proposed reactions by double-tapping on the message. A bubble should then appear for you to display a heart, a thumbs up or down, a laugh, an exclamation or a question.
13. Forward a message
It is not necessary to take a screenshot to share a received message. As with an email, you can forward it.
To do this, keep your finger pressed on the Message to transfer, press More, select the message (s) to transfer, and press the arrow icon, at the bottom right of the window, to open the messages in a new one. conversation window.
All you have to do is select the contact to whom the message must be transferred and then send the message to validate its transfer.
14. Quickly share your contact details
If you have indicated your correctly completed contact card to iOS (Settings> Siri and Search> My Info> Your Contact Card), the automatic keyboard suggestions should be able to display your contact details directly when you are about to share them with a third party.
Experience this by opening a conversation and sending a message like “This is my number / email / address”. The suggestions displayed above the keyboard should automatically suggest your contact details.
15. Send a handwritten message
Again, if the function is not new, it is not easy to find when you do not know it. Open a conversation in Message, activate the slider in the input field to display the keyboard, and switch your iPhone to landscape mode.
At the bottom right of the keyboard, next to the return key, tap the key with the scribble on it. You should then see a frame in which you can write manually. You will also be able to select one of the predefined handwritten texts that you can send.
Each of these texts can also be deleted, by keeping your finger pressed to reveal the delete button.
16. Send effects
Some messages that you send from your iPhone, to another iPhone, will be displayed with a small animation.
Thus, if you send a “happy new year”, “happy birthday” or a “congratulations”, your interlocutor will receive the message accompanied respectively by fireworks, balloons, or a shower of confetti.
17. Change the retention period of your messages
You might not know it, but it is possible to configure the retention period for messages you receive on your iPhone.
Open Settings then, in Messages, enter the Keep messages menu, and choose the duration that suits you: 30 days, 1 year, or indefinitely.
18. Quickly delete multiple conversations
It is possible to quickly select multiple conversations in order to quickly delete them.
Swipe two fingers over the conversations stored in Messages to select the discussions to delete and press the Delete button.
19. Quickly share your location
Going home while sharing your journey on a map with loved ones in real time can be very useful, especially if you have to go home alone, late at night. As with Google Maps, you can quickly share your location and route in real time from Messages, using Apple Maps integration.
Open a conversation in Messages, tap the recipient’s name, and go to Info. Then tap Share my location, and choose how long you want to share. The recipient will then automatically receive a link to Maps which, once opened, will allow them to follow your movements on the map.
20. Filter messages from unknown senders
To stop receiving messages from strangers in the middle of your conversations, you can configure the application to filter unknown senders.
Open iOS Settings, go to the Messages menu and activate the Filter unknown senders option.
Once this option is in place, you will no longer receive a notification when a stranger sends you an iMessage.
In addition, messages from unknown senders will be automatically redacted from your general conversation list and sorted in a list dedicated to them.