Messages

This article will tell you all the group messaging features in iMessage introduced in iOS 14. Group messages are a great way to keep families and friend groups in close contact, whether you're all in different places in the world or just want to have your plans written down in one place. However, if there are too many people talking about too many different things, the group chats can get confusing, and if you have too many going on at once it can be hard to keep track of which is which. iOS 14 introduced some new ways to organize and label your group messages to keep your communication easy and fun - as it should be! Let's take a look at these new features and how they can help you get the most out of your group chats.

This article will show you how to hide alerts for a group chat, so you only get notifications for group messages in which you are mentioned. Group chats in the Messages app are handy if you have information to relay to several people at once, but the sheer number of text notifications from a group message can get really annoying. Fortunately, you don't need to leave a group message to stop the barrage of notifications. There is a new iOS 14 feature that lets people tag you within a group text so that you are notified when they mention you in the chat. You can use this feature to cut down on the number of group text notifications you get without missing any important messages. Here's how.

When your iPhone is locked, you can glance at your notifications previews to see if you need to respond to messages or open another app, but that means other people can read your text notifications, too. Fortunately, you don't have to hide alerts altogether to ensure your privacy. Instead, we'll show you how to hide notification previews, so they're only visible when your iPhone or iPad is unlocked. If you found this tip because you want to learn to hide text messages, that's not what this tip is about, but we have a different article about how to hide messages on your iPhone.

Have you ever wanted to turn your text into a call on the iPhone? Text messages are quick to send and read, but sometimes you'll need to call the other person to clear something up or if you need more direct communication. Here's how to make a phone call from the text chat, so you can reply to a text message with a phone call without leaving the Messages app. This can also be helpful if you don't have a contact's number saved on your phone, but have received text messages from them. 

Type a word in messages, and predictive text will suggest the emoji that matches that word. Many people don’t want to replace a word, even with emoji as cute or useful as the smiley face, thinking, crying, or tears of joy emoji; they simply want to include the emoji after the word. Luckily, you can add emojis to your messages without opening the emoji keyboard, then avoid replacing the word with a simple tap of the space bar. The emoji will remain in your predictive text suggestions and you can easily select the emoji to appear right after the word for it. I’ll show you what I mean below; here’s how to prevent emojis from replacing words in Messages.

One of the new features of Apple's latest operating systems, iOS 13 and iPadOS, are Memoji sticker packs for older iPhones right in the Messages app. It's been possible to send Animoji and Memoji stickers in texts before, but now it's easier than ever for a larger number of iPhones and iPads to send Memoji stickers, even if they can't create and send the animated emoji videos. Let's get started learning about Memoji and Animoji stickers, how to create them, and which devices can send and receive them.

As you use your iPhone, you'll notice status icons are shown to signal certain functions. Here's a quick overview of some of the most common status icons you'll see on your iPhone's Home screen. For iPhones 8 and earlier, I show the screen of an iPhone 7. For iPhones X and later, I use the screen of an iPhone XR. Across devices, the status icons have the same meaning. The display of status icons are arranged differently between iPhone 8 and earlier, and iPhone X and later. But if you know which status icons you're looking for and what they mean, you won't have a problem finding them.

If you came of age in the pre-smartphone era, you already know the basics of phone etiquette. But now that texting and messaging apps have overtaken phone calls as the preferred method of staying in touch, it’s a good idea to become familiar with the dos and don’ts of texting as well. Here’s how to avoid being the bane of the group chat, telling someone it’s funny that their loved one died, and snubbing someone just by letting them see that you read their message!

We’ve been able to add emojis to text messages on iPhone for many years. But as the operating system updates have been released over time, more and more emojis had been introduced, which means there’s a lot to look through in order to find that specific emoji you want to use. Apple solved this problem with iOS 10. Now you can add emojis to a text message without scrolling through pages looking. Here’s how to add emojis to a text without opening the emoji keyboard.