Add sizzle to your iPhone messages in iOS 18
You can do it right now by texting friends using the new features in the Messages app. You can schedule texts to be sent at a more reasonable time without waking anyone up. If your brain is active late at night, you can schedule texts to be sent at a more reasonable hour without waking up anyone.
Here are seven new features in the Messages app you should know about.Read more: iOS 18 Review: Get Ready to Customize Your iPhone Even MoreAlso, be sure to check out our complete coverage of
Apple’s September event
that announced the
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro.Thanks to RCS messaging, you can better communicate with Android users
The addition of Rich Communication Services protocol to Messages should reduce friction when texting with friends who own Android phones. This feature allows for read receipts, higher-quality images transfers and end to end encryption. However, Android message bubbles remain green. Go to Settings > Apps > Messages > RCS Messaging and make sure the RCS Messaging is turned on.
RCS Messaging should be enabled by default.
Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET
You can also send text messages via satelliteThe Emergency SOS via Satellite feature that was introduced with the iPhone 14 has been a literal lifesaver. When you have no cellular signal, you can connect to a satellite and exchange short text messages with emergency responders.With that infrastructure in place, Apple is opening Messages up to nonemergency texts too. If you own an iPhone 14 and later, and you are out of range for cellular or WiFI networks, Messages prompts you to connect to satellite. You can text your friends as you would normally, including features such as emojis and Tapbacks. You can see a demonstration of this feature by going to Settings>Apps>Messages>Messages via satellite > Satellite Connection Demo. Or just go out into the middle of nowhere and try it out yourself.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
I don’t want to come across as “that typography guy,” but it has long bothered me that one of the only ways to emphasize text in Messages has been to put it in all caps. It’s not like we developed typography and created the most advanced computing devices to shout each other about text. I feel better now that I can express myself using
bold
, italic, underlined and strikethrough text in conversations with my friends who are also running iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and MacOS Sequoia.
You can apply formatting to an entire phrase, individual words and letters, or combinations of those, like so:1. Type your message.
. Tap the
Formatting Button
on the suggestion bar to apply formatting across the entire message. All of your text will be highlighted. Or, to add emphasis to only a word, double-tap to select the text and then press the Formatting button. You can also choose
Text Effects
from the options that appear above the selection.3
. Tap one of the options at the top of the formatting panel that replaces the keyboard: bold, italic, underline or strikethrough.Apply text formatting to selected text or an entire message.Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNETIf you format a message that is sent to someone running an older system, they’ll see only plain text, which could be confusing if you’ve used strikethrough to indicate removed words.You can animate your text messagesHere’s where I toss aside any pretense of being a typographical purist. You can animate your text messages.I’m not a typographical purist anymore.Here, I throw away any pretense of being a typographical purist. You need to convey important news in a way that is more dramatic than just bold text. You can now add animations to your text using iOS 18. The Big animation will increase the size of all your letters. Or perhaps just mentioning that it’s freezing outside doesn’t convey the teeth-chattering cold — apply the Jitter animation to make the letters shake.
Adding animation is just as easy as formatting text:1
. Type your message.
. Tap the
Formatting
button in the suggestion bar to select the entire text. Or, select individual words or letters and then press that button.
3
. Tap one of the animation styles to apply it: Big, Small, Shake, Nod, Explode, Ripple, Bloom or Jitter.Apply animated effects to messages.
Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNETYou can mix animations within a message by making selections and applying different styles to them. You can only apply one animation per selection. For example, a word will not be able to shake, then explode. For those who do not have iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and MacOS Sequoia, the message will appear as plain text. You can only use one of the two features. You can disable auto-playing animated messages if you don’t like them. You think, with all that animation tempting a migraine, what has Apple unleashed?Don’t stress, because you can set the animations to not automatically repeat. Turn off the Autoplay Message Effects
by going to Settings>Accessibility> Motion
. Your friend can still send animated text that will play once when you receive it, but you won’t be subjected to the animation repeating.
Sometimes words are unnecessary. Tapback icons can be used to reply to a message to show love, agreeance, disagreement, humor, alarm, or curiosity. They’re quick to apply and get your reply across easily.
They’ve also been limited to just six icons, and in monochrome no less.
With iOS 18, Messages adds color (and some cartoony shading) to those icons, but also the ability to reply with any emoji or sticker. Here’s how to do it:
1
. Touch and hold a message until you see the Tapback bubble appear.2. Tap the emoji icon just below the icons. Or, you can swipe left on the bubble to view recent emojis, stickers and a gray emoji button that leads to the emoji library.3. In the emoji picker, choose a sticker (left side) or any of the hundreds of emoji.
Add any emoji as a Tapback reply.
Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET
You can schedule text messages using Send Later
I know which friends are likely up at midnight to reply to a text, and which I’d probably wake up. Send Later allows you to schedule text messages. I know which friends are likely to reply to a text at midnight, and which I would wake up to.
To send a message at a specified time, do this:1
. Type your message.2
. Tap the More
(
) button.
3
. Tap
Send Later; you may need to swipe up to find it in the list of apps and features.
4. In the time picker that appears, set a day and time to send the message.5. You’re up too early or late? Schedule a message for later so you don’t wake up the recipient.Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNETScheduled messages show up with a faint dashed border.
If you need to change the timing later, tap Edit above the message and then choose Edit Time
from the menu. If you often schedule messages, move the Send Later option up in the More list to make it easier to find.
