iOS 18 is bringing major changes to the Messages app, with 🎉 Apple adding Tapback reaction changes new formatting, updated effects, satellite 😀 support, better texting with 🌈 green bubble people, and eventually, several 🤔 fun Apple Intelligence features. 🔥 This guide highlights 🎉 everything 🌈 that's new in the iOS 18 Messages app, 🎉 and what's coming later. Send Later iOS 18 👍 adds the 🌈 option to 🎉 schedule an iMessage 🤔 to be sent to someone at 🤔 a later 🌈 time 💯 or 💯 date. If you know 😂 someone's birthday is coming up, for example, you 😀 can schedule a happy birthday text to 🤔 them 😂 ahead 🎉 of the date so it's ready to go. Scheduling 🔥 a message can be only be done in 💯 conversations with other iMessage users, and it is not an option when texting with an Android user. It works in both individual and group chats, as 🎉 long as all participants have 🌈 an 😂 Apple device and 😂 access to iMessage. To schedule 💯 a message, follow these 💯 steps: 👍 Open up a conversation in the Messages app. Tap 😂 on 🎉 the "+" button on the left side of the text box. Tap on More. Choose Send 🌈 Later. Type in your Message. 😀 To change the send time, tap 💯 on the blue 👍 bubble that defaults to Tomorrow 😂 9:00 am. From 👍 there, you will have a slider 🎉 that lets you input a 🤔 date and a time. With your time selected and your 💯 message typed in, tap on the blue arrow to schedule it. 🔥 iPhone is offline without 👍 a Wi-Fi 😀 or cellular connection. Scheduled 🤔 messages are displayed 😀 at the bottom of a conversation. If you want to 💯 change the 🤔 time of a message or cancel it, tap on the "Edit" button. You will have options to edit the time, delete 💯 the message, or send it immediately. 💯 Tapback Reactions Tapbacks 💯 are those 🌈 little characters 😂 you can use 👍 to respond to 😂 a message by long pressing 🎉 on it, so you don't need to type 🌈 out a whole response to 🎉 something 🌈 that can be answered with a thumbs up or a 🌈 heart. iOS 18 has 🤔 two key 🌈 updates 🎉 for 👍 Tapbacks. Updated Design The six 👍 standard Tapback icons now feature color 😂 and 😂 more detail. You can see the new 💯 look when long pressing on a text to respond, and 💯 in the 😂 Tapbacks that you receive. When you tap on 😀 a Tapback you've 😂 received on a message, 🎉 you can now see who sent what, 😀 which 🔥 is 😀 useful if 🤔 you 😂 are in a group chat 😂 and get multiple Tapback responses. 👍 Emoji Support Along with the six classic 👍 Tapback 🤔 responses, you can 😂 now choose 💯 any emoji character 🔥 when 😂 using 🔥 Tapback. After long 🎉 pressing to respond to a 😂 message, swipe 🌈 to the left to see common emoji 🎉 responses or tap on the 🤔 generic 😂 emoji icon thought bubble to bring up 🌈 the emoji picker. You can choose any emoji, but 😀 you can also select from your stickers or your Memoji. Tap on 😂 the Memoji icon at 🎉 the bottom 😀 left to get 💯 to Memoji, or the sticker icon to see your sticker selections. To add 😀 one as a Tapback, just 🤔 tap on your 🌈 selection. Stickers can be 😂 hard 🤔 to see at the small size of a Tapback, 👍 but 🤔 most 👍 emoji 💯 characters 🤔 and Memoji work well. 👍 RCS RCS, or 💯 Rich Communication Services, is a new text message protocol 😂 replacing SMS and 🔥 MMS. You'll 🌈 see it when texting people who don't have iMessage, such as Android 💯 users. 🌈 RCS has nothing to do with iMessage conversations, aka the conversations you 🔥 have with other Apple 🌈 device owners 😀 (blue bubbles), but it 🤔 does improve texts with green bubble Android users. RCS is a more modern technology than 💯 SMS, and it allows for more 🎉 feature 👍 parity in iPhone to Android 🎉 text message conversations. Many of the frustrations you might have encountered when texting someone 💯 with an Android device are resolved with RCS, such 🎉 as errors sending photos and 🤔 videos. Here's 🔥 what you'll get 😂 with RCS: 💯 Support for higher resolution photos and videos. 🌈 Support 🔥 for larger file 😂 sizes and file sharing. Audio 🎉 messages. Real-time typing indicators. Read receipts. Ability 💯 to send messages over cellular 🌈 or Wi-Fi (SMS is 😂 cellular only). 💯 There 😀 is no cost to send 💯 an RCS message over 🔥 Wi-Fi. Improved group chats. Again, RCS 🔥 only comes into 🤔 play when you're 🌈 texting someone who has an Android 😀 device. iMessage 😂 is still the default for conversations between Apple device owners, and 😀 blue bubbles and green bubbles are not changing. have a full guide 🌈 on RCS if you want to know more about what to expect. 🤔 Messages via Satellite Messages 🌈 via 🎉 satellite is a new feature that lets 👍 you send 😀 texts even when you 💯 don't have a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, 🤔 leveraging the satellites that Apple uses 👍 for the 😂 Emergency SOS via 🎉 satellite 😀 feature. Messages via 🌈 satellite 💯 is available on the iPhone 14 🤔 or later, and you can send and receive both 🤔 iMessage 👍 and SMS messages, so you're not 👍 limited to 💯 texting with just iPhone users. Right now, 👍 Messages via 😀 satellite 🔥 is free, just like Emergency 💯 SOS via satellite. 