How to pin conversations in the messages app on iphone and ipad

Do you receive a lot of messages from multiple people on your iPhone or iPad? Do you frequently message back and forth with a few people in particular? If so, you may find the pinning feature of Messages to be useful, which allows you to pin a message thread or contact to the top of the Messages app in iOS and iPadOS.

People who get a lot of messages often have trouble keeping up with the conversations, as frequent iMessage users can attest. As you get new texts and messages from different people, the message threads keep going down and away from the screen, which results in you often forgetting to reply to some of them. To alleviate this, Apple has introduced the ability to pin and unpin chats in the stock Messages app, so that the conversations that matter to you always stay at the top. And of course, you can unpin a conversation thread in Messages too. This article will discuss both how to pin and unpin conversations in Messages, on either iPhone or iPad.

You must be running a modern version of iOS or iPadOS to have this feature available, as versions of iOS prior to 14 did not have this capability.

How to Pin & Unpin Conversations in Messages for iPhone & iPad

There’s more than one way to pin and unpin conversations in the stock Messages app, but it’s pretty straightforward.

Launch the stock “Messages” app from the home screen of your iPhone or iPad.

To pin a Messages conversation, swipe right on the message thread and tap on the pin icon highlighted in yellow, as shown below.

To unpin a Messages conversation, tap on the triple-dot icon located at the top, right next to the option to compose a new message.

Next, choose “Edit Pins” from the pop-up menu to proceed.

As you can see here, the pinned conversations are located right at the top above all the other messages. Tap on the “-” icon next to a pinned conversation to unpin it. In this same menu, you can also pin multiple conversations at a time.

Alternatively, you can unpin a pinned conversation by just long-pressing on it and then choosing “Unpin” as indicated here.

And that’s how to pin and unpin conversations in the Messages app for the iPhone and iPad.

The pinned conversations appear as a chat head above all the other messages. However, if you have multiple pinned conversations, you can arrange them according to your preference. Simply long-press on the chat head and drag them around to reposition. This helps you prioritize chats in a much better way.

Keep in mind there’s a limit to how many conversations you can pin. however. At the moment, you can only pin up to nine conversations, whether they’re regular text messages or iMessage group conversations. Once you hit the limit, you’ll need to unpin a conversation before you’re allowed to pin a new one.

Another handy Messages trick available on modern versions of iOS/iPadOS is the ability to reply in-line to messages, allowing you to specify which message you are responding to. It’s a handy feature in general, but particularly useful for group chats. You can also mention and notify other users even if they have the group conversation muted too.

Are you using the pinning feature of Messages to prioritize conversations, threads, or contacts? What do you think of this feature? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

Khamosh Pathak is a freelance technology writer who specializes in tutorials. His work has also been published on Lifehacker, iPhoneHacks, Zapier’s blog, MakeUseOf, and Guiding Tech. Khamosh has nearly a decade of experience writing how-tos, features and technology guides on the internet. Read more.

Between updates from your bank and group chats, the Messages app on your iPhone or iPad can be a mess. Use the pinned conversations feature introduced in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 to access your favorite conversations at the top of the Messages app.

The new Messages app (on iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and above) lets you pin up to nine conversations to the top of the conversations view. There are a couple of ways to do this.

The easiest way to pin a message is to open the “Messages” app and then swipe right on a conversation to reveal the “Pin” button. Tap the “Pin” icon to instantly pin the conversation to the top of the screen.

You can also tap and hold on a conversation from the Messages app home page to preview it and see more options. From here, select the “Pin (Contact Name)” option to pin the conversation.

To quickly unpin a conversation, tap and hold the display picture to reveal options.

From here, choose the “Unpin (Contact Name)” option.

You can also pin and unpin multiple conversations at the same time. To do this, tap the “Edit” button from the top toolbar.

Here, choose the “Edit Pins” option.

Now, tap the “Pin” icon next to a conversation to pin it.

And when you’re done seeing the chat at the top of the Messages app, tap the “-” minus icon next to a conversation to unpin it.

And that’s how easy it is to pin and unpin conversations in the Messages app.

Do you receive a lot of messages from multiple people on your iPhone or iPad? Do you frequently message back and forth with a few people in particular? If so, you may find the pinning feature of Messages to be useful, which allows you to pin a message thread or contact to the top of the Messages app in iOS and iPadOS.

