Modern text messaging has come a long way in the last few years. Today, you can add photos, videos and sounds to messages. Apple calls it’s text messaging system iMessage. It’s text messaging on steroids.
How To Send Animated iMessages
To send animated iMessages, first select any emoji or photo. Tap and hold the green arrow that appears right of the text area. Choose either screen filler or bubble animation and select a style. Finally tap the green button with the up arrow up to send.
You can animate text, emoji, photos and GIFs.
You can animate both emoji and photos, so you can have some fun and get creative. Even animating a thumbs up looks cool and will definitely grab their attention.
Examples Of Animated iMessages
I remember when I got my first ever cell phone and all you could send is send simple text messages. You had to tap each key a few times to select the letter you wanted to enter and it took forever and ever.
“Dog” would be 3-6-6-6-4…then 0 for space. No thanks!
How To Open iMessage on iPhone?
To open iMessage, look for the green icon with a white speech bubble. Check out this post for a full guide to finding where iMessage is on your iPhone.
What are iMessage effects on iPhone?
There are two choices for iMessage animations, a screen filler effect and a bubble type effect.
Screen Filler Effects
Screen filler effects completely cover the screen from top to bottom. It’s more fun in nature and has less of a serious tone than a bubble effect might do. Maybe you’d want to say happy birthday, a bright and energetic good morning message or extending congratulations to a friend.
What screen filler effects are on the iPhone iMessages app?
- Echo – A whirlwind of 100 copies of your message spin around the screen
- Spotlight – Your message will be lit up by a bright spotlight and the rest of the screen goes dark
- Balloons – Colorful balloons float up from the bottom of the screen
- Confetti – A shower of bright confetti covers the screen
- Love – A big bright deep red heart grows out of your message and floats away
- Lasers – Nightclub lasers shine out from your message and dance around the screen
- Fireworks – The screen turns to nighttime and a fireworks display covers the screen
- Celebration – Bright yellow and white sparklers pour out from the corner of the screen, showering everything in bright sparks
Bubble Effects
Bubble effect animations focus on the text/emoji that you enter, it’s useful for emphasizing something that really shouldn’t be missed and generally has a more serious connotation.
What bubble effects are on the iPhone iMessages app?
- Slam – Your message is lifted up and thrown back down on the screen with a big SLAM
- Loud – Your message is lifted up a bit, wiggled than put back down
- Gentle – Your message floats in from behind the messages
You can of course use either one for any type of message, it’s totally up to you. You can choose which style best represents your message.
How to send animated iMessages (Step by Step)
Create A New Message And Select An Emoji Or Photo
Animations work for text, emojis, GIFs or photos
Not sure how to open the iMessage app? Learn how.
Tip
If you’re creating a new message, make sure you enter a recipient (step #1 above) before you select an emoji or photo to animate. The green arrow (step #3) won’t appear if you didn’t enter a recipient.
Choose An Animation Effect
Get creative and choose an effect that best delivers your message!
This is the fun part!
Tap which kind of effect you want to send – a bubble or screen filler effect – by using the toggle at the top of the screen. Then, select the type and you’ll see a preview.
Go ahead and try out all the effects, they’re fun!
Send The Animated iMessage
Finally, tap the green up arrow to send your message. The recipient will see your animation as soon as they read the message.
How do I receive and read animated iMessages?
Animated iMessages are viewed just like any other message in the iMessage app on your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. You don’t have to set anything up or enable anything, just open up your iMessage app. It looks like this:
If you miss the animation when the message is first received, you can always replay it as many times as you want.
Tip: Apple Watch
Animated iMessages are displayed on Apple Watches, too. So even if they read your message on an Apple Watch (or iPad), your animation will still be seen in all its glory. Pretty cool!
This how-to guide should make it easy for you to get your message across in style by using iMessage animations.
You can animate almost anything, so try with photos or even GIFs and get creative.
