9 essential Apple Message tips

Apple’s messaging app carries a host of useful features, and I’ve pulled together nine tips you may not have seen until now.

Share your location

You can share and/or send your current location from within Messages:

• Tap Details in the message thread
• Choose Send my Current Location to send a link to Apple Maps with a pin showing where you are.
• Or, choose Share My Location to share your location for One hour, one day or indefinitely.

Find friends

You can also use iMessages/Messages to find friends, assuming they are sharing their location with you. Open one of their messages and tap the Details tab and you’ll see their location there.

Also read: An Easy Guide to Apple iMessage Troubleshooting

Forward a message

You can forward messages received on iOS.

• To do so, select the message and then choose More from the menu that appears.
• A blue tick appears to the left of the message and you’ll see an arrow at bottom right of the display.
• Tap the arrow and you can then send it on to someone else.

Name, don’t complain

The trouble with Group messages is that if you don’t keep them organized it’s tricky telling them apart – so name the thread!

• Tap the Details item and you can name your thread in the subsequent screen by tapping, holding and pulling down the word Details at the top of the display.
• Now a Group Name edit window appears, enter your name and it will be updated for every participant on the chat. 

Manage Settings

Your iPhone telephone number is linked to your Apple ID when you sign in to FaceTime or iMessage on an iPhone. Messages lets you control which numbers, emails and Apple IDs to use with iMessages. You can also set your Send From account.

On a Mac launch Messages, open Preferences and choose Account.

Now you can modify your settings, assign an Apple ID to receive messages and/or add email addresses. You can also enable read receipts in this screen.

On iOS open Settings>Messages>Send & Receive. You can now review and control which identities to use.

View it all

You can check every attachment you’ve shared with someone usinig Messages. To do so select the conversation thread and then select “Details.” You’ll find every attachment your iOS device still carries at the bottom of the pane.

When it was sent

To find out when a message was sent, just select it and pull it gently from right to left – now you can see when it was sent.

Control your space

Messages take up space. You can control the space consumed in Settings>Messages>Store Messages, where you can set messages to stay on your phone for 30 days, a year or forever. The only challenge with this is that it is not especially granular, so you may want to use a backup solution to maintain an archive of those messages you want to keep.

Respond fast

You can respond to messages from the Lock screen, just swipe the notification left, then tap Reply.

Also read:

• 8 handy iOS tips you’ll use
• Apple’s most common iOS 8 questions answered
• An iOS 8 troubleshooting guide
• 6 ways Apple protects your privacy in iOS 8

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