💯 Apple offers two free years of satellite access with an iPhone 14 👍 or later, but the company has 🤔 expanded free access for the 💯 iPhone 14 🎉 until November 2025. Apple has 🔥 not provided any insight into how much it will eventually charge for 🤔 satellite access. Smart 💯 Replies (Apple Intelligence 👍 - iOS 18.1) Using Apple Intelligence, your iPhone can 🎉 analyze the content in 💯 a 🤔 message 😀 that you've received, suggesting Smart Reply options that you 🌈 can tap for a quick response. If someone asks a 🎉 question like "Do 🎉 you want to go to the movies?" Messages suggests responses 🤔 like "Sure!" or 💯 "Sorry, 🌈 busy tomorrow." Smart Replies 🎉 aren't an option for every message 🤔 that you receive, but Apple often 🎉 has a suggestion. Smart Replies 👍 show up at the 💯 top of the keyboard, 💯 where suggestions have 💯 been in prior versions of iOS. 💯 Smart Replies are similar to suggestions, but are more intelligent 💯 and are often complete 👍 phrases 👍 and responses 🤔 rather 🤔 than word suggestions that 😂 pop up as you type. To use a Smart Reply, 🔥 just tap it and 😀 it'll populate 🔥 the 🔥 text box so you can 🌈 send it. If you don't care 🌈 for the 🎉 suggestion, just ignore it, and type in 👍 your own 🌈 response. You'll still see suggestions once you disregard a Smart Reply. Smart Replies are an Apple 👍 Intelligence Messages feature in iOS 18.1, which Apple is currently beta testing. Writing Tools 🎉 (Apple Intelligence 🌈 - iOS 18.1) 😂 Writing 🌈 Tools aren't specific 💯 to the Messages 🔥 app, 🔥 but are a systemwide option anywhere you can input 👍 text. 😂 In Messages, you can write 😀 out a text and then select it with a tap and drag gesture to bring 🌈 up 😀 the Writing Tools interface. Here's what Writing 🤔 Tools can do for a text message: Proofread what 🔥 you've written 🎉 for spelling and 🎉 grammar errors, including word choice and sentence structure. Rewrite with a different tone, with 😂 options that include 🌈 Friendly, Professional, and Concise. Summarize 🔥 what you've written. You can get a quick 😂 summary, pull 🎉 out key 🔥 points, 😀 create a 🌈 list of 🤔 topics, or make 😀 a table. You can tap on the various options to use the Writing Tools, and you can preview changes 👍 and decide not to use 🤔 them or swap them in for what 🎉 you've 👍 written. The Writing Tools feature is set 😂 to be available 😀 in 🎉 iOS 18.1. Notification Summaries (Apple Intelligence 🤔 - iOS 18.1) 😀 If you have multiple 🤔 notifications from the Messages 🤔 app, 🤔 Apple Intelligence 🌈 will summarize them 🤔 for you so you can catch up at a glance and see what's most 🤔 important without 🌈 having to read through everything. This works 👍 for both individual conversations and 👍 group conversations, and you can 🔥 see 🌈 the summaries on the Lock Screen. You'll get notification 😀 summaries 🔥 in iOS 🌈 18.1. Emoji 😂 Design Updates When 😀 you send 🌈 a single emoji to someone in 👍 iOS 💯 18, the emoji 😂 now 💯 appears 🎉 much larger 😀 than before 💯 so the detail is easier to 🤔 see. Emojis in other quantities are still displayed 💯 at the same size. Apple has also updated 😂 the emoji picker. Emoji are 😀 displayed larger and with more space between 💯 them, plus the Sticker and Memoji 🤔 interfaces 👍 have been 😂 integrated into the 🌈 emoji window. 👍 Tapping on 🔥 the two icons on the 😂 bottom left of the emoji picker will take 🤔 you to Memoji and Stickers, respectively. You 🌈 can create Memoji and make new stickers 😂 directly from the two sections 😂 that are in the emoji 🤔 picker. For stickers, 💯 select 🎉 the sticker section 🤔 and tap on the blank sticker icon. For 😀 Memoji, tap into the Memoji section, tap 🌈 the three dots, and then choose New, Edit, or Duplicate. Stickers 😀 and 🌈 Memoji as Emoji Stickers and Memoji have 🤔 new dedicated sections in the emoji picker because you 😀 can 💯 now use a sticker 🌈 or a Memoji just like an emoji. If you add a sticker when typing a text, for example, it is added to the end of your text rather than 🤔 sent as a separate image. You can still send a full-size sticker as long 🤔 as you 😀 send 🤔 it separate from text. Stickers and Memoji 🔥 sent 😂 as emoji only display as emoji on devices 🎉 running iOS 😂 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 👍 Sequoia, visionOS 2, and 👍 watchOS 11. On earlier versions of iOS, stickers are sent as separate images as before. Text Formatting You can enhance your 🌈 text messages with new formatting options. 💯 After typing something, tap on the "A" 🔥 icon above the 💯 keyboard. What you've typed is selected, and you can add bold, 🌈 italic, underline, 🔥 or strikethrough 🎉 formatting. To add formatting to 👍 just one word, double tap on the word to select 🌈 it and then tap on 🌈 the 🔥 "A" icon. You 🤔 can also 🔥 use the Text Effects option from the popup menu. Formatting can be 😀 used with emoji, 🤔 but the 👍 bold and italic options don't do anything. Text Effects Along with the bold, italic, underline, and 🔥 strikethrough 😂 formatting, there 😂 are 🔥 new animated 💯 text effects 🤔 that can be applied 👍 to your entire message, a single word, a phrase, or even an emoji or sticker. 😂 Just select the text that 👍 you 😂 want to add an effect to with a double tap and then 🔥 tap on the "A" icon to get to the text effects interface. Options include Big, Small, Shake, Nod, Explode, Ripple, Bloom, and Jitter. In a conversation 😂 with someone running iOS 18 or 😀 one of its sister updates, the 🌈 text or emoji that has an effect applied 🤔 to 😀 it will 🤔 continually 😀 animate when 😂 viewed. These effects do not work on earlier versions of Apple's operating systems and simply don't show up. 