In case you haven’t noticed, your iPhone’s Messages app is hiding a lot of new features, and some of them are things users have been asking for for a long time. While iMessage is getting a lot of attention for letting us edit and undo messages, it’s just the start of a pretty big update.
Some of the new tools and improvements coming with iOS 16 directly target messaging competitors like Messenger, Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp, while others take advantage of other services available on iOS like Siri, Dictation and focus. There are carrier-specific spam reports, additional Memoji options, cool Siri tricks, useful measurement conversions, and even a few secret actions that will be useful in any conversation.
Most of these changes are also coming to iPadOS 16 for iPad and macOS 13 Ventura for Mac, which are still in beta.
1. Edit posts
You can now edit iMessages after they’ve been sent. It’s a useful tool that can help you quickly fix spelling errors, automatically fix errors and other erroneous content without bombarding people with additional messages explaining the problem.
A message can be edited up to five times within 15 minutes of being sent. After five edits or 15 minutes, the option will disappear from the quick actions menu. After editing, the label “Edited”will appear below the message. You or the recipient can then click “Edited”to view the revision history.
It only works with iMessage, so nothing can be fixed in SMS chats. And recipients using older Apple software will see each change as a separate iMessage.
2. Cancel sending messages
Undoing a message you sent is another new feature. When you select “Undo Send”from quick actions, it shows a “poof”animation that “pops up”when the sound is on and disappears from the conversation forever.
This only works in iMessage conversations and you only have two minutes to unsend a message. When you unsend an iMessage, the alert will say “You unsent a message”where it was. The other end will say “[your name] didn’t send a message.”Recipients using older Apple software will continue to see the iMessage you tried to return.
3. Mark messages as read or unread
I’ve been waiting for this feature for a long time: the ability to mark messages as unread. That way you won’t forget to come back to that post or group of posts later when you have time to reply.
When you mark a message as unread, you only mark it as unread on your side. So it will still say when you first read the message if you have “Send read receipts”enabled. If you want to skip reading a message but want to mark it as read, you can do that too. This feature works for both iMessages and SMS/MMS.
To mark messages as read or unread, swipe right on a conversation in the list view (this previously pinned chats). You can also press and hold on a discussion and select “Mark as unread”or “Mark as read”which is handy for pinned conversations. And you can use the Edit button, select Select Posts, select discussions, and click Read or Unread.
If you have Filter Unknown Senders enabled in your Messages settings, you’ll also see a new Unread Messages section when you click Filter to switch between unknown and known senders.
4. Show and recover deleted messages
Like notes, photos, and mail, iOS 16 gives you a Recently Deleted section in the Messages app. It’s like a trash can on your computer or email account, just for text messages and iMessage.
Deleted messages will be automatically deleted from Apple’s servers after 30 days. You can also manually erase the deleted content before. You can also restore messages if you accidentally delete something or change your mind.
Click “Edit”in the list of conversations, then “Show Recently Deleted”to view, delete, or restore content. If “Filter unknown senders”is enabled in your message settings, tap “Filter”and open the “Recently Deleted”folder.
5. Mark SMS/MMS as spam
You could always report iMessages from unknown senders as junk to Apple, but you had to report SMS and MMS texts as junk to your carrier, which isn’t always the easiest task. Apple has now enabled the “Report Junk”feature for SMS and MMS texts, which reports the message as spam to Apple and the supported carrier. Not all carriers support this feature, so if you don’t see it, here’s why.
6. Mention offers
When you use the @ symbol to mention someone in a group chat – or even if you just write their name without the @ sign – iOS 15 will show you nothing more than a color change animation when pressing Enter. You can also click on a name in the text box to display their profile picture. All of this still applies to iOS 16, but now you’ll also see the person’s name and profile icon in keyboard suggestions.
7. More Memoji Style Options
If you enjoy using Memoji, more customization options are available in iOS 16. Specifically, there are 14 new hairstyles, three updated hairstyles, nine new nose designs, a hat-style headwear option, and three new neutral lip colors.
8. New Expressions for Memoji Stickers
What would an update be without something new for Memoji?! In iOS 16, six new expressive poses are available for all your custom Memoji. As long as you have “Memoji Stickers”enabled in your keyboard settings, these options will be available in their usual “Frequently Used”location to the left of emojis. You can also access them using the Memoji Stickers button in the app drawer.
