Filip Brož The tenth operating system for mobile devices from Apple it came out only a few days ago, but during that time several people have already contacted me saying that they don't know how to use the new Messages, i.e. iMessage. Many users quickly get lost in the flood of new functions, effects, stickers and, above all, applications. The installation and management of third-party applications is also very confusing, also due to the fact that some are available through the traditional App Store, while others are only found in the new App Store for iMessage.
For Apple, the new Messages is a big deal. He devoted a lot of space to them already in June at WWDC, when iOS 10 was presented for the first time, now he repeated everything in September during the presentation of the new iPhone 7, and as soon as iOS 10 was released in earnest, hundreds of applications and stickers arrived that are supposed to significantly advance the use of Messages.
When you launch the Messages app, it may seem at first glance that nothing has changed. However, a minor redesign can be found right in the top bar, where the profile of the person you are writing to is located. If you have a photo added to the contact, you can see a profile picture in addition to the name, which can be clicked. iPhone 6S and 7 owners can use 3D Touch to quickly see a menu to start a call, FaceTim or send an email. Without 3D Touch, you have to click on the contact, after which you will be moved to the classic tab with the contact.
New camera options
The keyboard has remained the same, but next to the field for entering text there is a new arrow under which three icons are hidden: the camera has also been supplemented with the so-called digital touch (Digital Touch) and the iMessage App Store. The camera wants to be even more effective in Messages in iOS 10. After clicking on its icon, instead of the keyboard, not only a live preview will appear in the bottom panel, in which you can immediately take a photo and send it, but also the last photo taken from the library.
If you're looking for a full-featured full-screen camera or want to browse the entire library, you'll need to hit the subtle arrow on the left. Here, Apple should work a little on the user interface, because you can easily miss the miniature arrow.
The photos taken can be edited right away, not only in terms of composition, light or shadows, but you can also write or draw something in the image, and sometimes a magnifying glass can come in handy. Just click on Annotation, choose a color and start creating. Once you are satisfied with the photo, you click the button Impose and send
Apple Watch in News
Apple also integrated Digital Touch into Messages in iOS 10, which users know from the Watch. The icon for this function is located right next to the camera. A black area will appear in the panel, in which you can get creative in six ways:
- Drawing. Draw a simple line with one finger stroke.
- A tap. Tap with one finger to create a circle.
- A fireball. Press (hold) one finger to create a fireball.
- Kiss. Tap with two fingers to create a digital kiss.
- Heart beat. Tap and hold with two fingers to create the illusion of a heartbeat.
- Broken heart. Tap with two fingers, hold and drag down.
You can either do these actions directly in the bottom panel, but you can enlarge the area for drawing and creating digital kisses and more by clicking on the panel on the right, where you will also find ways to use digital touch (mentioned in the points above). In both cases, you can change the color for all effects. Once you're done, just submit your creation. But in the case of simply tapping to create a sphere, a kiss or even a heartbeat, the given effect is sent immediately.
You can also send photos or record a short video as part of Digital Touch. You can also paint or write in it. The genius of digital touch lies in the fact that the image or video will only appear within the conversation for two minutes and if the user does not click the button Leave, everything disappears for good. If the other party keeps the digital touch you sent, Messages will let you know. But if you don't do the same, your image will disappear.
For Apple Watch owners, these will be familiar functions, which also make a little more sense on the watch due to the vibration response to the wrist. However, many users will certainly find use for Digital Touch on iPhones and iPads, if only because of the disappearing feature used by, for example, Snapchat. In addition, Apple thereby concludes the entire experience, when there is no longer any problem to reply to a heart sent from the Watch in full from the iPhone.
App Store for iMessage
Probably the biggest topic of the new News, however, is apparently the App Store for iMessage. Dozens of third-party applications are now being added to it, which you usually have to install first. After clicking on the App Store icon next to the camera and digital touch, recently used images, stickers or GIFs will appear in front of you, which many people know from Facebook Messenger, for example.
On the tabs, which you move between with a classic left/right swipe, you will find individual applications that you already have installed. Using the arrow in the lower right corner, you can expand each application to the whole application, because working in the small lower panel may not always be completely pleasant. It depends on each application. When you select images, only a small preview is enough, but for more complex operations, you will welcome more space.
In the lower left corner there is a button with four small icons that show you all the applications you have installed, you can manage them by holding them down like classic icons in iOS, and you can move to the App Store for iMessage with the big + button.
