iOS 18 brings all new formatting and effects to your Messages conversations, including custom emoji with Apple Intelligence.
iOS 18 brings all new formatting and effects to your Messages conversations, including custom emoji with Apple Intelligence.
Someday soon, we’re going to look back at texting and wonder how we managed to send and receive messages on our iPhones that were so bare and nondescript. No bold? No italic? Nothing ever exploded or jittered? The Messages app in iOS 18 adds those effects and much more.
Animated effects and text formatting make chatting more fun, and RCS support means your friends with Android phones can finally send high-resolution images. If your brain is active late at night, you can schedule texts to be sent at a more reasonable hour without waking anyone up.
And don’t forget the abilities to bounce texts from a satellite and create your own emoji with Genmoji — an Apple Intelligence feature on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models.
Here are eight new features in the Messages app you should know about.
Also, if you’re just getting started with the new system, be sure to check out the settings you need to change right now. And don’t miss these nine hidden iOS 18 features. Thanks to RCS messaging, you can better communicate with Android users
The addition of Rich Communication Services protocol to Messages should reduce friction when texting with friends who own Android phones. It enables read receipts and gives you higher-quality image transfers and end-to-end encryption (but keeps Android message bubbles green).
If your carrier supports RCS, it’s likely you don’t need to do anything to use it. Go to Settings > Apps > Messages > RCS Messaging and make sure the RCS Messaging is turned on.
RCS Messaging should be enabled by default. You can also send text messages via satellite
The Emergency SOS via Satellite feature that was introduced with the iPhone 14 has been a literal lifesaver. When you have no cellular signal, you can connect to a satellite and exchange short text messages with emergency responders.
With that infrastructure in place, Apple is opening Messages up to nonemergency texts too. If you’re out of range of cellular or Wi-Fi networks and own an iPhone 14 or later, Messages will prompt you to connect to a satellite. While connected, the Dynamic Island expands to help you stay pointed at the satellites overhead.
You can then text people like you normally would, and features like emoji and Tapbacks should still work.