😀 Math Notes The systemwide Math 🎉 Notes feature that lets your iPhone solve equations for you works in Messages. To see it in 😀 action, type in an equation and you'll get an immediate answer when you add in 😀 an equals sign. Math Notes also works for 🤔 conversions in 🌈 the Messages app, including currency 🤔 conversions, temperature 🤔 conversions, measurement conversions, 🎉 and more. You can use it by typing in 💯 your conversion, such as "20 🎉 euros to dollars" and then adding in an equals 😂 sign to 💯 get the result. Link Card Update Apple 😂 tweaked the design of 😂 link cards in the Messages app, 🎉 and the cards now have colorful backgrounds that match the color of the main image in the link, if available. You can 🔥 see 😀 link 😂 card 👍 previews 😂 before a 😀 link is sent, and if you 🤔 long press, 💯 you can get customization options. Link 🔥 cards can be 😀 converted to a simpler card 💯 style or transformed 🌈 into 🎉 a text link that only shows the hyperlink with no 👍 preview at all. Image Playground 🎉 (Apple Intelligence 🔥 - Coming Later This Year) Image Playground is 😀 an 🔥 upcoming Apple 🤔 Intelligence feature 👍 that is designed 💯 to 🎉 let you create images using 👍 text-based prompts, much like you can do with other AI image generation platforms. Apple is 🌈 integrating 💯 Image Playground into 🎉 the 🎉 Messages 🤔 app, so you can create and send images without 🔥 having to 🌈 swap over 😀 to another app. Apple Intelligence can glean the gist of your conversation from the Messages app 🎉 and come 💯 up with suggestions for images that you might want 🌈 to send. Image Playground can 💯 even incorporate images of your friends and family, so if you're chatting with a friend, you can create a silly image that uses the friend's contact photo. Apple adds a style to each image, so there 💯 is no option to generate something that could be mistaken for 🌈 a real photo. You can choose 😂 from 🎉 Animation, Illustration, and Sketch styles, 🔥 and 👍 all image 😀 generation 🔥 is done on-device. 💯 Genmoji (Apple Intelligence 😀 - Coming Later 🤔 This 🔥 Year) Based on 😂 Image Playground, Genmoji lets you create custom emoji with a text prompt. Have you always wanted 👍 an emoji 👍 of a mint chocolate chip ice 🔥 cream cone? It can be made with Genmoji. 🔥 Need a cat 🔥 made from pizza, or a flower 🌈 that's not a 🤔 rose 🌈 or a sunflower? Genmoji will make it possible. With 🔥 the 🎉 Genmoji interface, you can describe a Genmoji and 🌈 Apple 🤔 Intelligence will generate several 💯 options for you to 🌈 choose from. 🎉 You can even create an emoji based on the contact image 🎉 of 😀 a friend or family member, similar to Image Playground. Genmoji behave just 👍 like emoji and can be used in place of emoji. Apple 🎉 Intelligence Notes To use the upcoming Apple Intelligence 🎉 features Apple will add to iOS 18 in iOS 18.1 and beyond, you need an 💯 iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 👍 model. M-series 🔥 iPads and Macs 😂 also support Apple Intelligence. Read More Additional 🎉 information on new features that Apple has added in iOS 18 can be found in our iOS 18 roundup. Related Roundups: 🔥 iOS 18, iPadOS 18 Related Forums: 😀 iOS 18, 😀 iPadOS 18 This article, "Everything 😀 New in the iOS 18 Messages App" 🌈 first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article 🌈 in our forums 😀 https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-18-messages/Vitor Pamplona on Nostr: Everything New in 🤔 the iOS 🤔 18 Messages App iOS 18 is bringing major changes ...
Everything New in 🤔 the iOS 🤔 18 Messages App iOS 18 is bringing major changes to the Messages app, with 🎉 Apple adding Tapback reaction changes new formatting, updated effects, satellite 😀 support, better texting with 🌈 green bubble people, and eventually, several 🤔 fun Apple Intelligence features. 🔥 This guide highlights 🎉 everything 🌈 that's new in the iOS 18 Messages app, 🎉 and what's coming later. Send Later iOS 18 👍 adds the 🌈 option to 🎉 schedule an iMessage 🤔 to be sent to someone at 🤔 a later 🌈 time 💯 or 💯 date. If you know 😂 someone's birthday is coming up, for example, you 😀 can schedule a happy birthday text to 🤔 them 😂 ahead 🎉 of the date so it's ready to go. Scheduling 🔥 a message can be only be done in 💯 conversations with other iMessage users, and it is not an option when texting with an Android user. It works in both individual and group chats, as 🎉 long as all participants have 🌈 an 😂 Apple device and 😂 access to iMessage. To schedule 💯 a message, follow these 💯 steps: 👍 Open up a conversation in the Messages app. Tap 😂 on 🎉 the "+" button on the left side of the text box. Tap on More. Choose Send 🌈 Later. Type in your Message. 😀 To change the send time, tap 💯 on the blue 👍 bubble that defaults to Tomorrow 😂 9:00 am. From 👍 there, you will have a slider 🎉 that lets you input a 🤔 date and a time. With your time selected and your 💯 message typed in, tap on the blue arrow to schedule it. 🔥 iPhone is offline without 👍 a Wi-Fi 😀 or cellular connection. Scheduled 🤔 messages are displayed 😀 at the bottom of a conversation. If you want to 💯 change the 🤔 time of a message or cancel it, tap on the "Edit" button. You will have options to edit the time, delete 💯 the message, or send it immediately. 