My iPhone for Seniors, Second Edition (2016)
10. Sending, Receiving, and Managing Texts and iMessages
In this chapter, you’ll explore the texting and messaging functionality your iPhone has to offer. Topics include the following:
Getting started
Preparing Messages for messaging
Sending messages
Receiving, reading, and replying to messages
Working with messages
You can use the iPhone’s Messages app to send, receive, and converse; you can also send and receive images, videos, audio, and links with this app. You can maintain any number of conversations with other people at the same time, and your iPhone lets you know whenever you receive a new message via audible and visible notifications you configure. In addition to conversations with other people, many organizations use text messaging to send important updates, such as airlines communicating flight status changes. You might find messaging to be one of the most used functions of your iPhone.
Getting Started
Texting, also called messaging, is an especially great way to communicate with others when you have something quick you want to say, such as an update on your arrival time. It’s much easier to send a quick text, “I’ll be there in 10 minutes,” than it is to make a phone call or send an email. Texting/messaging is designed for relatively short messages. It is also a great way to share photos and videos quickly and easily. And if you communicate with younger people, you might find they tend to respond quite well since texting is a primary form of communication for them.
There are two types of messages that you can send with and receive on your iPhone using the Messages app.
The Messages app can send and receive text messages via your cell network based on telephone numbers. Using this option, you can send text messages to and receive messages from anyone who has a cell phone capable of text messaging.
You can also use the iMessage function within the Messages app to send and receive messages via an email account, to and from other iOS devices (using iOS 5 or newer), or Macs (running OS X Lion or newer). This is especially useful when your cell phone account has a limit on the number of texts you can send via your cell account; when you use iMessage for texting, there is no limit on the amount of data you can send when you are connected to the Internet using a Wi-Fi network and so you incur no additional costs for your messages. This is also really useful because you can send messages to, and receive messages from, iPod touch, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac users. The limitations to iMessage are that it only works on those supported devices, and the people with whom you are messaging have to set up iMessage on their device (as you’ll see shortly, this isn’t difficult).
You don’t need to be overly concerned about which type is which because the Messages app makes it clear which type a message is by color and text. It uses iMessage when available and automatically uses cellular texting when it isn’t possible to use iMessage.
You can configure iMessage on multiple devices, such as an iPhone and an iPad. This means you have the same iMessages on each device. So, you can start a conversation on your iPhone, and then continue it on other devices.
Preparing Messages for Messaging
Like most of the apps described in this book, there are settings for the Messages app you can configure to choose how the app works for you. For example, you can configure iMessage so you can communicate via email addresses, configure how standard text messages are managed, and so on. You can also choose to block messages from specific people.
Setting Your Text and iMessage Preferences
Perform the following steps to set up Messages on your iPhone:
Move to the Settings app and tap Messages.
Set the iMessage switch to on (green).
Tap Use your Apple ID for iMessage.
Already Signed In to an Apple ID?
If you have already signed into an Apple ID for Messages, you can start with step 5 to configure the settings being used for your messages. If you want to change the Apple ID currently being used for iMessage, tap Send & Receive, tap the Apple ID shown at the top of the iMessage screen, and then tap Sign Out. You can then use these steps to sign into a different Apple ID for Messages.
Type your Apple ID and associated password, and then tap Sign In.
Tap Text Messaging Forwarding; if you don’t see this option, your cell phone carrier doesn’t support it and you can skip to step 11.
Set the switch to on (green) for a device on which you want to be able to receive and send text messages using your iPhone’s cell phone function (this doesn’t impact messages sent via iMessages). A code appears on the device for which you turned on the switch in step 6 (in this case, Brad’s Mac Mini).
Type the code into the Text Message Forwarding box on the iPhone.
Tap Allow.
Repeat steps 6 through 8 to enable other devices to receive text messages via your iPhone’s cell phone function.
Tap Messages.
To notify others when you read their messages, slide the Send Read Receipts switch to on (green). Be aware that receipts apply only to iMessages (not texts sent over a cellular network).
