We will eventually reflect on texting and question how we were able to send and receive such plain and uninteresting messages on our iPhones. Not brave? Not in italics? Did anything ever jitter or explode? These effects, along with many more, are added in iOS 18’s Messages app.
Chatting is now more enjoyable with animated effects and text formatting, and your friends with Android phones may now share high-resolution photos thanks to RCS support. You can program SMS to be delivered at a more convenient time without waking anyone up if your brain is more active in the late hours of the night.
CNET Tech Tips
Additionally, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models have Apple Intelligence features like Genmoji, which allows you to develop your own emoji and bounce texts from a satellite.
You should be aware of these eight new features in the Messages app.
See also: Review of iOS 18: Prepare to Personalize Your iPhone
Additionally, make sure to review the settings you need to adjust immediately if you’re just starting started with the new system. Additionally, take note of these nine iOS 18 hidden features.
The video player is loaded; click to unmute it.
Engage in play
Unmute Time Now: 0:00; Duration: 5:38
Captions
Distribute
Fullscreen
RCS texting allows you to communicate with Android users more effectively.
Texting pals with Android phones should be easier now that Messages has the Rich Communication Services protocol included. It provides end-to-end encryption, better picture transfers, and read receipts (but leaves Android message bubbles green).
You probably don’t have to do anything to use RCS if your carrier supports it. Verify that RCS Messaging is enabled by going to Settings > Apps > Messages > RCS Messaging.
Two iOS settings panels that demonstrate how to use iOS 18’s RCS Messaging capability.
By default, RCS Messaging ought to be activated.
CNET/Jeff Carlson screenshots
Additionally, you can use satellite to send text messages.
Since its introduction with the iPhone 14, the Emergency SOS via Satellite capability has literally saved lives. You can connect to a satellite and send brief text messages to emergency personnel when you don’t have cellular service.
With that infrastructure in place, Apple is also allowing non-emergency texts to be sent over Messages. Messages will ask you to connect to a satellite if you have an iPhone 14 or later and are beyond of cellular or Wi-Fi coverage areas. To keep you focused on the satellites above, the Dynamic Island enlarges while you’re connected.
After that, you can SMS people as usual, and features like Tapbacks and emoji should still function. Go to Settings > Apps > Messages > Messages by Satellite > Satellite Connection Demo to view a demonstration of the capability. Or simply venture out into the wilderness and give it a shot.
messages on an iPhone via Apple’s satellite
Text formatting is now possible in Messages.
I don’t want to seem like “that typography guy,” but I’ve always found it annoying that using all caps is one of the only methods to highlight text in Messages. As a civilization, we haven’t created the most advanced computing equipment and developed typography over hundreds of years only to yell at one another via text.
I suppose I am that man, then. Now that I can use bold, italic, underlined, and strikethrough language to express myself in talks with friends who are also running iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and MacOS Sequoia, I feel better.
An full phrase, a single word or letter, or a mix of them can all have formatting applied to it. For example:
Type your message.
Tap the Formatting button in the suggestion bar to apply formatting to the entire message; this will highlight all of your text. Alternatively, double-tap to pick the text and then click the Formatting icon to highlight just a single word. From the options that show up above the selection, you can also select Text Effects.
In the formatting panel that takes the place of the keyboard, tap one of the following options: bold, italic, underline, or strikethrough.
Two iPhone screen grabs demonstrating text formatting in the Messages app.
Select text or a message as a whole and apply text formatting.
CNET/Jeff Carlson screenshots
Someone using an earlier system will only see plain text when you format a message, which could be confusing if you’ve used strikethrough to indicate words that have been eliminated.
Your SMS messages can be animated.
I abandon all pretense of being a typographical purist at this point. One of eight techniques is available for animating a message or certain words or letters. Do you need to emphasize any important news more than bold text? You may add a variety of additional animation choices to your text with iOS 18. The Big animation makes your letters larger. Or maybe simply stating that it’s frigid outside doesn’t adequately capture the chilling cold—use the Jitter animation to make the text tremble.
Formatting text is as simple as adding animation:
Type your message.
To pick the full text, tap the Formatting button in the suggestion bar. Alternately, pick certain letters or words and hit that button.
To apply an animation style, tap on it: Large, tiny, tremble, nod, burst, ripple, bloom, or jitter.