💯 Tapback Reactions Tapbacks 💯 are those 🌈 little characters 😂 you can use 👍 to respond to 😂 a message by long pressing 🎉 on it, so you don't need to type 🌈 out a whole response to 🎉 something 🌈 that can be answered with a thumbs up or a 🌈 heart. iOS 18 has 🤔 two key 🌈 updates 🎉 for 👍 Tapbacks. Updated Design The six 👍 standard Tapback icons now feature color 😂 and 😂 more detail. You can see the new 💯 look when long pressing on a text to respond, and 💯 in the 😂 Tapbacks that you receive. When you tap on 😀 a Tapback you've 😂 received on a message, 🎉 you can now see who sent what, 😀 which 🔥 is 😀 useful if 🤔 you 😂 are in a group chat 😂 and get multiple Tapback responses. 👍 Emoji Support Along with the six classic 👍 Tapback 🤔 responses, you can 😂 now choose 💯 any emoji character 🔥 when 😂 using 🔥 Tapback. After long 🎉 pressing to respond to a 😂 message, swipe 🌈 to the left to see common emoji 🎉 responses or tap on the 🤔 generic 😂 emoji icon thought bubble to bring up 🌈 the emoji picker. You can choose any emoji, but 😀 you can also select from your stickers or your Memoji. Tap on 😂 the Memoji icon at 🎉 the bottom 😀 left to get 💯 to Memoji, or the sticker icon to see your sticker selections. To add 😀 one as a Tapback, just 🤔 tap on your 🌈 selection. Stickers can be 😂 hard 🤔 to see at the small size of a Tapback, 👍 but 🤔 most 👍 emoji 💯 characters 🤔 and Memoji work well. 👍 RCS RCS, or 💯 Rich Communication Services, is a new text message protocol 😂 replacing SMS and 🔥 MMS. You'll 🌈 see it when texting people who don't have iMessage, such as Android 💯 users. 🌈 RCS has nothing to do with iMessage conversations, aka the conversations you 🔥 have with other Apple 🌈 device owners 😀 (blue bubbles), but it 🤔 does improve texts with green bubble Android users. RCS is a more modern technology than 💯 SMS, and it allows for more 🎉 feature 👍 parity in iPhone to Android 🎉 text message conversations. Many of the frustrations you might have encountered when texting someone 💯 with an Android device are resolved with RCS, such 🎉 as errors sending photos and 🤔 videos. Here's 🔥 what you'll get 😂 with RCS: 💯 Support for higher resolution photos and videos. 🌈 Support 🔥 for larger file 😂 sizes and file sharing. Audio 🎉 messages. Real-time typing indicators. Read receipts. Ability 💯 to send messages over cellular 🌈 or Wi-Fi (SMS is 😂 cellular only). 💯 There 😀 is no cost to send 💯 an RCS message over 🔥 Wi-Fi. Improved group chats. Again, RCS 🔥 only comes into 🤔 play when you're 🌈 texting someone who has an Android 😀 device. iMessage 😂 is still the default for conversations between Apple device owners, and 😀 blue bubbles and green bubbles are not changing. have a full guide 🌈 on RCS if you want to know more about what to expect. 🤔 Messages via Satellite Messages 🌈 via 🎉 satellite is a new feature that lets 👍 you send 😀 texts even when you 💯 don't have a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, 🤔 leveraging the satellites that Apple uses 👍 for the 😂 Emergency SOS via 🎉 satellite 😀 feature. Messages via 🌈 satellite 💯 is available on the iPhone 14 🤔 or later, and you can send and receive both 🤔 iMessage 👍 and SMS messages, so you're not 👍 limited to 💯 texting with just iPhone users. Right now, 👍 Messages via 😀 satellite 🔥 is free, just like Emergency 💯 SOS via satellite. 💯 Apple offers two free years of satellite access with an iPhone 14 👍 or later, but the company has 🤔 expanded free access for the 💯 iPhone 14 🎉 until November 2025. Apple has 🔥 not provided any insight into how much it will eventually charge for 🤔 satellite access. Smart 💯 Replies (Apple Intelligence 👍 - iOS 18.1) Using Apple Intelligence, your iPhone can 🎉 analyze the content in 💯 a 🤔 message 😀 that you've received, suggesting Smart Reply options that you 🌈 can tap for a quick response. If someone asks a 🎉 question like "Do 🎉 you want to go to the movies?" Messages suggests responses 🤔 like "Sure!" or 💯 "Sorry, 🌈 busy tomorrow." Smart Replies 🎉 aren't an option for every message 🤔 that you receive, but Apple often 🎉 has a suggestion. Smart Replies 👍 show up at the 💯 top of the keyboard, 💯 where suggestions have 💯 been in prior versions of iOS. 💯 Smart Replies are similar to suggestions, but are more intelligent 💯 and are often complete 👍 phrases 👍 and responses 🤔 rather 🤔 than word suggestions that 😂 pop up as you type. To use a Smart Reply, 🔥 just tap it and 😀 it'll populate 🔥 the 🔥 text box so you can 🌈 send it. If you don't care 🌈 for the 🎉 suggestion, just ignore it, and type in 👍 your own 🌈 response. You'll still see suggestions once you disregard a Smart Reply. Smart Replies are an Apple 👍 Intelligence Messages feature in iOS 18.1, which Apple is currently beta testing. Writing Tools 🎉 (Apple Intelligence 🌈 - iOS 18.1) 😂 Writing 🌈 Tools aren't specific 💯 to the Messages 🔥 app, 🔥 but are a systemwide option anywhere you can input 👍 text. 