iMessage

In the Messages app on iPhone and iPad, Apple includes a bunch of screen effects that add fireworks, confetti, and more to the whole screen when you send an iMessage to someone. Because it's not obvious how to access these iMessage screen effects, they're often overlooked, which is a shame because they can surprise recipients, make them smile, or even laugh out loud – if you use the right...

In iOS 16, Apple has added some major updates to the Messages app, introducing some features that rival third-party messaging platforms have had for years. One of these changes is the ability to edit iMessages in iOS 16. Keep reading to learn how it works. Almost everyone with a smartphone can relate to the situation where you send a text message only to immediately realize that the meaning...

In iOS 16, Apple has added some major updates to the Messages app, introducing some features that rival third-party messaging platforms have had for years. One of these changes is the ability to unsend sent iMessages in iOS 16. Keep reading to learn how it works. Have you ever sent a text message only to immediately wish that you hadn't? In previous versions of iOS, if you sent a message...

This article explains how to create polls in group chats on Apple's Messages app for iPhone and iPad. Keep reading to learn how it works. If you often participate in group chats over iMessage, you'll know how hard it can sometimes be to decide on something or make plans when there's a lot of people in the group. Other messaging apps like Telegram – and soon WhatsApp – get around the...

Apple's Messages app offers one of the most convenient ways of having a text-based conversation with your contacts on iPhone and iPad, but messages aren't the only things you can send and receive. Apple's iMessage service enables all manner of files and attachments to be shared, such as photos, links, documents, audio messages, and more. Files that are sent to you can of course be accessed...

The Messages app in macOS offers users a convenient way of communicating with friends, family, and colleagues across a variety of Apple devices. With Messages for Mac, you can send unlimited messages to any Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that uses iMessage, Apple's secure-messaging service. If you have an iPhone, you can also send and receive SMS texts. The following steps show you how ...

In iOS 10, Apple introduced the Messages App Store, allowing users to jump into miniature versions of their favorite apps so they could do things like choose a movie time, send their location, pay a friend, give a recommendation from Apple Music, and attach stickers. With the launch of iOS 11, the app drawer and selection experience of Messages apps have been streamlined, and this guide will walk ...

One of the main focal points of the Apple Watch is communication, and as such, it offers a Messages app much like the one on the iPhone. It's not quite as robust as the Messages apps available on other iOS and Mac devices, but Messages on Apple Watch lets you send pre-made replies, animated and non-animated emoji, and full voice-to-text messages. For those of you who want to learn the ins and ...

Apple's iMessage chat service may dodge EU regulatory demands for platform interoperability after all. Bloomberg reports that an investigation by the bloc's antitrust watchdog has tentatively concluded that the chat service is not popular enough with business users to warrant being subject to the new rules. The EU has been working on legislation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that would ...

Beeper Mini, a new app that ostensibly brings iMessage to Android devices with no need for sign-in with Apple ID credentials, today launched on the Google Play Store. Beeper Mini operates by identifying text message conversations from iMessage users and converting them to the recognizable blue bubbles associated with Apple's exclusive messaging service. This enables Android users to interact ...

Sunbird, an app that is designed to deliver iMessages to Android devices, has been temporarily shut down due to security concerns. Sunbird this week sent out a notification to users letting them know about the shutdown (via 9to5Google). Sunbird said that it was investigating security issues that had been raised by the Nothing Chats iMessage app, and shortly after, told users that Sunbird...

Google and European telecom groups have urged EU regulators to designate iMessage a "core" service that would force Apple to make the communications platform interoperable with competing chat services, reports the Financial Times. In a letter sent to the European Commission, the EU's executive body, the signatories including Google and some of Europe's largest telecoms operators claimed that ...

EU antitrust regulators have asked Apple's users and rivals to rate the importance of Apple's iMessage and Microsoft's Bing versus competing services, reports Reuters. According to people familiar with the matter, the European Commission sent out the questionnaires earlier this month, asking if there was anything specific to iMessage and Microsoft's Bing, Edge, and Microsoft Advertising that ...

Apple argues that iMessage is not sufficiently popular to be classified as a "gatekeeper" under EU law, the Financial Times reports. The discussion comes ahead of the publication of the first list of services to be regulated by the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The legislation introduces new rules that apply to tech giants that meet its "gatekeeper" criteria and force them to open up their...