To send texts via your cellular network when iMessage is unavailable, slide the Send as SMS switch to on (green). If your cellular account has a limit on the number of texts you can send, you might want to leave this set to off (white) so you use only iMessage when you are texting. If your account has unlimited texting, you should set this to on (green).
Tap Send & Receive. At the top of the iMessage screen, you see the Apple ID via which you’ll send and receive iMessages. On the rest of the screen are the phone number and email addresses that can be used with the Messages app.
To prevent an email address from being available for messages, tap it so it doesn’t have a check mark; to enable an address so it can be used for messages, tap it so it does have a check mark.
Tap the phone number or email address you want to use by default when you start a new text conversation. Each number or email address becomes a separate conversation in the Messages app so choose the number or address you want to use most frequently to start new conversations.
Tap Messages.
Swipe up the screen so you see the SMS/MMS section.
If you don’t want to allow photos and videos to be included in messages sent via your phone’s cellular network, set the MMS Messaging switch to off (white). You might want to disable this option if your provider charges more for these types of messages—or if you simply don’t want to deal with anything but text in your cellular texting messages.
To keep messages you send to a group of people organized by the group, set the Group Messaging switch to on (green). When enabled, replies you receive to messages you send to groups (meaning more than one person on a single message) are shown on a group message screen where each reply from anyone in the group is included on the same screen. If this is off (white), when someone replies to a message sent to a group, the message is separated out as if the original message was just to that person. (The steps in this chapter assume Group Messaging is on.)
To add a subject field to your messages, set the Show Subject Field switch to on (green). This is not commonly used, and the steps in this chapter assume this setting is off.
To display the number of characters you’ve written compared to the number allowed (such as 59/160), set the Character Count switch to on (green). This is not commonly used, and the steps in this chapter assume this setting is off.
Use the Blocked option to block people from texting you (see the next task).
Tap Keep Messages.
Tap the length of time for which you want to keep messages.
If you tapped something other than Forever in Step 24, tap Delete. The messages on your iPhone older than the length of time you selected in step 24 are deleted.
Tap Messages.
Set the Filter Unknown Senders switch to on (green) if you want messages from people or organizations not in the Contacts app to be put on a separate list. Notifications for those messages are also disabled. This can be useful if you receive a lot of messages from people you don’t know and don’t want to be annoyed by notifications about those messages.
Tap Expire in the AUDIO MESSAGES section.
Tap Never if you want to keep audio messages until you delete them or After 2 Minutes to have them deleted after two minutes. If you selected After 2 Minutes, audio messages are automatically deleted two minutes after you listen to them. This is good because audio messages require a lot of storage space and deleting them keeps that space available for other things.
Tap Messages.
If you want to be able to listen to audio messages by lifting the phone to your ear, set the Raise to Listen switch to on (green). If you set this to off (white), you need to manually start audio messages by tapping the Play button.
Tap Expire in the VIDEO MESSAGES section.
Tap Never if you want video messages included in an iMessage to be kept on your phone or After 2 Minutes to have them automatically deleted after two minutes. Video messages can take up a lot of storage space so it’s usually a good idea to choose After 2 Minutes.
Tap Messages. You’re ready to send and receive messages.
Avoiding Scam Email
When you enable email addresses for iMessage, the resulting confirmation message should only contain a link you click to verify the address you provided. If you receive an email asking for your Apple ID or other identifying information, this is not from Apple and you should delete it without responding to it.
Audio and Video Messages
There are two types of audio and video messages you can send via the Messages app. Instant audio and video messages are included as part of the message itself. Audio and videos can also be attached to messages. The Expire settings only affect instant audio or video messages. Audio or videos that are attached to messages are not deleted automatically.
