Send and receive messages

Use Messages to send and receive texts, photos, videos, and more through iMessage or SMS/MMS services. With the iMessage service, you can enhance your messages with bubble effects, invisible ink, full-screen effects, your own handwriting, Digital Touch, iMessage apps, stickers, and more.

A Messages conversation. Along the top, from left to right, are the Back button, a photo of the person you’re messaging, and the More Info button. At the center are the messages sent and received during the conversation. Along the bottom, from left to right, are the Attach Media, Digital Touch, and Messaging Apps buttons, the text field, and the Record Audio button.

WARNING: For important information about avoiding distractions while driving, see Important safety information.

Start a conversation. Tap . Enter the recipient’s phone number or email address, or tap and choose a contact. Tap the text field, then enter your message. Tap to send.

Alternatively, to start a conversation from Mail, Calendar, or Safari, touch and hold a phone number, then tap Send Message.

Tip: To see what time a message was sent or received, drag a bubble to the left.

Note: An alert appears if a message can’t be sent. Tap the alert to try sending the message again.

Send a message to a group. Tap , then enter multiple recipients.

To manage a group conversation, tap . You can name the conversation, add someone to the conversation, or leave the conversation.

Use emoji. When typing a message, tap or to switch to the Emoji keyboard. To automatically replace text with emoji, tap the highlighted words. See Use international keyboards.

Resume a conversation. Tap the conversation in the Messages list.

The Messages list, with the Edit button at the top left, and the Compose button at the top right. The search field is below the title bar. A blue dot to the left of a message indicates it’s unread.

Ask Siri. Say something like:

“Send a message to Emily saying how about tomorrow”
“Reply that’s great news”
“Read my messages”
“Read my last message from Bob”

Respond with a Tapback. To send a quick response that lets people know what you’re thinking, double-tap a message, then choose your response.

A message bubble with the tapback choices showing above it.

View and manage conversation details. Tap . You can:

Tap a contact to view the contact card.
Perform quick actions such as making a FaceTime call.
Send your current location or share your location for a specified length of time.
Send read receipts.
View images and attachments.

View the Messages list. Tap or swipe from the left edge.

Search conversations. In the Messages list, swipe down to reveal the search field, then enter the text you’re looking for. You can also search conversations from the Home screen. See Search.

Delete a conversation. In the Messages list, swipe left on the conversation, then tap Delete.

Note: You can’t recover a deleted conversation.