😂 In Messages, you can write 😀 out a text and then select it with a tap and drag gesture to bring 🌈 up 😀 the Writing Tools interface. Here's what Writing 🤔 Tools can do for a text message: Proofread what 🔥 you've written 🎉 for spelling and 🎉 grammar errors, including word choice and sentence structure. Rewrite with a different tone, with 😂 options that include 🌈 Friendly, Professional, and Concise. Summarize 🔥 what you've written. You can get a quick 😂 summary, pull 🎉 out key 🔥 points, 😀 create a 🌈 list of 🤔 topics, or make 😀 a table. You can tap on the various options to use the Writing Tools, and you can preview changes 👍 and decide not to use 🤔 them or swap them in for what 🎉 you've 👍 written. The Writing Tools feature is set 😂 to be available 😀 in 🎉 iOS 18.1. Notification Summaries (Apple Intelligence 🤔 - iOS 18.1) 😀 If you have multiple 🤔 notifications from the Messages 🤔 app, 🤔 Apple Intelligence 🌈 will summarize them 🤔 for you so you can catch up at a glance and see what's most 🤔 important without 🌈 having to read through everything. This works 👍 for both individual conversations and 👍 group conversations, and you can 🔥 see 🌈 the summaries on the Lock Screen. You'll get notification 😀 summaries 🔥 in iOS 🌈 18.1. Emoji 😂 Design Updates When 😀 you send 🌈 a single emoji to someone in 👍 iOS 💯 18, the emoji 😂 now 💯 appears 🎉 much larger 😀 than before 💯 so the detail is easier to 🤔 see. Emojis in other quantities are still displayed 💯 at the same size. Apple has also updated 😂 the emoji picker. Emoji are 😀 displayed larger and with more space between 💯 them, plus the Sticker and Memoji 🤔 interfaces 👍 have been 😂 integrated into the 🌈 emoji window. 👍 Tapping on 🔥 the two icons on the 😂 bottom left of the emoji picker will take 🤔 you to Memoji and Stickers, respectively. You 🌈 can create Memoji and make new stickers 😂 directly from the two sections 😂 that are in the emoji 🤔 picker. For stickers, 💯 select 🎉 the sticker section 🤔 and tap on the blank sticker icon. For 😀 Memoji, tap into the Memoji section, tap 🌈 the three dots, and then choose New, Edit, or Duplicate. Stickers 😀 and 🌈 Memoji as Emoji Stickers and Memoji have 🤔 new dedicated sections in the emoji picker because you 😀 can 💯 now use a sticker 🌈 or a Memoji just like an emoji. If you add a sticker when typing a text, for example, it is added to the end of your text rather than 🤔 sent as a separate image. You can still send a full-size sticker as long 🤔 as you 😀 send 🤔 it separate from text. Stickers and Memoji 🔥 sent 😂 as emoji only display as emoji on devices 🎉 running iOS 😂 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 👍 Sequoia, visionOS 2, and 👍 watchOS 11. On earlier versions of iOS, stickers are sent as separate images as before. Text Formatting You can enhance your 🌈 text messages with new formatting options. 💯 After typing something, tap on the "A" 🔥 icon above the 💯 keyboard. What you've typed is selected, and you can add bold, 🌈 italic, underline, 🔥 or strikethrough 🎉 formatting. To add formatting to 👍 just one word, double tap on the word to select 🌈 it and then tap on 🌈 the 🔥 "A" icon. You 🤔 can also 🔥 use the Text Effects option from the popup menu. Formatting can be 😀 used with emoji, 🤔 but the 👍 bold and italic options don't do anything. Text Effects Along with the bold, italic, underline, and 🔥 strikethrough 😂 formatting, there 😂 are 🔥 new animated 💯 text effects 🤔 that can be applied 👍 to your entire message, a single word, a phrase, or even an emoji or sticker. 😂 Just select the text that 👍 you 😂 want to add an effect to with a double tap and then 🔥 tap on the "A" icon to get to the text effects interface. Options include Big, Small, Shake, Nod, Explode, Ripple, Bloom, and Jitter. In a conversation 😂 with someone running iOS 18 or 😀 one of its sister updates, the 🌈 text or emoji that has an effect applied 🤔 to 😀 it will 🤔 continually 😀 animate when 😂 viewed. These effects do not work on earlier versions of Apple's operating systems and simply don't show up. 😀 Math Notes The systemwide Math 🎉 Notes feature that lets your iPhone solve equations for you works in Messages. To see it in 😀 action, type in an equation and you'll get an immediate answer when you add in 😀 an equals sign. Math Notes also works for 🤔 conversions in 🌈 the Messages app, including currency 🤔 conversions, temperature 🤔 conversions, measurement conversions, 🎉 and more. You can use it by typing in 💯 your conversion, such as "20 🎉 euros to dollars" and then adding in an equals 😂 sign to 💯 get the result. Link Card Update Apple 😂 tweaked the design of 😂 link cards in the Messages app, 🎉 and the cards now have colorful backgrounds that match the color of the main image in the link, if available. You can 🔥 see 😀 link 😂 card 👍 previews 😂 before a 😀 link is sent, and if you 🤔 long press, 💯 you can get customization options. Link 🔥 cards can be 😀 converted to a simpler card 💯 style or transformed 🌈 into 🎉 a text link that only shows the hyperlink with no 👍 preview at all. Image Playground 🎉 (Apple Intelligence 🔥 - Coming Later This Year) Image Playground is 😀 an 🔥 upcoming Apple 🤔 Intelligence feature 👍 that is designed 💯 to 🎉 let you create images using 👍 text-based prompts, much like you can do with other AI image generation platforms. Apple is 🌈 integrating 💯 Image Playground into 🎉 the 🎉 Messages 🤔 app, so you can create and send images without 🔥 having to 🌈 swap over 😀 to another app. Apple Intelligence can glean the gist of your conversation from the Messages app 🎉 and come 💯 up with suggestions for images that you might want 🌈 to send. Image Playground can 💯 even incorporate images of your friends and family, so if you're chatting with a friend, you can create a silly image that uses the friend's contact photo. Apple adds a style to each image, so there 💯 is no option to generate something that could be mistaken for 🌈 a real photo. You can choose 😂 from 🎉 Animation, Illustration, and Sketch styles, 🔥 and 👍 all image 😀 generation 🔥 is done on-device. 