Blocking People from Messaging or Texting You
To block a phone number or email address from sending you a message, you need to have a contact configured with that information. Refer to Chapter 7, “Managing Contacts,” for the steps to create contacts. Creating a contact from a message you receive is especially useful for this purpose. When you start receiving messages from someone you want to block, use a message to create a contact. Then use the following steps to block that contact from sending messages to you:
Move to the Messages screen in the Settings app.
Swipe up the Messages screen.
Tap Blocked.
Tap Add New.
Use the Contacts app to find and tap the contact you want to block. (Note that contacts without email addresses or phone numbers that don’t have the potential to send messages to you are grayed out and cannot be selected.) You return to the Blocked screen and see the contact on your Blocked list. Any messages from the contact, as long as they come from an email address or phone number included in his contact information, won’t be sent to your iPhone.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 to block other addresses or phone numbers for the person you are blocking or to block other people.
>>>Go Further: More on Messages Configuration
Following are a couple more Messages configuration tidbits for your consideration:
• You can configure the notifications the Messages app uses to communicate with you. You can configure the alert styles (none, banners, or alerts), badges on the icon to show you the number of new messages, sounds and vibrations when you receive messages, and so on. Messages also supports repeated alerts, which by default is to send you two notifications for each message you receive but don’t read. Configuring notifications is explained in detail in Chapter 5, “Customizing How Your iPhone Looks and Sounds.”
• To unblock someone so you can receive messages from them again, move to the Messages screen in the Settings app, tap Blocked, swipe to the left across the contact you want to unblock, and tap Unblock.
Sending Messages
You can use the Messages app to send messages to people using a cell phone number (as long as the device receiving it can receive text messages) or an email address that has been registered for iMessage. If the recipient has both a cell number and iMessage-enabled email address, the Messages app assumes you want to use iMessage for the message.
When you send a message to more than one person, and at least one of those people can use only the cellular network, all the messages are sent via the cellular network and not as an iMessage.
Whether messages are sent via a cellular network or iMessage isn’t terribly important, but there are some differences. If your cellular account has a limit on the number of texts you can send, you should use iMessage when you can because those messages won’t count against your limit. Also, when you use iMessage, you don’t have to worry about a limit on the number of characters in a message. When you send a message via a cellular network, your messages might be limited to 160 characters.
Creating and Sending Messages
You can send text messages by entering a number or email address manually or by selecting a contact from your contacts list.
On the Home screen, tap Messages.
Tap New Message (if you don’t see this, tap the back button in the upper-left corner of the screen until you do). If you haven’t used the Messages app before, you skip this step and move directly to the compose message screen in the next step.
Type the recipient’s name, email address, or phone number. As you type, the app attempts to match what you type with a saved contact or to someone you have messaged with before and shows you a list of suggested recipients. You see phone numbers or email addresses for each recipient on the list. Phone numbers or addresses in blue indicate the recipient is registered for iMessages and your message will be sent via that means. When you see a phone number in green, the message will be sent as a text message over the cellular network. If a number or email address is gray, you haven’t sent any messages to it yet; you can tap it to attempt to send a message. You also see groups you have previously messaged.
Tap the phone number, email address, or group to which you want to send the message. The recipients’ names are inserted into the To field. Or, if the information you want to use doesn’t appear, just type the complete phone number, including area code, or email address.
Straight to the Source
You can tap the Add button (+) in the To field to use the Contacts app to select a contact to whom you want to address the message.
Go to the Group
You can tap the Info button (i) next to a group on the suggested recipients list to see the people that are part of that group.
If you want to send the message to more than one recipient, tap in the space between the current recipient and the + button and use steps 3 and 4 to enter additional recipients.
Change Your Mind?
To remove a contact or phone number from the To box, tap it once so it becomes highlighted in blue and then tap the Delete key on the keyboard.
Tap in the Message bar, which is labeled iMessage, if you entered iMessage addresses; or Text Message, if you entered a phone number. The cursor moves into the Message bar and you are ready to type your message.
Type the message you want to send in the Message bar.
