Messages

If you have iOS 10 or later, you can challenge a friend to a quick game in the Messages app, provided your friend is also using iMessages! Just find a game you like in the iMessaages App Store, tap to get it, and then start playing with your friend. Playing a game via iMessages is great for when you don't have much to talk about, but still want to keep in touch with someone. Here's how to start and play games in iMessages. 

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!

A while back, Apple added more racial diversity to the faces on its emoji keyboard. While none of the emoticons or family groups offer options for different skin tones, the single human characters and body parts (hands, noses, etc.) all come with the diversity options. At this point, we’ve all seen Apple keyboard emojis in all their diversity, but not everyone knows how to use or change what emoji they select. Here’s how to use the diverse emoji keyboard on iPhone or iPad.

In the past, when a stranger on Facebook sent you a message, you didn't receive a notification the way you would with messages from friends. These messages used to be filtered into a section of Facebook Messages called the Other Inbox, but now Facebook has split the Other Inbox into two separate areas: Message Requests and Filtered. The Message Requests Inbox is for messages from people you've communicated with in the past, although you might not be friends with them on Facebook. The Filtered Inbox is for completely unknown senders. There’s actually an easy (though unintuitive) way to access your hidden messages. Most of the time, these messages aren't important. But every now and then, there’s a message you need or want to read. Here’s how to view your hidden Facebook messages on iPhone.

If you have the Facebook app on your iPhone, you've agreed to allow Facebook access to all your phone's contacts. If you don't remember giving that permission, neither do I; but apparently, it's part and parcel of the terms of service. Don't worry, though; there's an easy way to change this sharing setting and make the names and numbers in your Contacts app private again. Let's get started learning how to stop Facebook from accessing your Contacts on iPhone. 

Animoji is a new iMessage feature that currently is only available on the iPhone X. Animojis are animated emojis, and the technology required to create them is really incredible, with far-reaching potential applications. The Animojis feature allows iPhone X owners to animate various characters in ten-second videos and send them to friends. When you move your face, the Animoji automatically moves with you. With Animojis, you are essentially animating your own face, as though you were in a cartoon right from the comfort of your iPhone. The first iteration of Animojis allowed you to be a unicorn, the poop emoji, a panda, a chicken, and more. With iOS 11.3, Apple has added a bear, a dragon, a lion, and a skull.  Here’s how to use Animojis on your iPhone X.

Kik is a free messaging app that lets you send text messages, videos, GIFs, stickers, and more to friends who've also downloaded the Kik app. Kik users can also find new friends to message; and since the Kik app has over 300 million users, the odds are good that you'll find at least a few people you'd like to chat with. It's easy to get started using Kik; rather than using your phone number to create an account, all you need is an email address and username. Once you've downloaded Kik and created your account, you can use the app to message your friends who are also on the platform, and invite other people in your phone contacts to join. There's one problem though: Kik is easy to download on your iPhone, but what about Kik for iPad? Despite the lack of an official Kik app for iPad, there are ways to work around this missing offering. Let's get started learning how to get Kik for iPad. 

Tagging someone on Instagram is pretty straightforward. If you’re viewing an Instagram photo you really like that you want to share with a friend, you can simply tag them in the comments and they'll receive a notification. But did you know you can also send an Instagram picture as a dm, or direct message? If you choose this option, it's more private because you don't have to mention them in the public comments. Let's learn how to direct message a picture on Instagram, or how to just tag someone on an Instagram photo without sending them a dm.

With iOS 10, Apple introduced Message Effects that allow you to add a bit of fun to the messages you send. You could make confetti rain or a laser show ensue when the recipient opened it. With iOS 11, Apple adds two new Message Effects— Echo and Spotlight. We’ll go over what each Message Effect does and how to use it. Here’s how to use the new Message Effects with iOS 11 on iPhone.