Messages App – iPhone
To access the Messages App no iPhone, open the app from your home screen (it will be a green icon with a white message bubble in the middle) or you can search for messages in the search bar or swipe all the way to the right on the home screen and look for Messages in the App Library.
Send a Text Message
To send a text message on iPhone, open the Messages App and:
- Click on the blue pencil and paper icon in the top right corner and enter a phone number or add a contact you want to send a message to. You can also select an existing message thread if you have already texted someone.
- Then simply type your text in the message box and click on the Blue Arrow to send the message.
Note: You have up to two minutes to unsend a text message before it’s unread by the person who received it and it will show as “you unsent a text message” after you unsend it.
Apps in Messages
Right underneath the text box and above the keyboard, you will see a string of apps that you can use in the messaging app such as:
- Photos
- App Store
- Apple Cash (you can request or send money)
- Fitness App
- Audio Messages
- Stickers
- Memoji’s
- #images (Gifs)
- Music
- Digital Touch
- Game Pigeon (you can play games with your friends and family through the Messages App)
- And more apps you may have downloaded
If you scroll all the way to the right of the apps and click More (…) you can add and use more apps than you currently see.
Camera in Messages
To the left of the text box you will see a Camera Icon. This will open up your camera to take a photo and send in through text immediately.
Emojis
At the bottom left hand corner of the key board, click on the Happy Face Icon to choose from hundreds of emojis. Tell them how you really feel!
Message App Settings
Allow Messages To Access
iMessage
iMessage is a feature that is exclusive to iPhones and it is essentially how iPhone users will communicate through text and FaceTime. When you have iMessage on, text messages will appear blue. If iMessage is off your text will appear as green. They will also appear as green texts if you are texting an android device, or if the iPhone you are texting loses service, or runs out of battery.
Send & Receive
Generally you want to have your phone number checked off in Send & Receive so your texts to another iPhone will come from your phone number. If you only have your Apple ID email turned on then your texts will still appear blue and will be sent to other iPhones but the other person will receive texts with your Apple ID email instead of your phone number. This will also happen if your iPhone doesn’t have service so other iPhone users won’t be able to receive texts through your phone number if it’s not active with a mobile network provider but you can still send texts to other apple devices with Wi-Fi and your Apple ID email. This is convenient because even if you have cellular network issues you can still contact people who have iPhones.
Note: If you don’t have service or are only using your Apple ID email with iMessage, people who you are texting with an Android device will not be able to send or receive your text messages.
Share Name and Photo
If you want personalize your iMessages and you want to share your name and photo, click on share name and photo then follow the on screen instructions to set it up.
- When you first open it it will ask if you want to create your Memoji which is a fun feature with iMessage that will allow you to create an Emoji that looks like you and uses some of your facial expressions. To set this up:
- Go to Settings > Share Name and Photo, then click on Get Started Twice and follow the instructions to customize your Memoji. Or if you want don’t want set up your Memoji right now and you just want to Share your Name and Photo, select Set Up Later in Messages.
- To Share your Name and Photo, select Choose Name and Photo.
- Then choose either your Memoji, Initials, or click on More to use a picture or other emojis and icons.
- When you are finished customizing your photo, you can choose between, Contacts only or Always Ask.
- When you’re finished, click Done.
Shared With You
With automatic sharing, your iPhone will work with other apps that will allow you to see who shared what content with you and when so you can pick up where the conversation left off with the content that was shared like a book or podcast.
Show Contact Photos
When this is on, photos you’ve set for contacts will be displayed in messages.
Send Read Receipts
When your have read receipts on, other people are notified when you’ve read their messages.
Send as SMS
When iMessage is unavailable, your text will still send as SMS (green texts). You will want to have this on to communicate with people who don’t have apple devices or if you don’t have cellular data on your iPhone.
SMS/MMS
MMS is like SMS but for media content like photos and videos.
MMS Messaging
You’ll want this on for the same reasons you want SMS to be on.
Group Messaging
If you turn off Group Messaging, messages sent to multiple people will be sent and received individually instead of as a group chat.
Show Subject Field
When Subject Field is on, there will be a subject text box above the message text box in the messaging app. This is kind of like a title for texts that will appear as a bold text above your text message.
Character Count
When this is on, you will be able to see how many characters you’ve typed in a text message.
Blocked Contacts
This will show all of the phone numbers that you have blocked on your iPhone. To remove blocked contacts, click Edit in the top right corner and choose which numbers you want to unblock. To add a number to your blocked contacts list, scroll down and click Add New.
Message History
From here you can choose to keep messages for 30 Days, 1 Year, or Forever before they are deleted.
Message Filtering
With Message Filtering on, your messaging app will put unknown texts on a different list from your contacts.
Audio Messages
Expire
Typically, audio messages will expire After 2 Minutes but you can select to keep them until you want to delete them by selecting Never.
Raise to Listen
This will allow you to quickly listen to audio messages by raising your iPhone to your ear.
Low Quality Image Mode
When this is turned on, images sent through the messaging app will be sent in lower quality. This is helpful if you are sending photos to an older phone or a phone that can’t handle downloading the full image quality.