Tap Send, which is blue if you are sending the message via iMessage or green if you are sending it via the cellular network. The Send status bar appears as the message is sent; when the process is complete, you hear the message sent sound and the status bar disappears.
If the message is addressed to iMessage recipients, your message appears in a blue bubble in a section labeled iMessage. If the person to whom you sent the message enabled his read receipt setting, you see when he reads your message.
If you sent the message via the cellular network instead of iMessage, you see your message in a green bubble in a section labeled Text Message.
>>>Go Further: Text On
Following are some additional points to help you take your texting to the next level (where is the next level, anyway?):
• iMessage or Cell—If the recipient has an iOS device or Mac that has been enabled for iMessage, text messages are sent via iMessage when possible even if you choose the recipient’s phone number.
• No Group Messaging—When you address a message to more than one person with Group Messaging disabled, it is sent to each person but becomes a separate conversation from that point on. If one or more of the recipients replies to the message, only you see the responses. In other words, replies to your messages are sent only to you, not to all the people to whom you sent the original message.
• Larger Keyboard—Like other areas where you type, you can rotate the iPhone to be horizontal where the keyboard is larger as is each key. This can make texting easier, faster, and more accurate.
• Recents—When you enter To information for a new message, included on the list of potential recipients are people being suggested to you. When a suggested recipient has an info button (i), tap that button, tap Ignore Contact, and then tap Ignore at the prompt to prevent that person from being suggested in the future.
Receiving, Reading, and Replying to Messages
Text messaging is about communication so when you send messages, you expect to receive responses. People can also send new messages to you. The Messages app keeps messages grouped as a conversation consisting of messages you send and replies you receive to the same person or group of people.
Receiving Messages
When you aren’t currently using the Messages screen in the Messages app and receive a new message (as a new conversation or as a new message in an ongoing conversation), you see, hear, and feel the notifications you have configured for the Messages app. (Refer to Chapter 5 to configure your message notifications.)
If you are on the Messages screen in the Messages app when a new message comes in, you hear and feel the new message notification sound and/or vibration, but a notification alert box does not appear. The conversation containing a new message is marked with a blue circle.
You can also access your new messages using the Notification Center. Swipe down from the top of the screen to open the Notification Center and tap the Notifications tab. In the Messages section, you see the new messages with the newest message being at the top of the screen and older messages shown toward the bottom. You can swipe up and down the screen to browse the messages or tap a message to read it in the Messages app.
Speaking of Texting
Using Siri to hear and speak text messages is extremely useful. Check out Chapter 12, “Working with Siri,” for examples showing how you can take advantage of this great feature.
Reading Messages
You can get to new messages you receive by doing any of the following:
• Tap a banner alert notification from Messages. You move into the message’s conversation in the Messages app.
• Open the Messages app and tap the conversation containing a new message; these conversations appear at the top of the Messages list and are marked with a blue circle. The conversation opens and you see the new message.
• Read a message in its alert notification.
• Swipe to the right on a message notification when it appears on the Lock screen.
• Open the Notifications tab of the Notification Center and tap a message.
• If you receive a new message in a conversation that you are currently viewing, you immediately see the new message.
However you get to a message, you see the new message in either an existing conversation or a new conversation. The newest messages appear at the bottom of the screen. You can swipe up and down the screen to see all of the messages in the conversation. As you move up the screen, you move back in time.
Messages sent to you are on the left side of the screen and appear in a gray bubble. Just above the bubble is the name of the person sending the message; if you have an image for the contact, that image appears next to the bubble. The color of your bubbles indicates how the message is sent: blue indicates an iMessage and green indicates a cellular message.
Viewing Images or Video You Receive in Messages
When you receive a photo or video as an attachment, it appears in a thumbnail along with the accompanying message (video can also be embedded in a message as you’ll see shortly).
