12 hidden features of iMessage for iPhone you probably didn’t know about

There are a lot of things that Apple doesn’t tell you about their products, and this definitely applies to the Messages app. Hidden features lurk in your SMS and iMessages and wait to be found, and we’ve uncovered some of the most secret ones.

Instead of just sharing all the “hidden”features that everyone else does, like keyboard tricks, pinning conversations, viewing shared content, bulk deleting chats, tagging contacts, displaying received and sent times, and a reply thread, I’ll focus on the thing, which are really hidden or not very obvious.

Note: The tips below also apply to iPad and iPod touch, not just iPhone.

Use secret triggers to send effects

Some people don’t realize that you can long press the send button in a draft message to select a popup or screen effect. More people don’t realize that there’s another way to send effects: using keywords and key phrases.

While no keywords or key phrases can cause a bubble effect, over 200 code words and phrases in 40 different languages ​​will create a full-screen animated effect. In Apple’s defense, there are two or three triggers in user manuals for most languages, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Some of the more secret code phrases include “happy id”for a shooting star, “piu piu”for lasers, “best wishes”for confetti, “happy deepavali”for fireworks, “happy lunar new year”for celebration, and “iyi”. ki dogdong”for balloons. To see all 200+ available, check out the full list.

Add periods to show full URLs

Sometimes you may want to share the actual URL instead of the built-in expanded link preview, which hides everything in the URL except the domain. Apple doesn’t tell you anything, but you can disable the preview by putting dots before and after the URL. The full URL will be displayed to both you and the recipient, with no extra dots.

Other punctuation marks work, not just periods, and they work a little differently when using a URL in a sentence, when using more than one URL, and when using line breaks.

Long press to display full URLs

The formatting technique above is fine for sending links, but it would be difficult to get all of your contacts to use it in the messages they send you. If you like to see the full URL of a link before opening it or expanding the preview, copy/paste might be your first thought, but there is another way.

Just press and hold on the link’s expanded preview to expand it, then click “Hide Preview”at the top of the webpage preview; This will show the full URL of the link. And from now on, any link you long press in messages will show the full URL and will no longer load the webpage preview.

Help others to do certain things

If a friend asks you to share someone’s phone number or email address, you can send them a formatted link that they can click to start a message or make a call. This is possible with URL schemes. When the recipient taps the formatted “Phone”or “FaceTime”link, iOS will open a confirmation that they will use to initiate the call. New drafts will immediately open for SMS texts, iMessage and Mail links.

Below is a list with a few examples of how you can use URL schemes to send handy action links to other people in messages. To see everything you can do, check out “Complete List of iOS URL Schemes for Apple Apps and Services “.

Start a new SMS or iMessage
sms:1-408-555-1212 OR sms://1-408-555-1212
sms:14085551212 OR sms://14085551212
sms:408-555-1212 OR sms://408-555-1212
sms:4085551212 OR sms://4085551212
sms:username@example.com
Start a new SMS or iMessage with body
sms:1-408-555-1212&body=The%20body%20text OR sms://1-408-555-1212&body=The%20body%20text
sms:14085551212&body=The%20body%20text OR sms://14085551212&body=The%20body%20text
sms:408-555-1212&body=The%20body%20text OR sms://408-555-1212&body=The%20body%20text
sms:4085551212&body=The%20body%20text OR sms://4085551212&body=The%20body%20text
sms:username@example.com&body=The%20body%20text


Start a new FaceTime video call
facetime://1-408-555-1212
facetime://14085551212
facetime://408-555-1212
facetime://4085551212
facetime://username@example.com
facetime-prompt://1-408-555-1212
facetime-prompt://14085551212
facetime-prompt://408-555-1212
facetime-prompt://4085551212
facetime-prompt://username@example.com

Start a new Mail draft
mailto:username@example.com
Start a new Mail draft with CC
mailto:username@example.com?cc=username2@example.com
Start a new Mail draft with BCC
mailto:username@example.com?bcc=username3@example.com
Start a new Mail draft with subject
mailto:username@example.com&subject=The%20Subject%20Text
Start a new Mail draft with body
mailto:username@example.com&body=The%20body%20text
Start a new Mail draft with all of the above
mailto:username@example.com?cc=username2@example.com&bcc=username3@example.com&subject=The%20Subject%20Text&body=The%20body%20text

Sending secret dialing codes

Based on the URL scheme advice above, you can use the phone scheme (tel:) to send dialing codes that perform specific actions. These links may display iPhone regulatory information, cellular data usage, and more.