Apple created it to copy the appearance of the traditional App Store, so there are several sections, including categories, genres or a recommended selection of applications directly from Apple. In the top bar you can switch to News, where you can easily activate individual applications and check the option Add apps automatically. Messages will then automatically recognize that you've installed a new app that supports the new features and add its tab.
This is where it can get confusing, as many of the apps you already have installed on your iPhone are currently releasing updates that include Messages integration, which will then add them right away. You may come across unexpected applications in Messages, which you then have to remove, but on the other hand, you can also discover various interesting extensions of Messages. How you set up adding new apps is up to you. In any case, the fact that some applications can only be found in the App Store for iMessage, others are also shown in the classic App Store, is still a bit confusing, so we will see how Apple will continue to manage the next App Store in the coming weeks.
A rich selection of applications
After the necessary (and boring) theory, but now to the most important thing - what are applications in Messages actually good for? Far from bringing only images, stickers or animated GIFs to liven up the conversation, they also provide very functional tools for productivity or gaming. Prim does indeed currently play themed packages of images or animated characters from Disney films or popular games such as Angry Birds or Mario, but the real improvements should come from the expansion of classic applications.
Thanks to Scanbot, you can scan and send a document directly in Messages without having to go to any other application. Thanks to Evernote, you can send your notes just as quickly and efficiently, and the iTranslate application will immediately translate an unknown English word or the entire message. For example, business people will appreciate the integration of a calendar, which directly suggests free dates on selected days directly into the conversation. With the Do With Me app, you can send your counterpart a shopping list. And that's just a fraction of what applications in Messages can or will be able to do.
But one thing is key for the effective functioning of applications in Messages - both parties, the sender and the recipient, must have the given application installed. So when I share a note from Evernote with a friend, they have to download and install Evernote to open it.
The same applies to games, where you can play billiards, poker or boats as part of the conversation. For example, you can try the GamePigeon application, which offers similar games, for free. On the corresponding tab in the lower panel, you choose the game you want to play, which will then appear as a new message. As soon as you send it to your colleague on the other side, you start playing.
Everything again happens within Messages just as another layer above the conversation itself, and you can always minimize the game to the bottom panel with the arrow on the top right. For now, however, some action online multiplayer, but rather quiet correspondence gaming. You have to send each move to your opponent as a new message, otherwise they won't see it.
For example, if you wanted to quickly navigate through playing billiards, as you are used to from regular iOS games, where the opponent's response is immediate, you will be disappointed, but so far the games in Messages are built more like additions to the classic conversation. After all, the text field is therefore always available below the game surface.
In any case, there are already hundreds of similar applications and games with different uses, and the App Store for iMessage is understandably expanding very quickly. The developer base for Apple products is huge, and it is in the new App Store that great potential can be hidden. Just note that many of the updates you install these days not only claim support for iOS 10, but also integration into Messages, for example.
Finally smarter links
Another innovation that should have come a long time ago is the better processed links you receive. Messages can finally display a preview of the sent link within the conversation, which is especially useful for multimedia content, i.e. links from YouTube or Apple Music.
When you receive a link to YouTube, in iOS 10 you will immediately see the title of the video and you can also have it played in a small window. For short videos, this is more than enough, for longer ones it is better to go directly to the YouTube application or the website. It's the same with Apple Music, you can play music directly in Messages. Before long, Spotify should work as well. Messages no longer have Safari integrated (like Messenger), so all links will open in another app, whether it's Safari or a specific app like YouTube.
News also treats links to social networks better. With Twitter, it will display practically everything, from the attached image to the full text of the tweet to the author. With Facebook, Zprávy can't handle every link, but even here it tries to offer at least some insight.
We stick stickers
Messages in iOS 10 offer incredible effects bordering on infantile in some cases. Apple has really added a lot of options to respond and converse, and while until now you've been pretty much limited to text (and emoji at most), now you're slowly at a loss as to where to jump first. Apple's developers have taken practically everything found and not found in the competition and put it into the new Messages, which literally overflows with possibilities. We've already mentioned some, but it's worth repeating everything clearly.
We can start where Apple was clearly inspired elsewhere, because Facebook introduced stickers in its Messenger a long time ago, and what initially might have seemed like an unnecessary addition turned out to be functional, and so now Apple's Messages also come with stickers. For stickers, you have to go to the App Store for iMessage, where there are already hundreds of packages, but unlike Messenger, they are often paid, even for just one euro.