To copy the photo or video and paste it into another app, tap and hold on it; when the Copy command appears, tap it. To save the image on your iPhone, tap and hold on it until the menu appears; then, tap Save. To forward it to someone else, tap and hold on the image. On the resulting menu, tap More. Tap the Share button located in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Complete the New Message that appears to send the photo along with a message. To delete the photo, tap and hold on the image. On the resulting menu, tap More. Then tap the Trash button.
To view a photo or video attachment, tap it. You see the photo or video at a larger size.
If there is more than one photo or video in the conversation, you see the number of them at the top of the screen. You can swipe to the left or right to move through the photos in the conversation. You can rotate the phone, zoom, and swipe around the photo just like viewing photos in the Photos app. You can watch a video in the same way, too.
Tap the List button to see a list of the recent photos in the conversation (this only appears if there is more than one photo in the conversation). Tap a photo on the list to view it.
Tap the Share button to share the photo with others via a message, email, tweet, Facebook, and so on. (When you hold an iPhone 6 Plus or 6s Plus horizontally, all the buttons are at the top of the screen.)
To move back to the conversation, tap Done.
Listening to Audio in Messages You Receive in Messages
Messages can include embedded audio that is recorded and added to a conversation so you can hear it (you learn how to send your own audio shortly).
When you receive an audio message, you can tap the Play button to play it or if you enabled the Raise to Listen option, lift the phone to your ear and the message plays automatically. Tap the Speaker icon to hear the message via the iPhone’s speakerphone.
While the message is playing you see its status along with the Pause button that you can tap to pause it. After the message finishes, you see a message saying that it expires in 2 minutes or 1 year, depending on your settings. That message is quickly replaced by Keep.
Tap Keep if you want to save the message on your phone. (Keep disappears indicating the audio is saved.) To delete a message you have kept, tap and hold on it until you see More. Tap More, and then tap the Trash icon. (If you have chosen the setting to have the audio messages expire in 2 minutes in the Settings app, then you can just let it expire rather than deleting it. See, “Setting Your Text and iMessage Preferences,” earlier in this chapter.)
Kept Audio Messages
When one or more of the recipients of an audio message that you sent keeps it, a status message is added to the conversation on your phone. So, you know who keeps audio messages you have sent. And, others know when you keep their messages, too.
Watching Video in Messages You Receive in Messages
Messages can include embedded video that is recorded and added to a conversation so you can watch it.
When you receive video in a message, you can tap the Play button to watch it. The video plays. Tap it to stop the playback.
Assuming you left the Expire setting for videos at After 2 Minutes, the video is deleted automatically after two minutes. Like an audio message, you see a brief message saying when the video will be deleted that is replaced by the Keep button. To keep the video in the conversation, tap Keep.
To save a video message on your phone, tap and hold on it until the menu appears, and then tap Save. It is saved in the Photos app (see Chapter 14, “Working with Photos and Video You Take with Your iPhone,” for information about using the Photos app).
If you want to delete a video before it expires—or if you have the Expire setting on the Never option—tap and hold on the video to open the menu, and then tap More. Tap the Trash icon and tap Delete Message at the prompt.
Replying to Messages from the Messages App
To reply to a message, read the message and do the following:
Read, watch, or listen to the most recent message.
Tap in the Message bar.
Type your reply or use the Dictation feature to speak your reply (this is translated to text unlike recording and embedding an audio message).
Tap Send. The message is sent, and your message is added to the conversation. Messages you send are on the right side of the screen in a blue bubble if they were sent via iMessage or a green bubble if they were sent via the cellular network.
More Tricks of the Messaging Trade
My Acquisitions Editor Extraordinaire pointed out that when people have cellular data turned off, they can’t receive messages. You don’t see a warning in this case; you can only tell the message wasn’t delivered because the “Delivered” status doesn’t appear under the message. The message is delivered as soon as the other person’s phone is connected to the Internet again, and its status is updated accordingly on your phone. Also, when an iMessage can’t be delivered, you can tap and hold on it; then tap Send as Text Message. The app tries to send the message via SMS instead of iMessage.