9. Assign any Memoji sticker as a contact picture
There used to be 12 unique sticker poses for Animoji and Memoji when using them as profile pictures for contacts or as your iMessage photo, but you couldn’t use any of the stickers available in Memoji Stickers. It’s not like that anymore.
Now you can use any of these unique profile photo poses or any of the Memoji sticker options available. You’ll see the ones you’ve assigned to contacts in the Message app.
As before, you can change the profile pictures for your contacts directly from the message thread; Tap the person at the top of the conversation, select Info, then Edit, tap the profile picture, and select the Memoji you want. To change your iMessage photo, go to Settings -> Messages -> Share name and photo.
10. More contact photo poses
Speaking of unique sticker poses for contact photos and profile pictures, there are three more unique poses. While you won’t be able to send them to people in chats, you can still assign poses to your profile or a contact’s profile.
11. Alerts about unread messages in the contacts widget
While it’s not just a Messages feature, the updated Contacts widget will now let you know if you have unread messages or missed FaceTime calls or phone calls from them.
12. SharePlay while messaging
Apple introduced SharePlay starting with iOS and iPadOS 15.1, which allows you to share synced experiences in other apps with other people via FaceTime. Now you can also share synced activities to other apps via Messages. You can watch a movie together, listen to music, play games, and work side by side while chatting in Messages, just to name a few, complete with shared playback controls.
To launch SharePlay, open the content sharing page, tap SharePlay, and select the contacts you want to invite. Then, instead of clicking “FaceTime”, click “Messages”and send the message. Each of you will see a “Start”button in the floating SharePlay controls when they join.
13. Expanded collaboration on projects
Starting with iOS 16, you can collaborate more effectively on projects with colleagues, students, and collaborators right from Messages. To invite a person or group in messages to collaborate on your project, you select them on the share sheet and then send the invitation. Everyone in this chat gets immediate access to start working on a project in real time.
You’ll be notified of any document changes you missed, and new activities will appear at the top of the conversation in Messages. You can click “Show”to navigate to the document and see the changes. From a project, you can go back to Messages or start a FaceTime call with everyone.
Enhanced collaboration through Messages works with Apple apps like Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Notes, Reminders, and Safari (for tab groups). Third party developers can use the Apple Messages Collaboration API to include support for this feature in their applications.
While it’s not yet available in betas, Apple will also use Messages Collaboration in its new Freeform product. The new whiteboard app will allow anyone with access to a shared project to take notes on a digital whiteboard canvas, draw diagrams, insert images, and more. It “will be later this year”.
14. New audio messaging app
In iOS 15, you could record and send voice messages using the audio button in the conversation text input field. The option in the text input field is now for dictation on iOS 16, and there’s a new audio-only app available in the Messages app drawer.
The microphone button appears when you press the icon in the application list, prompting you to press or hold to record. If you hold it down, an audio message will be sent immediately. If you click it, you need to click the stop button and manually submit the file.
If you never send audio messages, you can move the tool out of the favorite apps section or remove it from the app drawer altogether.
15. Easier to dictate text
As iOS 16 updates expand the dictation experience with support for emoji, automatic punctuation, and other useful features, Apple has decided to make it as easy as possible to use dictation in messages.
To start dictation, tap the new microphone button in the conversation text input field, which replaces the audio message button. When there is already text in the text input field, the submit button will replace it, as it did before with the audio message button.
Instead of showing an audio waveform while dictating, it highlights the microphone button on the keyboard so you know what it’s listening to. If you’re not speaking, the text entry menu displays a microphone button with an “X”that you can press to stop dictation. You can also stop dictation using the microphone button on your keyboard.
Dictation turns off after a short period of inactivity, but you can always reactivate it from the keyboard or, if there’s nothing in the text input field, using the new microphone button.
16. Type and edit text with active dictation
When dictation is active, you can say whatever you want to write, but you can also type and edit text while dictation is active. This is the most important feature that dictation has to offer in iOS 16. You just can’t type or edit text while you’re talking, as it’s just listening to one thing or the other.
17. Message Entire contact lists
In addition to the widget, there is another cool feature in the Contacts app that finally allows you to create and manage groups of contacts. With that comes the ability to send a message to the whole group. You still can’t start a new message from the Messages app, but at least you can now do so from your contacts.
18. Shared content with you in third party apps
Apple added Shared with You in iOS 15, which gives you quick access to content in other Apple apps that you’ve shared with you through Messages.
