The other day, I found myself in an amusing situation while texting a friend. One of my messages seemed to be bouncing around, creating a hilarious moment of confusion. If you’ve ever encountered this quirky phenomenon, you’re not alone!
iOS 18 introduces a new feature that lets you add style and animation to your text messages. If you’re looking to inject some extra emotion and personality into your texts, here’s how you can do it.
- Begin a new message or open an existing one.
- Type out your message and tap the “A” with three lines located at the top right corner of your keyboard.
- Ensure that the text is selected. If not, double-tap the text and adjust the slider to cover the entire message or specific word(s) you want to animate.
- Choose from eight animation options: Big, Small, Shake, Nod, Explode, Ripple, Bloom, and Jitter.
Once you’ve made your selection, you can preview the animation. In the example above, I chose Ripple, and the text displayed a rippling effect.
It’s important to note that both you and the recipient must be using iOS 18 or later to view these animations. While you can still send animated messages to devices with older iOS versions, they will appear as regular text to the recipient.
Another neat trick that has been around for a while is the ability to handwrite messages:
- Open a new or existing message and rotate your iPhone into landscape mode.
- Tap the icon in the lower right corner of the keyboard that resembles a cursive “a”.
- You can then use your finger to handwrite a message. While you can’t add animations like Shake or Nod to handwritten messages, it’s still a fun way to personalize your texts.
Animated messages offer a creative way to spice up your conversations. Whether you want to annoy someone with a constant “Jitter” effect or express yourself in a playful manner, experimenting with text animations and handwritten messages can add a new dimension to your communication.