Replying to Messages from a Banner Alert
If you have banner alerts configured for your messages, you can reply directly from the alert:
Swipe down on the center of the banner alert notification. The reply box opens.
Type your reply.
Tap Send. Your message is added to the conversation.
Using Quick Actions to Send Messages (iPhone 6s and 6s Plus)
New! You can use the Quick Actions feature on an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus with the Messages app as follows:
Press on the Messages icon. The Quick Actions menu appears.
Select the person to whom you want to send a message or select New Message to send a new message to someone not shown on the list. If you choose a person, you move into an existing conversation with that person or a new conversation is started. If you choose New Message, you move to the New Message screen.
Complete and send the message.
The iMessage Will Be With You...Always
Messages that are sent with iMessage move with you from device to device, so they appear on every device configured to use your iMessage account. Because of this, you can start a conversation on your iPhone while you are on the move and pick it up on your iPad or Mac later.
Working with Messages
As you send and receive messages, the interaction you have with each person or group becomes a separate conversation; a conversation consists of all the messages that have gone back and forth. You manage your conversations from the Messages screen.
Multiple Conversations with the Same People
The Messages app manages conversations based on the phone number or email address associated with the messages in that conversation rather than the people (contacts) involved in the conversation. So, you may have multiple conversations with the same person if that person used a different means, such as a phone number and an email address, to send messages to you.
Receiving and Reading Messages on an iPhone 6 Plus or 6s Plus
The iPhone 6 Plus’ and 6s Plus’ larger screen provides some additional functionality that is unique to those models. You can access this by holding the iPhone 6 Plus or 6s Plus horizontally when you use the Messages app.
Open the Messages app and hold the iPhone so it is oriented horizontally. The window splits into two panes. On the left is the Navigation pane, where you can move to and select conversations you want to view. When you select a conversation in the left pane, its messages appear in the Content pane on the right.
Swipe up or down the Navigation pane to browse the conversations available to you. Notice that the two panes are independent.
Tap the conversation containing messages you want to read. The messages in that conversation appear in the Content pane on the right.
Swipe up and down the Content pane to read the messages in the conversation.
Listen to embedded audio, watch embedded video, or work with attachments just like when you hold the iPhone vertically.
To add a message to the conversation, tap in the send bar, type your message, and tap Send. Of course, you can embed audio or video, attach photos or video, or send your location just as you can when using Messages when you hold the iPhone vertically.
To work with the conversation’s details, tap Details.
To change conversations, tap the conversation you want to view.
Using 3D Touch for Messages (iPhone 6s and 6s Plus)
New! You can use the 3D Touch feature on an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus with the Messages app as follows:
Browse your messages.
Tap and hold on a message in which you are interested. A Peek of that message appears.
Review the preview of the message that appears in the Peek.
To open the message so you can read the conversation of which it is a part, press down slightly harder until it pops open and use the steps in the earlier task to read it (skip the rest of these steps).
To see actions you can perform on the message, swipe up on the Peek.
Tap the action you want to perform, such as Ok, to reply to the current message with “Ok.” If you tap the Custom command, you can create a custom reply to the message as you can when you view the conversation.
Adding Images and Video to Conversations
You can include any image, photo, or video stored on your iPhone in a text conversation, or you can take a photo or video to include in a message. This is a great way to share photos and videos.
Move into the conversation with the person to whom you want to send a photo, or start a new conversation with that person.
Tap the Camera button. A dialog appears that allows you to add photos or videos in three ways. Perform steps 3 through 6 to send a photo you’ve recently taken. Perform steps 7 through 11 to send any photo or video stored on your iPhone. Start with step 12 to take a new photo or video and send it.
If you have taken the photo recently, swipe to the left or right on the thumbnails you see above Photo Library to view the photos available to send.
Tap the photo you want to send. The photo is enlarged and marked with a check mark to show it is selected.
