Apple’s Messages app is getting great new features in iOS 16 that will give users greater control over the way they communicate with friends, family and co-workers.
iMessage is already arguably one of the biggest chat services, thanks to its deep integration with iPhone and the rest of the Apple ecosystem. The new features, including the ability to tweak or delete messages that have already been sent, should make it even more competitive — and potentially less embarrassing.
Location sharing is a highly versatile and useful feature of iOS. When you’re trying to meet up with someone, traveling in a new place or spending a day out with friends, you can quickly share where you all are. It proves super-handy in big public spaces like malls, amusement parks and stadiums.
Giving directions on precisely where to pick up someone along a street block or in a parking lot is made much easier by sending a pin in an iMessage chat. With Family Sharing, I can see if my wife is on her way home without first sharing her ETA in Apple Maps. Another benefit is that I can use Find My to ping her phone if it’s lost in the house.
Here’s how to use location sharing.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: So, what’ll it be first? Good news or bad news about iPhone 14? We’re talking about Touch ID, a possible Apple hardware subscription service and an even bigger camera bump on the Pro model. Hoo boy!
Also on The CultCast:
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The European Union plans to break down the barriers between mobile messaging services. With its Digital Markets Act, it plans to force services like iMessage, WhatsApp, and smaller messaging platforms to play nicely together.
The move would be a major blow to Apple, which has long used iMessage — which it refuses to bring to Android — as a big selling point of iPhone.
WhatsApp is readying message reactions on iOS and Android that will roll out in a future app update. Screenshots of the feature have appeared ahead of its release, showing the ability to react to messages with select emoji.
It’s much like the message reactions feature already available to iPhone users inside iMessage. WhatsApp seems to be following Apple’s lead by only making certain emoji available, rather than allowing all of them, like Instagram.
The U.K. will spend taxpayer money on a dramatic “publicity attack” against end-to-end encryption, according to a new report. The country apparently hopes to sway public opinion before taking further steps to crack down on the security feature.
A major focus of the campaign will be child safety. M&C Saatchi, the agency hired to run the marketing blitz, reportedly will use child actors to carry out emotive stunts that suggest encryption is being used by predators to conceal their activities.
Google is once again calling on Apple to adopt a more open text messaging standard after accusing Cupertino of benefitting from bullying.
It comes after a report highlighted the struggle some teens face when using an Android device, which results in broken group chats and green bubbles — as opposed to blue ones — when texting peers who own an iPhone.
A former iMessage manager explained the reasoning behind the differences in Apple’s defense. But some might (rightly) say the arguments hold no value today, with text messaging in a better place than it was when iMessage landed.
Some iPhone and iPad users are being plagued by a Messages bug that causes read receipts to be sent even when they are disabled. The problem seems to affect devices running iOS 15 or later.
There is no permanent fix for the issue yet, but there is one thing you can do that may eliminate the problem for a short time.
iMessage reactions now appear as emoji inside the latest version of the Google Messages app on Android.
Prior to this release, Android users saw somewhat lengthy template messages when they received an iMessage reaction from a contact using an iPhone. This change offers a cleaner, much more streamlined experience.
An international coalition of more than 90 policy and rights groups is urging Apple to drop plans to scan user photos for child abuse material (CSAM).
In an open letter addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook, published on Thursday, the coalition said it is concerned the feature “will be used to censor protected speech, threaten the privacy and security of people around the world, and have disastrous consequences for children.”
Considering that blue and green aren’t too far apart on the color spectrum, the difference between sending blue bubble messages and green bubble messages is pretty stark. The former, of course, means that the user is sending an iMessage, while the latter is a generic SMS, probably from an Android device.
For years, a certain segment of the population have mocked the green bubble crowd — with the gist being that a green bubble sender must have something wrong with them if they don’t own an iPhone. In a recent tweet, the CEO of a popular startup noted something else: That green bubble startup founders may have a tougher time landing investment.
“Unfortunate reality: if you don’t have iMessage, you are less likely to succeed at work,” Joshua Browder, the CEO of legal tech firm DoNotPay, tweeted this week. “The blue bubbles build trust!”
Update: Apple fixed the problem it was having with iMessage on Thursday.
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If you aren’t getting texts from your friends, don’t blame your iPhone. It’s a larger problem. Apple reports that its iMessage service has been having difficulties for several hours.
Now we know why Apple never brought iMessage to Android, despite the fact that doing so could have made it a ubiquitous messaging app like WhatsApp.