Once you've downloaded a sticker pack, you'll find it in tabs as described above. Then you just take any sticker and simply drag it into the conversation. You don't have to send it just as a classic message, but you can attach it as a response to the selected message. Imaginative sticker packs have already been created, with which you can, for example, easily correct the spelling of your friends (for now, unfortunately, only in English).
Everything is connected, of course, so if a friend sends you a sticker you like, you can easily get to the App Store through it and download it yourself.
However, you can react directly to received messages in another way, the so-called Tapback, when you hold your finger on the message (or double-tap) and six icons pop up that represent some of the most used reactions: a heart, a thumbs up, a thumbs down, haha, a pair of exclamation marks and question mark. You don't even have to move to the keyboard as many times, because you say everything in these quick reactions that "stick" to the original message.
When you just want to impress
While the aforementioned Tabpack can be a really effective way of replying and due to its simple use, it can be very easy to catch on when sending iMessages, the other effects that Apple offers in iOS 10 are really just there for effect.
Once you have written your message, you can hold your finger on the blue arrow (or use 3D Touch) and a menu of all kinds of effects will pop up. You can send the message as invisible ink, softly, loudly, or as a bang. Soft or loud means that the bubble and the text inside it are either smaller or larger than usual. With a bang, a bubble will fly with just such an effect, and invisible ink is probably the most effective. In that case, the message is hidden and you have to swipe to reveal it.
To top it all off, Apple has also created other full-screen effects. So your message can arrive with balloons, confetti, a laser, fireworks or a comet.
You may come across another new feature in iOS 10 by accident. This is when you turn the iPhone to landscape, when either the classic keyboard remains on the screen, or a white "canvas" appears. You can now send handwritten text in Messages. In the bottom line you have some preset phrases (even in Czech), but you can create any of your own. Paradoxically, it may not be suitable for writing text, but rather for various sketches or simple images that can say more than text. If you do not see handwriting after scrolling, just click the button in the lower right corner of the keyboard.
The last native innovation is the automatic conversion of written text into smileys. Try writing words, for example pivo, heart, sun and click on the emoji. The words will suddenly turn orange and just tap on them and the word will suddenly turn into an emoji. In recent years, these have become a very popular accessory, or even part of the news, so Apple responds to current trends here as well.
In general, it can be felt from the new News that Apple has focused its attention on a younger target group. The simplicity that so many people appreciated has disappeared from the News. On the other hand, came playfulness, which is simply fashionable today, but for many users it can cause confusion, at least initially. But once we get used to it and, above all, find the right applications, we can be even more efficient within Messages.
iOS 10 is key for the new Messages to work properly. Sending the aforementioned on older operating systems including iOS 9 will not always work as you would imagine. The aforementioned short Tapback replies will not appear, Messages will only let the user know that you liked, disliked, etc. If you place a sticker somewhere in a conversation, on iOS 9 it will appear at the very bottom as a new message, so it may lose its meaning. The same goes for Macs. Only macOS Sierra, which will be released this week, can work with the new Messages. In OS X El Capitan, the same behavior applies as in iOS 9. And if by any chance the effects in iMessage don't work for you, don't forget to turn off the motion restriction.
On my iPhone 5 I can't send a message with the effect after holding the blue arrow, everything else works. Is this a feature or could there be a setting somewhere that blocks it?
Oh, and the Scanner Pro news application from Readdle somehow doesn't do anything either, maybe just the childhood diseases of the new ecosystem, but also maybe the limitations of the old HW on iOS10.
Same problem (5S), it can be bypassed by clicking on the Screen tab and back, then the send arrow will appear :)
I guess I mean a different problem, the blue up arrow is normally visible, it can only be pressed briefly to send, a long press does nothing at all. Tried on the iPhone 5s in the family and it works as it should with holding the arrows, i.e. it won't work with your hands :-)
Ah, that's something else, I mean send already in the effects menu :)
don't you have movement restrictions turned off? SE behaved the same for me, I forgot long ago that I had the parallax effect turned off
Yes, thank you very much, that's right, it has already been said here.
Turn off movement restrictions in settings. General -> Accessibility -> Restrict movement -> switch to off position
Soooo, thanks. Well, I really couldn't think of where to look for it. You drink crap to speed up your phone and then get angry that other crap doesn't work.
It's a shame they didn't separate it from sms into a separate multi-platform app.
Hello, do you know how to retrieve older messages for an individual contact?
I only see, for example, 3 days old messages and I can't get to a higher date.. (I don't show up)
By the way, are the effects sent as mms, sms, or what?