Limitations, Limitations
Not all cell carriers support MMS messages (the type that can contain images and video), and the size of messages can be limited. Check with your carrier for more information about what is supported and whether there are additional charges for using MMS messages. If you’re using iMessage, you don’t have this potential limit and are always able to include images and video in your texts. Also be sure your recipient can receive MMS messages before sending one.
To send more photos, swipe to the left and right on the photo to browse the others, and then tap the photos you want to send.
To send the photos without comment, tap Send X Photos, where X is the number of photos you selected; the photos send and you go back to the conversation and can skip the rest of these steps. To send the photos and make a comment about them, tap Add Comment; the photos are added to the conversation and you are ready to type your comment; skip to step 16.
Tap Photo Library.
Browse the source containing the photos you want to send. (For more information about viewing sources of photos, see Chapter 14.)
Swipe up or down the screen until you see the photo you want to send.
Tap the photo you want to send.
Tap Choose. You move back to the conversation and see the image in the Send box; move to step 16.
Tap Take Photo or Video.
Choose VIDEO to take video or PHOTO to take a photo.
Take the photo or video you want to send. (For more information about taking photos or videos, see Chapter 14.)
Tap Use Photo or Use Video or tap Retake to redo the photo or video you are sending.
Type the message you want to send with the photo or video; if you want to just send the photo or video, skip this step.
Tap Send. The message, and photo or video, is sent.
This Isn’t Houston, but There Is a Problem
If a message you try to send is undeliverable or has some other problem, it is marked with an exclamation point inside a red circle. Tap that icon and tap Try Again to attempt to resend the message.
Sharing with Messages
You can share all sorts of information via Messages from many apps, such as Safari, Contacts, Maps, and so on. From the app containing the information you want to share, tap the Share button. Then tap Messages. The information with which you are working is added to a new message. Use the Messages app to complete and send the message.
Adding Audio Recordings to Conversations
In a previous task you learned how to listen to embedded audio messages. Here’s how to send your own embedded audio messages:
Move to the conversation to which you want to add an audio message, or start a new conversation.
Tap and hold on the Microphone at the right edge of the screen (not the one on the keyboard). Recording starts.
Speak your message; keep your finger touching the screen while you speak.
When you are done recording, take your finger off the screen.
To replay your message, tap the Play button.
To delete your message, tap Delete (x).
To send the message, tap the upward-facing arrow. The audio message is added to the conversation and the recipients are able to listen to it.
Embedded vs. Attachments
When you record audio or video for a message, it is embedded in the message. When you use the steps in “Adding Images and Video to Conversations,” the images or video are attachments to the conversation. You can view or watch these similarly, but attachments are not affected by the Expire settings, and you can do more actions with attachments than you can with embedded items, such as forwarding to others and viewing all the attachments to a conversation.
Adding Video and Photos to Conversations
Here’s how to add embedded video and photos to your conversations:
Move to the conversation to which you want to add video or photos, or start a new conversation.
Tap and hold the Camera icon until the video and photo tool appears and the Messages screen is replaced by the camera screen.
If you don’t want to take a “selfie” video or photo, tap the Switch Camera button to change to the backside camera.
Adjust the image to what you want it to be when you start the video or take the photo.
To take a photo, tap the white Shutter button. The photo is taken and added to the conversation; skip to step 8.
To take a video, tap the red Record button. The video starts recording.
When you’re done recording, tap the Stop button. The video is added to the message.
To send the photo or video, add your commentary and tap the Send button. The photo or video is added to the conversation and the recipients are able to view it.
Adding Locations to Conversations
Location information can be available for the participants in a conversation. You can add your location information to a conversation as follows:
Move to the conversation to which you want to add your location information.
Tap Details.
To share your current location as a snapshot, tap Send My Current Location. Your current location is captured and sent to the recipients of the message.
Current Locations
When a current location is added to a conversation, it is static, meaning it is only the location at that point in time. It appears as a map thumbnail in the conversation. Recipients can tap it to zoom in on the location, and then tap Directions to Here to generate directions from their location to the one sent as the current location.
