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The messages app is much livelier thanks to the latest updates to iOS. With these updates, you can now express yourself in more ways than ever before. Find out how to add effects to iMessage on the latest version of iOS.
Why You’ll Love This Tip:
- Add some extra flair to every text you send.
- Emphasize parts of a message to make it stand out.
How To Add Effects to iMessage
System Requirements
This tip works on iPhones running iOS 18 or later. Find out how to update to the latest version of iOS.
So how do you bold text on an iPhone? For a long time, you couldn’t. But with the latest software, you can now bold text, italicize it, and much more. You can even apply some of these effects to emojis! Keep in mind that these effects only work when using iMessage to text other iPhone users. Here’s how to send a text with effects on iPhone:
- Open an iMessage conversation, and tap the text effects button to the right.
![iphone messages app with a red box around text effects button]()
- There is a wide variety of text effects to choose from. The top row is for simply formatting the text. You can choose between Bold, Italics, Underline, Strikethrough, or all of them at once.
![iphone messages app displaying different text effects with a red box around options for bold, italics, underline, and strikethrough]()
- You can also apply some animation texts to give your texts some extra flair. Big will make your text enlarge briefly.
![iphone messages app displaying different text effects with a red box around big]()
- Small will make your text shrink.
![iphone messages app displaying different text effects with a red box around small]()
- Shake will make your text move from side to side.
![iphone messages app displaying different text effects with a red box around shake]()
- Nod makes your text bounce up and down, like a person nodding.
![iphone messages app displaying different text effects with a red box around nod]()
- Explode will make the letters of your text enlarge and scatter like the text is exploding.
![iphone messages app displaying different text effects with a red box around explode]()
- Ripple will make the text bounce, letter by letter, like a wave.
![iphone messages app displaying different text effects with a red box around ripple]()
- Bloom makes the text slightly enlarged letter by letter.
![iphone messages app displaying different text effects with a red box around bloom]()
- Jitter makes the text shake erratically.
![iphone messages app displaying different text effects with a red box around jitter]()
That’s how to use iMessage effects. Thankfully, a preview of each animation effect will be playing on a loop so you can get a better look at how they look rather than relying on the still screenshots and descriptions above. Next, find out how to edit text messages on your iPhone.
