You can use tapbacks to provide short responses to received and sent messages on your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. These comments allow you to quickly express your opinion about a post without having to type a single word.
Tapbacks are small symbols that you can attach to a message, such as a thumbs up, heart, question mark, and so on. These short responses are universal, easy to use, and only available in the Messages app with iMessage. Since iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia and watchOS 11, the short responses have been updated and you can now also respond with emojis and stickers.
Send an Emoji or sticker tapback
Sending an emoji or sticker tapback works the same way on the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Only on the Mac the steps are slightly different.
- Open the conversation in the messaging app
- Under iOS double tap the message, under macOS use the right mouse button.
- Tap the emoji symbol (the gray smiley face); you can now choose a different emoji or add one of the other options, such as a sticker. To do this, use the selection bar at the bottom of the emoji overview.
If double-tapping doesn’t work, you can also place your finger on the message and hold it for a while. The tapback window will then automatically appear, where you can choose a desired response.
The response is automatically linked to the message and sent to the recipient(s). This also works in a group chat.
Do you want to know which group member posted the tapback? Then keep your finger on the reaction; An additional window will appear at the top with the names of those who placed the symbols. On a Mac you can see this by clicking on the tapback.