Why I’m so charmed by iOS 18’s latest messaging features

I dutifully experiment with alternative messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger because some of my friends communicate there, but Apple’s Messages app is still my texting tool of choice. New changes in iOS 18 cement that preference, bringing long-awaited features to my iPhone like text formatting and scheduling, and support for RCS messaging, making it easier to stay in touch with those people.

iOS 18 is now available as a public beta if you’re curious about other features, like text animations and even a way to send messages via satellite if you’re away from a cell phone or Wi-Fi connection.

Even if you’re not ready to install the betas, you might be interested in what to expect from texting on your iPhone later this year. Here are seven new features coming to the Messages app that you need to know about.

read more: It’s Here: How to Download the iOS 18 Public Beta on Your iPhone

Also check out our full coverage of WWDC 2024 from June and find out why iOS 18 might actually be more exciting than the upcoming iPhone 16.

RCS messaging helps you communicate better with Android users

The addition of the Rich Communication Services protocol to Messages should reduce the friction when texting with friends who own Android phones. It enables read receipts, and gives you higher quality image transfers and end-to-end encryption (but keeps Android’s message bubbles green).

If your provider supports RCS, you probably don’t need to do anything to use it. Go to Settings > Apps > Messages > RCS Messages and make sure that the RCS messages is enabled.

You can also send text messages via satellite

The Emergency SOS via Satellite feature introduced with the iPhone 14 has literally been a lifesaver. When you have no cellular signal, you can connect to a satellite and exchange short text messages with emergency services.

With that infrastructure in place, Apple Messages is opening up to non-emergency texting, too. If you’re out of cellular or Wi-Fi coverage and have an iPhone 14 or later, Messages will prompt you to connect to a satellite. While you’re connected, Dynamic Island expands to help you stay aligned with the satellites overhead.

You’ll then be able to text people as you normally would, and features like emoji and Tapbacks should still work. If you’d like to see a demo of the feature, head over to Settings > Apps > Messages > Satellite Messages > Satellite Connection DemoOr just go to the middle of nowhere and try it yourself.

You can now format text in Messages

I don’t want to sound like “that typography guy,” but it’s long bothered me that one of the only ways to emphasize text in Posts is to make it all caps. We as a society didn’t develop typography in hundreds of years and invent the most advanced computing devices just to shout at each other over text.

So yeah, I guess I am that guy. But I feel better now because I can express myself through in bold, italicunderlined and strikethrough text in conversations between my friends who also use iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.

You can apply formatting to an entire sentence, to individual words and letters, or to combinations of them, as here:

1. Write your message.
2. To apply formatting to the entire message, tap Format button in the suggestion bar; all of your text will be highlighted. Or, to emphasize just a word, double-tap to select the text, then press the Layout 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.

If you are composing a message to be sent to someone using an older system, they will only see plain text. This can be confusing if you have crossed out deleted words.

You can animate your text messages

Here I cast aside any pretense of being a typographic purist. A message or selected words or letters can be animated in one of eight styles. Need to deliver big news with more emphasis than bold text? With iOS 18, there are several new animation options you can add to your text. The Big animation increases the size of your letters. Or maybe just mentioning that it’s freezing outside doesn’t convey the teeth-chattering cold – apply the Jitter animation to make your letters jiggle.

Adding animations is as easy as formatting text:

1. Write your message.
2. Press Layout 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.

You can mix animations within a message by making selections and applying different styles. However, you can’t apply more than one animation to a selection; for example, a word can’t shake and then explode. As with text formatting, a message will appear as plain text for anyone not using iOS 18, iPadOS 18, or macOS Sequoia.

Even with these new features I want more: text formatting And text animation. Right now you can use one or the other. But if Apple engineers can make something as complex as eye tracking possible for the Vision Pro, they may enable it in a future update.

You can disable auto-playing animations if you don’t like them

Imagine your friend just installed iOS 18 and wants to try out all the animation effects in a series of messages, creating a screen full of pulsating, resizing, shaking, and exploding text. And you think, with all that animation giving you a migraine, what has Apple unleashed?

Don’t worry, you can set the animations to not repeat automatically. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion and turn off Autoplay message effects. Your friend can still send an animated text that plays once when you receive it, but the animation will no longer loop.

How to Add an Emoji or Sticker as a Tapback in Messages

Sometimes words are unnecessary. You can respond to someone’s message with a Tapback icon to express love, agreement, disagreement, laughter, alarm, or curiosity. They’re quick to apply and your response comes across easily.

They are also limited to just six icons, and in monochrome form at that.

With iOS 18, Messages adds color (and some cartoonish shading) to those icons, as well as the ability to reply with any emoji or sticker. Here’s how:

1. Tap and hold a message until the Tapback bubble appears.
2. Tap the emoji button just below the other icons. Or 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 one of hundreds of emojis.

You can schedule text messages using Send Later

I know which friends are likely to get up at midnight to respond to a text, and which ones I would probably wake up with. Since I want the second category to remain my friends, the ability to schedule texts in the Messages app is great for when I want to share a thought but don’t need an immediate response.

To send a message at a specific time, do the following:

1. Write your message.
2. Press More (+) knob.
3. Crane Send later; you may need to swipe up to find it in the list of apps and features.
4. In the time picker displayed, set a day and time to send the message.
5. Tap the Send Message button (the up arrow) to schedule the message.

Scheduled messages are shown with a faint dotted line.

If you want to change the timing later, tap Editing above the message and then choose Edit Time from the menu. If you find yourself scheduling posts often, I recommend moving the Send Later option higher up in the More list so it’s easier to access.

See how Apple redesigned the Photos app in iOS 18, and how the new Passwords app syncs across devices and platforms.