For example, if a friend or family member can’t figure out how to find your device’s IMEI number, send them the phone code:**#06#. When they click on this link, the call action will appear, and when they click on it to make a call, it will open right on their device information screen where the IMEI, MEID and EID are located.

Dialer Code Examples
tel:*#06# (view device IMEI)
tel:*#07# (view Legal & Regulatory info)
tel:*3282# (AT&T: view data)
tel:#932# (T-Mobile: view data)
tel:#3282 (Verizon: view data)
tel:*#002# (view call forwarding configuration)

Avoid the input indicator

When you type a message in an iMessage chat and another recipient has already opened the conversation, they will see an input indicator (an animated ellipsis). This way they will know that you are going to send something. If you don’t want this to show up, there are a few workarounds you can use.

You can temporarily disable iMessage, enter Airplane mode, or dictate a message to Siri. However, the best option might be one that doesn’t use another feature (Siri, Airplane Mode) or forces you to exit the app first (Settings); Just create a new draft, enter a message and select a contact.

Rearrange your iMessage apps

If you’re good with iMessage apps, there’s a quick way to move your most used apps to favorites for easier access. Just press and hold an app in the recently used section, drag it to the left of the divider line to your favorites, and drop it where you want. You can also only change the favorites list using this trick.

To do this in the traditional non-secret way, swipe to the bottom of apps, tap More, choose Edit, then tap the plus (+) next to apps to move them to favorites. You can then rearrange your favorite apps with three-line icons.

Bold text

Open Settings, tap Messages, then turn on the Show subject field toggle. Now you will see the subject line field in messages and whatever you type there will be in bold. What’s best about this is that you don’t have to type anything into the subject and message fields – you can do one or the other. So you can use plain text for normal messages and bold when you want to emphasize something.

There are also third-party keyboards that you can use with a variety of symbols, fonts, and styles, and you can even use a website like LingoJam to select fonts and copy and paste them into chats. Unfortunately, the fonts installed on your system will not appear in messages, but you can also type them elsewhere and move them to messages.

Copy and paste messages faster

Usually, when you need to copy and paste a message, you have to press and hold the message, press Copy, tap the text field where you want to copy it, and press Paste. But there is a faster way.

Instead, press and hold the message and quickly drag it, then drag it to the desired location. You can also select multiple messages by tapping them after pulling out the first one. What’s more, you can select multiple messages and move them completely from the Messages app to another app like Mail, Notes, Pages, etc.

More convenient to add media files to messages

When you need to add a photo or video to a conversation, you’ll likely use the Shared Sheet of Photos feature or the Photos app in the Messages app drawer to find and share them. However, using the same trick as tip 9 above, you can drag and drop media directly into conversations.

So if you’re viewing a photo in the Photos app, or even an image in another message thread, just drag and drop it into a chat from your conversation list. The same goes for documents in files and content in other applications.

Keep prying eyes away from the lock screen preview

If someone is constantly viewing incoming messages on the lock screen, you can prevent them from reading the notification. Go to Settings -> Notifications -> Messages -> Show Previews, then change the setting to On unlock. To read a message preview on your lock screen, use Face ID. If you have a Touch ID device, put your fingerprint on the sensor, but don’t press the button (make sure Open with Finger is turned off in accessibility settings).

Make emoji, text and sticker explosions

While the words and phrases that trigger the screen effect in Tip 1 are fantastic, there is another cool thing you can do with screen effects.

Enter an emoji and use the “Echo”effect and it will multiply that emoji and send it out in a quick flash. Using multiple emojis looks good too, and using spaces between emojis can make them more interesting. You can even take up the entire screen with large emoji blocks. And you can use text, stickers and more.