For example, in the For You section of Photos, you can find pictures and videos that contacts have sent you in iMessage and MMS conversations. As another example, Apple News articles that you share with you in Messages will appear in a dedicated section of your feed or Subscriptions tab.
Apple now has an API that allows developers to integrate Shared with You into their apps on iOS 16. For example, the recipe organization app Pestle will show you the recipes you’ve shared with you in messages from other Pestle users. When someone sends you a message with a recipe, pin it in Messages and you’ll see it in the new Shared with You section of Pestle.
Flighty is another app that supports the Share with You feature, with an in-app section that will show you all the flights that other Flighty members have shared with you via messages.
19. Simplified Dimension Conversion
Now there’s a better way than using Siri to convert measurements when you’re in a conversation in Messages. Tap or press and hold on any unit in the chain that needs to be converted – as long as it’s underlined, indicating that iOS can convert it – and you’ll see a pop-up window showing other dimensions already converted.
It works with temperature, currency, weight, volume, distance/length, area, angles, time zones and more. Some units of measurement include degrees Fahrenheit, Celsius, Kelvin, miles, kilometers, feet, inches, yards, quarts, pints, ounces, cups, pounds, teaspoons, tablespoons, horsepower, watts, radians, liters, and so on.
20. Use Siri to Send Messages Automatically
You used to be able to use Siri to compose a new message, but sending it always required confirmation. In iOS 16, you can skip the confirmation and have Siri send the message as soon as you dictate it.
This feature is disabled by default, but you can enable it via Settings -> Siri & Search -> Send Messages Automatically. When enabled, you can disable automatic sending when connected to headphones or CarPlay, and Siri will require confirmation before sending in these cases. Please note that Type to Siri will not automatically send messages.
Siri can still ask you if you want to cancel or send it, but it will automatically send it if you don’t say anything within five seconds. The countdown will appear visually on the Send button in the Siri interface.
21. Use Siri to insert emoji
In iOS 16, Siri has another cool feature: inserting emoji into messages. So if you want to use an emoji in a message you’re dictating to Siri, say the name of the emoji like “smiley”or “heart”followed by “smiley”and Siri will understand.
This feature only works on iPhone models with at least the A12 Bionic chip. It is available in multiple languages including Cantonese (Hong Kong), English (Australia, Canada, India, UK, US), French (France), German (Germany), Japanese (Japan), Chinese (Mainland China, Taiwan), and Spanish (Mexico, Spain, USA).
22. Use Spotlight to Search Images in Messages
Starting with iOS 15, you can use Spotlight search on your home screen to find images in the Photos app by location, people, scenes, animals, cars, and more. You can even enter a contact’s name to see photos from your conversation in Messages.
iOS 16 brings Spotlight image search to more apps, including Files, Notes, and Messages. You can search all the same topics and even search for text in images. So if you’re searching for “cat pictures,”you should see results from “Messages”next to photos and web image recommendations—without having to add a contact name.
It only searches for local files on your device, and Live Text photo search is only available on iPhone models with an A12 Bionic processor at least.
23. Respond to screen time requests
Apple is making it easier to manage Screen Time requests in iOS 16. If you’re a parent or guardian, all Screen Time requests from your kids will appear in the Messages app. You can immediately approve or deny requests for more in-app time, purchase authorization, and more without opening the Settings app.
24. Focus on specific conversations
You can customize every focus except “Driving”in iOS 16 to filter out unwanted content like certain calendars, emails, and Safari tabs. You can also add a focus filter to include or exclude conversations in messages from selected contacts.
When focus is enabled, a new bar will appear at the top of the chat list in Messages to let you know that content is being filtered by your focus. You can click Turn Off if you want to see all conversations, and you can always click Turn On to filter messages again.
25. Choose which apps to open links in
In iOS 16, you can choose from quick actions where you want to open certain types of links. For example, you can open the iCloud link for a shortcut in Safari or the Shortcuts app. Previously, you just saw “Open Link”with a Safari icon.
Only a few types of links work. For example, I see options to open a podcast’s RSS feed in Podcasts or Safari, and a poor link to a specific episode, but not rich links or show links.
26. Share your digital keys
Starting with iOS 16, you can securely share your car, home, or office key stored in your iPhone wallet through Messages and other platforms like Mail and WhatsApp. This setting is only available for apps that support Wallet.