💯 Genmoji (Apple Intelligence 😀 - Coming Later 🤔 This 🔥 Year) Based on 😂 Image Playground, Genmoji lets you create custom emoji with a text prompt. Have you always wanted 👍 an emoji 👍 of a mint chocolate chip ice 🔥 cream cone? It can be made with Genmoji. 🔥 Need a cat 🔥 made from pizza, or a flower 🌈 that's not a 🤔 rose 🌈 or a sunflower? Genmoji will make it possible. With 🔥 the 🎉 Genmoji interface, you can describe a Genmoji and 🌈 Apple 🤔 Intelligence will generate several 💯 options for you to 🌈 choose from. 🎉 You can even create an emoji based on the contact image 🎉 of 😀 a friend or family member, similar to Image Playground. Genmoji behave just 👍 like emoji and can be used in place of emoji. Apple 🎉 Intelligence Notes To use the upcoming Apple Intelligence 🎉 features Apple will add to iOS 18 in iOS 18.1 and beyond, you need an 💯 iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 👍 model. M-series 🔥 iPads and Macs 😂 also support Apple Intelligence. Read More Additional 🎉 information on new features that Apple has added in iOS 18 can be found in our iOS 18 roundup. Related Roundups: 🔥 iOS 18, iPadOS 18 Related Forums: 😀 iOS 18, 😀 iPadOS 18 This article, "Everything 😀 New in the iOS 18 Messages App" 🌈 first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article 🌈 in our forums 😀 https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-18-messages/
iOS 18 is bringing major changes to the Messages app, with 🎉 Apple adding Tapback reaction changes new formatting, updated effects, satellite 😀 support, better texting with 🌈 green bubble people, and eventually, several 🤔 fun Apple Intelligence features. 🔥 This guide highlights 🎉 everything 🌈 that's new in the iOS 18 Messages app, 🎉 and what's coming later. Send Later iOS 18 👍 adds the 🌈 option to 🎉 schedule an iMessage 🤔 to be sent to someone at 🤔 a later 🌈 time 💯 or 💯 date. If you know 😂 someone's birthday is coming up, for example, you 😀 can schedule a happy birthday text to 🤔 them 😂 ahead 🎉 of the date so it's ready to go. Scheduling 🔥 a message can be only be done in 💯 conversations with other iMessage users, and it is not an option when texting with an Android user. It works in both individual and group chats, as 🎉 long as all participants have 🌈 an 😂 Apple device and 😂 access to iMessage. To schedule 💯 a message, follow these 💯 steps: 👍 Open up a conversation in the Messages app. Tap 😂 on 🎉 the "+" button on the left side of the text box. Tap on More. Choose Send 🌈 Later. Type in your Message. 😀 To change the send time, tap 💯 on the blue 👍 bubble that defaults to Tomorrow 😂 9:00 am. From 👍 there, you will have a slider 🎉 that lets you input a 🤔 date and a time. With your time selected and your 💯 message typed in, tap on the blue arrow to schedule it. 🔥 iPhone is offline without 👍 a Wi-Fi 😀 or cellular connection. Scheduled 🤔 messages are displayed 😀 at the bottom of a conversation. If you want to 💯 change the 🤔 time of a message or cancel it, tap on the "Edit" button. You will have options to edit the time, delete 💯 the message, or send it immediately. 💯 Tapback Reactions Tapbacks 💯 are those 🌈 little characters 😂 you can use 👍 to respond to 😂 a message by long pressing 🎉 on it, so you don't need to type 🌈 out a whole response to 🎉 something 🌈 that can be answered with a thumbs up or a 🌈 heart. iOS 18 has 🤔 two key 🌈 updates 🎉 for 👍 Tapbacks. Updated Design The six 👍 standard Tapback icons now feature color 😂 and 😂 more detail. You can see the new 💯 look when long pressing on a text to respond, and 💯 in the 😂 Tapbacks that you receive. When you tap on 😀 a Tapback you've 😂 received on a message, 🎉 you can now see who sent what, 😀 which 🔥 is 😀 useful if 🤔 you 😂 are in a group chat 😂 and get multiple Tapback responses. 👍 Emoji Support Along with the six classic 👍 Tapback 🤔 responses, you can 😂 now choose 💯 any emoji character 🔥 when 😂 using 🔥 Tapback. After long 🎉 pressing to respond to a 😂 message, swipe 🌈 to the left to see common emoji 🎉 responses or tap on the 🤔 generic 😂 emoji icon thought bubble to bring up 🌈 the emoji picker. You can choose any emoji, but 😀 you can also select from your stickers or your Memoji. Tap on 😂 the Memoji icon at 🎉 the bottom 😀 left to get 💯 to Memoji, or the sticker icon to see your sticker selections. To add 😀 one as a Tapback, just 🤔 tap on your 🌈 selection. Stickers can be 😂 hard 🤔 to see at the small size of a Tapback, 👍 but 🤔 most 👍 emoji 💯 characters 🤔 and Memoji work well. 👍 RCS RCS, or 💯 Rich Communication Services, is a new text message protocol 😂 replacing SMS and 🔥 MMS. You'll 🌈 see it when texting people who don't have iMessage, such as Android 💯 users. 