These 8 New Texting Options in iOS 18.2 Will Make Your iPhone Texts Sizzle

While you wish to get some extent throughout, easy textual content is not all the time sufficient. In particular person you’d wave your arms or level, however till lately texting somebody can be like standing nonetheless — simply plain phrases with none emphasis. The Messages app in iOS 18.2 now offers you all kinds of embellishment, from daring and italic to creating phrases explode.

And that is simply the beginning of what is new.

Animated results and textual content formatting make chatting extra enjoyable, and RCS assist means your mates with Android telephones can lastly ship high-resolution photos. In case your mind is lively late at night time, you possibly can schedule texts to be despatched at a extra cheap hour with out waking anybody up.

And do not forget the skills to bounce texts from a satellite tv for pc and create your individual emoji with Genmoji — an Apple Intelligence function on iPhone 15 Professional, iPhone 16 and choose iPad fashions.

Listed here are eight new options within the Messages app you need to find out about.

Learn extra: iOS 18 Evaluate: Get Able to Customise Your iPhone

Additionally, in case you’re simply getting began with the brand new system, you’ll want to take a look at the settings that you must change proper now. And do not miss these 10 hidden iOS 18 options.

Because of RCS messaging, you possibly can higher talk with Android customers

The addition of Wealthy Communication Companies protocol to Messages ought to cut back friction when texting with associates who personal Android telephones. It permits learn receipts and offers you higher-quality picture transfers and end-to-end encryption (however retains Android message bubbles inexperienced).

In case your provider helps RCS, it is doubtless you needn’t do something to make use of it. Go to Settings > Apps > Messages > RCS Messaging and ensure the RCS Messaging is turned on.

You can too ship textual content messages through satellite tv for pc

The Emergency SOS through Satellite tv for pc function that was launched with the iPhone 14 has been a literal lifesaver. When you don’t have any mobile sign, you possibly can hook up with a satellite tv for pc and change quick textual content messages with emergency responders.

With that infrastructure in place, Apple is opening Messages as much as nonemergency texts too. In case you’re out of vary of mobile or Wi-Fi networks and personal an iPhone 14 or later, Messages will immediate you to hook up with a satellite tv for pc. Whereas linked, the Dynamic Island expands that will help you keep pointed on the satellites overhead.

You possibly can then textual content individuals such as you usually would, and options like emoji and Tapbacks ought to nonetheless work. If you wish to take a look at a demo of the function, go to Settings > Apps > Messages > Messages through Satellite tv for pc > Satellite tv for pc Connection Demo. Or simply exit into the center of nowhere and take a look at it out your self.

Now you can format textual content in Messages

I do not wish to come throughout as “that typography man,” but it surely has lengthy bothered me that one of many solely methods to emphasise textual content in Messages has been to place it in all caps. We as a society have not developed typography over lots of of years and invented essentially the most refined computing units simply to shout at one another over textual content.

So yeah, I suppose I’m that man. I really feel higher now that I can categorical myself utilizing daring, italic, underlined and strikethrough textual content in conversations with my associates who’re additionally operating iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and MacOS Sequoia.

You possibly can apply formatting to a complete phrase, particular person phrases and letters, or combos of these, like so:

1. Sort your message.
2. To use formatting to the whole message, faucet the Formatting button within the suggestion bar; your entire textual content is highlighted. Or, so as to add emphasis to solely a phrase, double-tap to pick out the textual content after which press the Formatting button. You can too select Textual content Results from the choices that seem above the choice.
3. Faucet one of many choices on the prime of the formatting panel that replaces the keyboard: daring, italic, underline or strikethrough.

In case you format a message that’s despatched to somebody operating an older system, they’re going to see solely plain textual content, which may very well be complicated in case you’ve used strikethrough to point eliminated phrases.

You possibly can animate your textual content messages

Here is the place I toss apart any pretense of being a typographical purist. A message or chosen phrases or letters may be animated in certainly one of eight kinds. Must ship some massive information with extra emphasis than daring textual content? With iOS 18, there are a number of new animation choices you possibly can add to your textual content. The Large animation expands the dimensions of your letters. Or maybe simply mentioning that it is freezing outdoors does not convey the teeth-chattering chilly — apply the Jitter animation to make the letters shake.