A screenshot of an iPhone demonstrating how the iOS 18 Messages app adds movement to a text message.
Give messages animated effects.
Image courtesy of Jeff Carlson/CNET
By selecting animations and applying various styles to them, you can combine animations within a message. Nevertheless, a selection cannot have more than one animation applied to it; for instance, a word cannot shake and then burst. For those who are not on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, or MacOS Sequoia, a message appears as plain text, just like in text formatting.
I still want text formatting and text animation, even with these new features.However, this can be accomplished in a later update if Apple’s developers can create something as intricate as eye-tracking for the Vision Pro.
If you don’t like auto-playing animations, you can disable them.
Assume that your friend recently got iOS 18 and wants to experiment with all of the animation effects in a sequence of messages. This would result in a screen full of texts that pulse, resize, jitter, and explode. What has Apple released, you wonder, with all that animation luring a migraine?
You may configure the animations to not repeat automatically, so don’t worry. Select Motion under Settings > Accessibility, then disable Auto-Play Message Effects. You won’t have to put up with the animation repeating, but your friend can still send you animated text that will play once when you receive it.
How to add any sticker or emoji to a message as a tapback
Words are not always necessary. Using a Tapback icon, you might respond to someone’s message to show affection, agreement, disagreement, amusement, alarm, or interest. They apply quickly and convey your response with ease.
Additionally, they are restricted to a mere six icons, all of which are monochromatic.
In addition to giving those icons color (and some cartoonish shading) with iOS 18, Messages now allows users to respond with any sticker or emoji. Here’s the method:
Holding down a message will cause the Tapback bubble to show up.
Just beneath the other icons, tap the emoji button. To view recent emojis, stickers, and a gray emoji icon that opens the emoji library, you can also swipe left on the bubble.
Select one of the hundreds of emojis or a sticker (left side) in the emoji picker.
Two iPhone screenshots demonstrating how to use an emoji in an iOS 18 tapback reply.
As a Tapback response, include
any emoji.
CNET/Jeff Carlson screenshotsOne feature of Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, and iPhone 16 Pro models is the ability to summarize incoming texts in their alerts. You can use Genmoji to add unique emoji. Another feature added to the Messages app in iOS 18.2 is Genmoji, which allows you to instantly design your own emoji by expressing what you desire.
However, you must first register for the waitlist on the Image Playground app before you can begin. Following acceptance, you are able to:
To see the emoji selections while speaking with someone, tap the emoji button.
To the right of the “Describe an Emoji” field, tap the Genmoji button.
Type a description of the Genmoji’s appearance, or speak while using dictation. Type “blue bird” or “crying emoji surfing” to get the program to start coming up with different descriptions of what you’ve described.
Choose an icon you prefer by navigating through the ones it generates. The parameters of the created image can also be altered by editing the description.
Tap Add once you’ve found a Genmoji you like.
screenshots from an iPhone that demonstrate how to create a burning espresso machine genmoji.
Make your own emoticons with Apple Intelligence.
CNET/Jeff Carlson screenshots
The new emoji is added to your Recents emoji collection and shows up inline within your text. It also appears as an addable sticker.
Send Later is a tool for scheduling text messages.
I am aware of which pals I would probably wake up and which are probably up at midnight to respond to a text. Since I want my pals to remain in the second category, the Messages app’s text scheduling feature is fantastic for times when I want to express an idea but don’t want a prompt response.
To send a message at a given time, follow these steps:
Type your message.
Press the More (+) icon.
To locate it in the list of apps and features, you might have to slide up. Tap Send Later.
Choose a day and time to send the message in the time picker that displays.
To schedule it, use the Send Message icon (the up arrow).
Here are two iPhone screenshots that demonstrate how to use Send Later to schedule an outgoing text in the Messages app.
Too late or too early? Plan a message at a later time to avoid waking the recipient.
CNET/Jeff Carlson screenshots
Scheduled messages have a thin dashed border when they appear.
To modify the timing at a later time, select Edit Time from the menu after tapping Edit above the message. Additionally, if you frequently schedule messages, I suggest making the Send Later option more accessible by placing it up in the More list.
See how Apple revamped the Photos app in iOS 18 and discover all there is to know about the new cross-platform, cross-device syncing Passwords app.