🌈 RCS has nothing to do with iMessage conversations, aka the conversations you 🔥 have with other Apple 🌈 device owners 😀 (blue bubbles), but it 🤔 does improve texts with green bubble Android users. RCS is a more modern technology than 💯 SMS, and it allows for more 🎉 feature 👍 parity in iPhone to Android 🎉 text message conversations. Many of the frustrations you might have encountered when texting someone 💯 with an Android device are resolved with RCS, such 🎉 as errors sending photos and 🤔 videos. Here's 🔥 what you'll get 😂 with RCS: 💯 Support for higher resolution photos and videos. 🌈 Support 🔥 for larger file 😂 sizes and file sharing. Audio 🎉 messages. Real-time typing indicators. Read receipts. Ability 💯 to send messages over cellular 🌈 or Wi-Fi (SMS is 😂 cellular only). 💯 There 😀 is no cost to send 💯 an RCS message over 🔥 Wi-Fi. Improved group chats. Again, RCS 🔥 only comes into 🤔 play when you're 🌈 texting someone who has an Android 😀 device. iMessage 😂 is still the default for conversations between Apple device owners, and 😀 blue bubbles and green bubbles are not changing. have a full guide 🌈 on RCS if you want to know more about what to expect. 🤔 Messages via Satellite Messages 🌈 via 🎉 satellite is a new feature that lets 👍 you send 😀 texts even when you 💯 don't have a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, 🤔 leveraging the satellites that Apple uses 👍 for the 😂 Emergency SOS via 🎉 satellite 😀 feature. Messages via 🌈 satellite 💯 is available on the iPhone 14 🤔 or later, and you can send and receive both 🤔 iMessage 👍 and SMS messages, so you're not 👍 limited to 💯 texting with just iPhone users. Right now, 👍 Messages via 😀 satellite 🔥 is free, just like Emergency 💯 SOS via satellite. 💯 Apple offers two free years of satellite access with an iPhone 14 👍 or later, but the company has 🤔 expanded free access for the 💯 iPhone 14 🎉 until November 2025. Apple has 🔥 not provided any insight into how much it will eventually charge for 🤔 satellite access. Smart 💯 Replies (Apple Intelligence 👍 - iOS 18.1) Using Apple Intelligence, your iPhone can 🎉 analyze the content in 💯 a 🤔 message 😀 that you've received, suggesting Smart Reply options that you 🌈 can tap for a quick response. If someone asks a 🎉 question like "Do 🎉 you want to go to the movies?" Messages suggests responses 🤔 like "Sure!" or 💯 "Sorry, 🌈 busy tomorrow." Smart Replies 🎉 aren't an option for every message 🤔 that you receive, but Apple often 🎉 has a suggestion. Smart Replies 👍 show up at the 💯 top of the keyboard, 💯 where suggestions have 💯 been in prior versions of iOS. 💯 Smart Replies are similar to suggestions, but are more intelligent 💯 and are often complete 👍 phrases 👍 and responses 🤔 rather 🤔 than word suggestions that 😂 pop up as you type. To use a Smart Reply, 🔥 just tap it and 😀 it'll populate 🔥 the 🔥 text box so you can 🌈 send it. If you don't care 🌈 for the 🎉 suggestion, just ignore it, and type in 👍 your own 🌈 response. You'll still see suggestions once you disregard a Smart Reply. Smart Replies are an Apple 👍 Intelligence Messages feature in iOS 18.1, which Apple is currently beta testing. Writing Tools 🎉 (Apple Intelligence 🌈 - iOS 18.1) 😂 Writing 🌈 Tools aren't specific 💯 to the Messages 🔥 app, 🔥 but are a systemwide option anywhere you can input 👍 text. 😂 In Messages, you can write 😀 out a text and then select it with a tap and drag gesture to bring 🌈 up 😀 the Writing Tools interface. Here's what Writing 🤔 Tools can do for a text message: Proofread what 🔥 you've written 🎉 for spelling and 🎉 grammar errors, including word choice and sentence structure. Rewrite with a different tone, with 😂 options that include 🌈 Friendly, Professional, and Concise. Summarize 🔥 what you've written. You can get a quick 😂 summary, pull 🎉 out key 🔥 points, 😀 create a 🌈 list of 🤔 topics, or make 😀 a table. You can tap on the various options to use the Writing Tools, and you can preview changes 👍 and decide not to use 🤔 them or swap them in for what 🎉 you've 👍 written. The Writing Tools feature is set 😂 to be available 😀 in 🎉 iOS 18.1. Notification Summaries (Apple Intelligence 🤔 - iOS 18.1) 😀 If you have multiple 🤔 notifications from the Messages 🤔 app, 🤔 Apple Intelligence 🌈 will summarize them 🤔 for you so you can catch up at a glance and see what's most 🤔 important without 🌈 having to read through everything. This works 👍 for both individual conversations and 👍 group conversations, and you can 🔥 see 🌈 the summaries on the Lock Screen. You'll get notification 😀 summaries 🔥 in iOS 🌈 18.1. Emoji 😂 Design Updates When 😀 you send 🌈 a single emoji to someone in 👍 iOS 💯 18, the emoji 😂 now 💯 appears 🎉 much larger 😀 than before 💯 so the detail is easier to 🤔 see. Emojis in other quantities are still displayed 💯 at the same size. Apple has also updated 😂 the emoji picker. Emoji are 😀 displayed larger and with more space between 💯 them, plus the Sticker and Memoji 🤔 interfaces 👍 have been 😂 integrated into the 🌈 emoji window. 