To dynamically share your location so that it updates as you move around, tap Share My Location.
Tap how long you want your location information to be shared.
Tap Use to share your location or Not Now if you change your mind and don’t want to share it. If you choose Use, your location is shared with the participants in the conversation and can be viewed on the Details screen on their devices. A notification that you are sharing your location is added to the conversation.
To stop sharing your location, tap Stop Sharing My Location. If you selected to share it for one hour or until the end of the day, location sharing stops automatically at the time you selected.
Browsing Attachments to Conversations
As photos and videos are added to a conversation, they are collected so you can browse and view them at any time:
Move to the conversation in which you want to browse attachments.
Tap Details.
Swipe up until you see the ATTACHMENTS section.
Swipe up and down on the attachments until you see one you want to view.
Tap the attachment you want to view.
View the attachment, such as watching a video.
Tap the attachment.
Tap the List button to see a list of all the attachments; tap an attachment to view it.
Tap the Share button to share the attachment via Messages, email, and so on or to save it to your iPhone, add it to a contact, or take one of other available actions on it.
Tap Done to return to the Details screen.
Stop Bugging Me!
You can disable notifications for a specific conversation by moving to its Details screen and setting the Do Not Disturb switch to on (green). You no longer are notified when new messages arrive in that conversation. Set the switch to off (white) to have notifications resume.
Deleting Messages and Conversations
Old text conversations never die, nor do they fade away. All the messages you receive from a person or that involve the same group of people stay in the conversation. Over time, you can build up a lot of messages in one conversation, and you can end up with lots of conversations. (If you set the Keep Messages setting to be 30 Days or 1 Year, messages older than the time you set are deleted automatically.)
Long Conversation?
When a conversation gets very long, the Messages app won’t display all its messages. It keeps the more current messages visible on the conversation screen. To see earlier messages, swipe down on the screen to move to the top and tap Load Earlier Messages.
When a conversation gets too long or if you just want to remove specific messages from a conversation, take these steps:
Move to a conversation containing an abundance of messages.
Tap and hold on a message you want to delete.
Tap More. The message on which you tapped is marked with a check mark to show it is selected.
Delete Them All!
To delete the whole conversation, instead of performing step 4, tap Delete All, which appears in the upper-left corner of the screen. Tap Delete Conversation. The conversation and all its messages are deleted.
Tap other messages you want to delete. They are marked with a check mark to show you have selected them.
Tap the Trash icon.
Tap Delete X Messages, where X is the number of messages you have selected. The messages are deleted and you return to the conversation.
Pass It On
If you want to send one or more messages to someone else, perform steps 1–3. Tap the Forward button that appears in the lower-right corner of the screen. A new message is created and the messages you selected are pasted into it. Select or enter the recipients to whom you want to send the messages, and tap Send.
Deleting Conversations
If a conversation’s time has come, you can delete it.
Move to the Messages screen.
Swipe to the left on the conversation you want to delete.
Tap Delete. The conversation and all the messages it contains are deleted.
>>>Go Further: Texting Lingo
People frequently use shorthand when they text. Here is some of the more common shorthand you might see. This list is extremely short, but there are many websites dedicated to providing this type of information if you are interested. One that boasts of being the largest list of text message acronyms is www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php.
• FWIW—For What It’s Worth
• LOL—Laughing Out Loud
• ROTFL—Rolling On the Floor Laughing
• CU—See You (later)
• PO—Peace Out
• IMHO—In My Humble Opinion
• TY—Thank You
• RU—Are You
• BRB—Be Right Back
• CM—Call Me
• DND—Do Not Disturb
• EOM—End of Message
• FSR—For Some Reason
• G2G—Got to Go
• IDK—I Don’t Know
• IKR—I Know, Right?
• ILU—I Love You
• NM or NVM—Never Mind
• OMG—Oh My God
• OTP—On the Phone
• P911—Parent Alert
• PLZ—Please