People who get a lot of messages often have trouble keeping up with the conversations, as frequent iMessage users can attest. As you get new texts and messages from different people, the message threads keep going down and away from the screen, which results in you often forgetting to reply to some of them. To alleviate this, Apple has introduced the ability to pin and unpin chats in the stock Messages app, so that the conversations that matter to you always stay at the top. And of course, you can unpin a conversation thread in Messages too. This article will discuss both how to pin and unpin conversations in Messages, on either iPhone or iPad.

You must be running a modern version of iOS or iPadOS to have this feature available, as versions of iOS prior to 14 did not have this capability.

How to Pin & Unpin Conversations in Messages for iPhone & iPad

There’s more than one way to pin and unpin conversations in the stock Messages app, but it’s pretty straightforward.

Launch the stock “Messages” app from the home screen of your iPhone or iPad.

To pin a Messages conversation, swipe right on the message thread and tap on the pin icon highlighted in yellow, as shown below.

To unpin a Messages conversation, tap on the triple-dot icon located at the top, right next to the option to compose a new message.

Next, choose “Edit Pins” from the pop-up menu to proceed.

As you can see here, the pinned conversations are located right at the top above all the other messages. Tap on the “-” icon next to a pinned conversation to unpin it. In this same menu, you can also pin multiple conversations at a time.

Alternatively, you can unpin a pinned conversation by just long-pressing on it and then choosing “Unpin” as indicated here.

And that’s how to pin and unpin conversations in the Messages app for the iPhone and iPad.

The pinned conversations appear as a chat head above all the other messages. However, if you have multiple pinned conversations, you can arrange them according to your preference. Simply long-press on the chat head and drag them around to reposition. This helps you prioritize chats in a much better way.

Keep in mind there’s a limit to how many conversations you can pin. however. At the moment, you can only pin up to nine conversations, whether they’re regular text messages or iMessage group conversations. Once you hit the limit, you’ll need to unpin a conversation before you’re allowed to pin a new one.

Another handy Messages trick available on modern versions of iOS/iPadOS is the ability to reply in-line to messages, allowing you to specify which message you are responding to. It’s a handy feature in general, but particularly useful for group chats. You can also mention and notify other users even if they have the group conversation muted too.

Are you using the pinning feature of Messages to prioritize conversations, threads, or contacts? What do you think of this feature? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

If you’re a fan of the pinned notes feature in Apple’s Notes app, then you’re going to love pinned conversations in Messages that debuted with iOS, iPadOS 14 and macOS Big Sur. You can pin both individual and group conversations that you participate in regularly for quick access to them. Plus, you’ll see an indicator for recent conversations and can see messages as they’re coming in.

For the full scoop, here’s how to pin conversations in Messages.

How to pin conversations in Messages

Pinning a conversation in Messages is super simple. Tap and hold the conversation in your list of messages and select the option Pin [name/group] from the shortcut menu. On Mac, right-click the conversation and choose Pin.

You’ll then see that conversation pinned to the top of your message list.

To unpin a conversation, tap and hold it and select the option Unpin [name/group] from the shortcut menu. On Mac, right-click the conversation and pick Unpin. You can also Hide Alerts or Delete a conversation from that menu if needed.

Indicators for pinned conversations

Upon receiving a new message for a pinned conversation, a blue dot appears below that pin. You’ll also see recent replies and Tapbacks. And if you happen to have Messages open when a message is on its way, you’ll see that lovely typing indicator on the pinned conversation.

For pinned group conversations, you’ll see the three recent participants circle around the pin when they send a message.

Rearranging chat heads

As you pin each chat, it will fall next in line in the grid at the top. But maybe you want your most favorite contact’s conversation always in the same spot. You can rearrange the pinned conversations easily — simply drag a pinned conversation where you want it, then release.

You’ll see the other pins move around and out of the way.

Pinned conversations limit

You can pin up to nine conversations, to keep all of your family, friends or business messages at the top of your list. And once you hit that limit, you’ll see a friendly message.

Using Messages with iCloud, those conversations you pin will sync across your devices and pinned conversations do show up in searches you perform in Messages, too.

Apple is making it easier to keep track of your most important conversations in Messages. Thanks to iOS 14, you can now pin threads to the top of the app, making text messages and iMessages easier to access than ever before. Even if there aren’t any recent messages, you can place the focus on the conversations you want.