👍 Tapping on 🔥 the two icons on the 😂 bottom left of the emoji picker will take 🤔 you to Memoji and Stickers, respectively. You 🌈 can create Memoji and make new stickers 😂 directly from the two sections 😂 that are in the emoji 🤔 picker. For stickers, 💯 select 🎉 the sticker section 🤔 and tap on the blank sticker icon. For 😀 Memoji, tap into the Memoji section, tap 🌈 the three dots, and then choose New, Edit, or Duplicate. Stickers 😀 and 🌈 Memoji as Emoji Stickers and Memoji have 🤔 new dedicated sections in the emoji picker because you 😀 can 💯 now use a sticker 🌈 or a Memoji just like an emoji. If you add a sticker when typing a text, for example, it is added to the end of your text rather than 🤔 sent as a separate image. You can still send a full-size sticker as long 🤔 as you 😀 send 🤔 it separate from text. Stickers and Memoji 🔥 sent 😂 as emoji only display as emoji on devices 🎉 running iOS 😂 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 👍 Sequoia, visionOS 2, and 👍 watchOS 11. On earlier versions of iOS, stickers are sent as separate images as before. Text Formatting You can enhance your 🌈 text messages with new formatting options. 💯 After typing something, tap on the "A" 🔥 icon above the 💯 keyboard. What you've typed is selected, and you can add bold, 🌈 italic, underline, 🔥 or strikethrough 🎉 formatting. To add formatting to 👍 just one word, double tap on the word to select 🌈 it and then tap on 🌈 the 🔥 "A" icon. You 🤔 can also 🔥 use the Text Effects option from the popup menu. Formatting can be 😀 used with emoji, 🤔 but the 👍 bold and italic options don't do anything. Text Effects Along with the bold, italic, underline, and 🔥 strikethrough 😂 formatting, there 😂 are 🔥 new animated 💯 text effects 🤔 that can be applied 👍 to your entire message, a single word, a phrase, or even an emoji or sticker. 😂 Just select the text that 👍 you 😂 want to add an effect to with a double tap and then 🔥 tap on the "A" icon to get to the text effects interface. Options include Big, Small, Shake, Nod, Explode, Ripple, Bloom, and Jitter. In a conversation 😂 with someone running iOS 18 or 😀 one of its sister updates, the 🌈 text or emoji that has an effect applied 🤔 to 😀 it will 🤔 continually 😀 animate when 😂 viewed. These effects do not work on earlier versions of Apple's operating systems and simply don't show up. 😀 Math Notes The systemwide Math 🎉 Notes feature that lets your iPhone solve equations for you works in Messages. To see it in 😀 action, type in an equation and you'll get an immediate answer when you add in 😀 an equals sign. Math Notes also works for 🤔 conversions in 🌈 the Messages app, including currency 🤔 conversions, temperature 🤔 conversions, measurement conversions, 🎉 and more. You can use it by typing in 💯 your conversion, such as "20 🎉 euros to dollars" and then adding in an equals 😂 sign to 💯 get the result. Link Card Update Apple 😂 tweaked the design of 😂 link cards in the Messages app, 🎉 and the cards now have colorful backgrounds that match the color of the main image in the link, if available. You can 🔥 see 😀 link 😂 card 👍 previews 😂 before a 😀 link is sent, and if you 🤔 long press, 💯 you can get customization options. Link 🔥 cards can be 😀 converted to a simpler card 💯 style or transformed 🌈 into 🎉 a text link that only shows the hyperlink with no 👍 preview at all. Image Playground 🎉 (Apple Intelligence 🔥 - Coming Later This Year) Image Playground is 😀 an 🔥 upcoming Apple 🤔 Intelligence feature 👍 that is designed 💯 to 🎉 let you create images using 👍 text-based prompts, much like you can do with other AI image generation platforms. Apple is 🌈 integrating 💯 Image Playground into 🎉 the 🎉 Messages 🤔 app, so you can create and send images without 🔥 having to 🌈 swap over 😀 to another app. Apple Intelligence can glean the gist of your conversation from the Messages app 🎉 and come 💯 up with suggestions for images that you might want 🌈 to send. Image Playground can 💯 even incorporate images of your friends and family, so if you're chatting with a friend, you can create a silly image that uses the friend's contact photo. Apple adds a style to each image, so there 💯 is no option to generate something that could be mistaken for 🌈 a real photo. You can choose 😂 from 🎉 Animation, Illustration, and Sketch styles, 🔥 and 👍 all image 😀 generation 🔥 is done on-device. 💯 Genmoji (Apple Intelligence 😀 - Coming Later 🤔 This 🔥 Year) Based on 😂 Image Playground, Genmoji lets you create custom emoji with a text prompt. Have you always wanted 👍 an emoji 👍 of a mint chocolate chip ice 🔥 cream cone? It can be made with Genmoji. 🔥 Need a cat 🔥 made from pizza, or a flower 🌈 that's not a 🤔 rose 🌈 or a sunflower? Genmoji will make it possible. With 🔥 the 🎉 Genmoji interface, you can describe a Genmoji and 🌈 Apple 🤔 Intelligence will generate several 💯 options for you to 🌈 choose from. 🎉 You can even create an emoji based on the contact image 🎉 of 😀 a friend or family member, similar to Image Playground. Genmoji behave just 👍 like emoji and can be used in place of emoji. Apple 🎉 Intelligence Notes To use the upcoming Apple Intelligence 🎉 features Apple will add to iOS 18 in iOS 18.1 and beyond, you need an 💯 iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 👍 model. M-series 🔥 iPads and Macs 😂 also support Apple Intelligence. Read More Additional 🎉 information on new features that Apple has added in iOS 18 can be found in our iOS 18 roundup. Related Roundups: 🔥 iOS 18, iPadOS 18 Related Forums: 😀 iOS 18, 😀 iPadOS 18 This article, "Everything 😀 New in the iOS 18 Messages App" 🌈 first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article 🌈 in our forums 😀 https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-18-messages/