Microsoft today announced it has completed its rollout of iPhone support for its Phone Link app on Windows 11, as spotted by The Verge. With the Phone Link app for Windows 11 and the Link to Windows app for iOS, iPhone users can make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and view notifications directly on their PC. Notably, this means Windows 11 technically supports...

Microsoft today announced it is beginning to roll out iPhone support to the Phone Link app on Windows 11. In a blog post, the company said this functionality will be available to all Windows 11 users around the world by mid-May. With the Phone Link app for Windows 11 and the Link to Windows app for iOS, iPhone users can make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and view...

Microsoft today announced that it is adding iPhone support to its Phone Link app on Windows 11. The app allows iPhone users to make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and view an iPhone's notifications directly on a PC. Notably, the app brings limited iMessage functionality to Windows. After pairing an iPhone with a PC via Bluetooth and granting some permissions on the...

Apple will be forced to allow users to utilize third-party app stores and payment systems, as well as make iMessage interoperable with other messaging services, by the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), according to a newly published document from the European Commission. In a questions and answers document on the Digital Markets Act titled "ensuring fair and open digital markets,"...

A leaked version of the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) indicates that Apple could be forced to make major changes to the App Store, Messages, FaceTime, third-party browsers, and Siri. According to a leaked working document intended to reflect the "final" version of the DMA, seen by MacRumors, the EU is planning to enact changes that seek to have a significant impact on the way...

Google for the last several years has been pushing a new communications protocol called Rich Communication Services, or RCS, which is designed to replace the current SMS standard. ‌RCS‌ offers support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, bigger file size, improved encryption, and more. For the last few months, Google's senior vice president of Android, Hiroshi Lockheimer, ...

Last Friday, code suggested Google would soon roll out an update for Google Messages that would display iMessage Reactions from iPhone users as emoji on Android devices, and now that update has started rolling out. Screenshots from 9to5Google reader Jvolkman According to 9to5Google, some Android users are beginning to see iMessage reactions in Google Messages as emoji that are linked to the...

The Google Messages app on Android devices may soon start showing iMessage reactions as emoji characters instead of text, according to some digging done by 9to5Google. In the Messages app on iOS and Mac devices, users can add a reaction like a heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, a laugh, a question mark, or an exclamation, all of which show up as annotations to an iMessage. These reactions can...

Following his company's reveal of Windows 11, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sat down with The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern to discuss the next generation of Windows and the possibility of Apple bringing some of its services, such as iMessage, to Windows. One major theme of Windows 11 is its openness to third-party app marketplaces and Microsoft's end goal of making the platform a center ...

Apple has put iMessage at the center of its promotional materials for WWDC next week, hinting that the company's popular messaging service could be seeing substantial upgrades. iMessage appears to be a central theme in the marketing for this year's WWDC. For example, the placeholder for WWDC's live stream on YouTube, which is already live, features iMessage bubbles, Tapback, and iMessage's...

While sharing a Twitter link in an iMessage conversation typically results in a light-blue bubble with an in-line preview of the tweet, and an image if one was included, tweet previews appear to be broken right now. As of Friday morning, Twitter links shared in iMessage conversations appear as basic gray bubbles with the twitter.com domain and no other information. It's unclear if this is an ...

It's no secret that Apple sees iMessage as a big enough selling point to keep the service exclusive to Apple devices, however new court filings submitted by Epic Games in its ongoing lawsuit with the company reveal just how Apple executives have rationalized their decision not to develop a version of iMessage for Android. Apple clearly recognizes the power that iMessage has to keep users...

Instagram has confirmed that a bug is preventing proper Instagram URL previews from appearing in iMessage conversations. In a statement to Mashable, Instagram says the behavior is not normal, and that it's "working to resolve Instagram link previews in iMessage so that they load normally." The lack of link previews was first brought up on Reddit around two months ago, so it seems the issue ...

New universal chat app "Beeper" combines 15 different chat platforms into a single inbox and offers iMessage on Android and Windows (via The Verge). The app comes from a team including former Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky, and enables users to integrate a range of messaging services, including WhatsApp, SMS, Signal, Telegram, Slack, Twitter, Skype, Hangouts, Discord, Instagram, and Facebook...