In a court filing for the company’s ongoing legal battle with Fortnite-maker Epic Games, internal emails showcase exactly why Apple execs made the decision they did. And, yes, it’s probably for the reason you guessed!
The war of words between Facebook and Apple heated up further on Wednesday, with the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stating, “we increasingly see Apple as one of our biggest competitors.” And the rivalry between the might be headed to court, with the social-networking giant accusing Apple of using the App Store to disadvantage rivals.
Beeper is a new all-in-one chat app that merges 15 different platforms into one. That sounds pretty interesting already, but what makes Beeper really exciting is its promise to put iMessage on Android and Windows.
The app, from Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky and his team, is “using some trickery” to make the impossible possible. But you’ll have to cough up a monthly subscription fee if you want to take advantage of it.
Apple looks to be gearing up to port iPad’s built-in Messages app over to Mac. The move could immediately fix Messages’ biggest problems on Mac, including its glaring lack of features.
The desktop version of the app still does not support iMessage apps, Apple Pay, message effects and other key features. Evidence of the move has been uncovered in leaked iOS 14 code, indicating it could be executed this fall when Apple drops its next major macOS update.
Are you the tech-support person for your family and friends? Are you the go-to nerd for fixing up iPhones, Macs and maybe even TVs 1? These days, you can’t just pay a visit to your parents to sort things out, so you’ll have to do it remotely. And if you’re all using Macs, that means screen sharing. You can do this very easily via iMessage — it’s as simple as starting a FaceTime call.
But what if your friend/parent/sibling in need doesn’t use iMessage? Don’t worry — all you need is their Apple ID.
Some of the most anticipated iOS 14 features that allegedly leaked though an early beta build of the upcoming software are on full display in a fresh iOS 14 concept that’s full of stuff like widgets on the home screen, list view for apps, new call alert screen and more.
The new iOS 14 concept created by Jack Phillip imagines how Apple’s planned mentions feature for iMessage would work, while also tossing in some new ideas, like a list view in Calendar, a Habits app, an overhaul of the Music app’s UI and so much more.
These are our favorite features:
As the coronavirus spreads around the world, loads of self-isolating people are turning to FaceTime, Skype, Zoom and WhatsApp video to stay in touch with friends and family. And what better way to keep in touch than to chat to everyone, all at the same time? One of the easiest and most secure ways to stay in touch is to make a Group FaceTime call.
Here’s how to set up a Group FaceTime call and add (almost) as many people as you like to it.
Thanks to unprecedented early leaks, some of the biggest new features planned for iOS 14 have already been spoiled. Apple is supposedly making some huge changes to the Home screen, iMessages, HomeKit, Apple Pencil and much more in its next-gen mobile operating system.
The recent wave of leaks proved so overwhelming that we rounded them all up in one place. We will keep updating the list as we inch closer to this summer’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple traditionally previews all of its upcoming platform updates.
Out of appeals, Apple cut a check to VirnetX for more than $454 million to end a lengthy patent infringement case.
VirnetX, which sued Apple over patents relating to FaceTime, iMessage and VPN technologies, announced the payment in a one-paragraph press release Friday.
Apple is reportedly testing a number of new iMessage features that could debut with iOS 14 later this year. They include the ability to retract messages after they’re sent, and to tag other people in group chats. We could also get the option to mark messages as unread.
Cupertino’s seemingly neverending legal battle with patent troll VirnetX Holding Corp. took another turn this week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied Apple’s request to reconsider an original patent-infringement decision.
VirnetX and Apple have been fighting in courts for a decade over patents related to FaceTime and other secure communications. VirnetX, which doesn’t produce any products, previously won more than $503 million in damages, but courts subsequently threw out the award.
You know when you reply to a message on your Apple Watch, and it’s such a pain to write it out a letter at a time or to dictate your reply (only to have Siri mishear you)? The alternative is to use one of Apple Watch’s canned responses. Unfortunately, they all sound like your account got hacked, or that you don’t care about the sender enough to come up with a proper reply.
However, you can customize those replies to make them much more useful. And with one clever trick, you can make Apple Watch smart replies sound just like you really wrote them.
Parents will soon be able to limit when their children use an iPhone or iPad to talk to their friends, thanks to a long-awaited new Screen Time feature. Communication Limits were supposed to come earlier, they debuted in the first iOS 13.3 beta that launched today.