Including animation is simply as simple as formatting textual content:

1. Sort your message.
2. Faucet the Formatting button within the suggestion bar to pick out the whole textual content. Or, choose particular person phrases or letters after which press that button.
3. Faucet one of many animation kinds to use it: Large, Small, Shake, Nod, Explode, Ripple, Bloom or Jitter.

You possibly can combine animations inside a message by making alternatives and making use of completely different kinds to them. Nonetheless, you possibly can’t apply multiple animation to a variety; a phrase can’t shake after which explode, for instance. As with textual content formatting, a message exhibits up as plain textual content for anybody not operating iOS 18, iPadOS 18 or MacOS Sequoia.

Even with these new options, I would like extra: textual content formatting and textual content animation. At the moment you should use one or the opposite. But when Apple’s engineers could make one thing as complicated as eye-tracking for the Imaginative and prescient Professional, they will make this occur in a subsequent replace.

You possibly can flip off auto-playing animations, if that is not your factor

As an instance your buddy simply put in iOS 18 and needs to check out all of the animation results in a collection of messages, making a display screen stuffed with pulsing, resizing, jittering and exploding texts. You assume, with all that animation tempting a migraine, what has Apple unleashed?

Do not stress, as a result of you possibly can set the animations to not mechanically repeat. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Movement and switch off Auto-Play Message Results. Your buddy can nonetheless ship animated textual content that may play as soon as whenever you obtain it, however you will not be subjected to the animation repeating.

You possibly can add any emoji or sticker as a tapback in Messages

Generally phrases are pointless. You would reply to somebody’s message utilizing a Tapback icon to precise love, settlement, disagreement, laughter, alarm or curiosity. They’re fast to use and get your reply throughout simply.

They’ve additionally been restricted to only six icons, and in monochrome no much less.

With iOS 18, Messages provides colour (and a few cartoony shading) to these icons, but additionally the power to answer with any emoji or sticker. Here is methods to do it:

1. Contact and maintain a message till you see the Tapback bubble seem.
2. Faucet the emoji button slightly below the opposite icons. Or, you possibly can swipe left on the bubble to view current emojis, stickers and a grey emoji button that results in the emoji library.
3. Within the emoji picker, select a sticker (left aspect) or any of the lots of of emoji.

You possibly can create your individual distinctive emoji utilizing Genmoji

One Messages-related function of Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 15 Professional, iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Professional fashions is the power to summarize incoming texts of their notifications. iOS 18.2 brings one other choice to the Messages app: Genmoji, a method to create your individual emoji on the spot by describing what you need. (It additionally works on iPads with M-series processors and the newest iPad mini.)

Earlier than you begin although, you will have to join the waitlist within the Picture Playground app. When you’re accepted, you are able to do the next:

1. In a dialog with somebody, faucet the emoji button to view the emoji choices.
2. Faucet the Genmoji button to the correct of the Describe an Emoji subject.
3. Sort (or use dictation to talk) an outline of what the Genmoji ought to appear like. You possibly can kind one thing like “blue fowl” or “crying emoji browsing” and the app will begin creating variations of your descriptions. (Study extra about creating higher Genmoji.)
4. Flip by way of the icons it creates till you discover one you want. You can too edit the outline to vary the parameters of the generated picture.
5. When you’ve got a Genmoji you want, faucet Add.

The brand new emoji seems inline in your textual content and is added to your Recents assortment of emojis. It additionally exhibits up as a sticker you can add.

You possibly can schedule textual content messages utilizing Ship Later

I do know which associates are doubtless up at midnight to answer to a textual content, and which I might in all probability get up. As a result of I would like the second class to proceed to be my associates, the power to schedule texts within the Messages app is nice for after I wish to share a thought however do not want an instantaneous reply. 

To ship a message at a specified time, do that:

1. Sort your message.
2. Faucet the Extra (+) button.
3. Faucet Ship Later; chances are you’ll have to swipe as much as discover it within the record of apps and options.
4. Within the time picker that seems, set a day and time to ship the message.
5. Faucet the Ship Message button (the up arrow) to schedule it.

Scheduled messages present up with a faint dashed border.

If that you must change the timing later, faucet Edit above the message after which select Edit Time from the menu. Additionally, if you end up scheduling messages usually, I like to recommend transferring the Ship Later choice larger within the Extra record so it is simpler to entry.

For extra, see how Apple redesigned the Pictures app in iOS 18 and study the whole lot concerning the new Passwords app that syncs throughout units and platforms.