You can pin both one-on-one conversations and group chats to the top of Messages, and it doesn’t matter if they’re SMS and MMS text messages (the green bubbles) or iMessage threads (the blue bubbles). Anything goes, even political spam messages, if that’s what’s important to you.

Pinning a Conversation

There are three ways to pin a conversation to the top of Messages. Which way is easier depends on how you use your iPhone, as one way may be more natural for you than it is for me.

Option 1: Swipe to Pin

Swipe right on the conversation. As you swipe right, the yellow pin button appears. To finish up, you can continue the swipe to the right until it goes off-screen, or you can let go when you see the yellow button and tap it.

Option 2: Long-Press to Pin

Another way is to press down for a second on the conversation you want to pin. On the action menu that appears, tap “Pin [Name]” to stick it at the top.

Option 3: ‘Edit’ to Pin

For the final way, from the main Messages screen, tap “Edit.” Then, on the menu that appears, tap “Edit Pins.” All of the message threads in the list will have little yellow pin buttons next to them — tap the pins for the ones you want to add. Select “Done” when finished.

How Pinned Conversations Work

Your pinned threads appear as large contact icons at the top of Messages, in a three-by-three grid, and they will no longer be available from the regular list below. You can have a total of nine pinned threads. One-on-one talks will just have that one contact’s icon, while group chats will have everyone’s image within the larger circle unless the group uses a group photo, which is also new to iOS 14.

If a contact doesn’t have an iMessage profile picture set, and you haven’t created a Memoji, Animoji, or colored monogram for them yourself, their icon will be the basic gray monogrammatic placeholder.

As for the conversation, if an iMessage is being written to you, you’ll see the typing ellipsis (•••) bubble appear on top of the contact’s icon — but not for group chats. If you receive a new SMS or iMessage, you’ll see a preview of it in the form of a chat bubble — but if it’s too long, it’ll be cut off.

Only the newest message will be in the chat bubble for single and group threads. Once the message is marked as read, the preview will disappear.

If a photo or video is sent in a thread, it will appear as a small preview until it’s marked as read.

If you want to hide the alerts for a pinned conversation, long-press on it to bring up the quick actions menu, then select “Hide Alerts.” You can also do so via the information menu directly in the thread, but the quick action is new to iOS 14.

Removing a Pinned Conversation

If you no longer want a conversation to be at the top of Messages, or if you need more space to pin a different talk since you can only pin nine chats at once, you can just as easily unpin a thread.

Option 1: Long-Press to Unpin

Press down on the contact’s or group’s pinned icon at the top, then tap on “Unpin [Name]” from the quick actions menu. Doing so will remove the conversation from the top of Messages, sending it back with the rest of the chats below.

Option 2: ‘Edit’ to Unpin

Alternatively, you can use the “Edit” menu. Tap that link from the main Messages view, then “Edit Pins.” On each pinned conversation, there will be a gray minus button — tap that for each one you want to remove. Doing so will remove the conversation from the top of Messages, sending it back with the rest of the chats below. Select “Done” to finish up.

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Apple often takes inspiration from the popular third-party apps and services to integrate new features in iOS for iPhone. And the latest iOS 14 continues that trend, at least that’s visible in the iOS 14 public beta. Messages in iOS 14 shall bring some much-needed features and changes to compete with other messaging rivals. Like WhatsApp and Telegram, you can now Pin conversations in iMessage. So all your iMessage groups and personal message chats can be pinned at the top.

We receive dozens of messages from friends, family, banks, marketing companies each day. Sometimes, the most important messages get tucked away in those irrelevant messages. With iOS 14, one can easily pin conversations on the top for easy access and reach.

The default Messages app now comes with a bunch of customization options, and it has carried functions from the well-known SMS Organizer app from Microsoft. The Messages app now offers filters to make it easy for users to find the most relevant messages easily.

In this post, we will discuss how to pin or unpin conversation in iMessage, edit those conversations, and more. Let’s get started.

How to Pin Conversations in iMessage

There are three ways to pin conversations in the Messages app. You can either use the swipe gesture, use a long-tap option, or select multiple conversations at once and pin them at the top. Follow the steps below to pin conversations in the Messages app.

Step 1: Unlock your iPhone and open the Messages app.

Step 2: Swipe right on a conversation that you want to pin.

Step 3: You will see a yellow-colored Pin icon. Tap on it, and iOS will pin the selected conversation on the top.

Users can also long tap on any conversation and it will open the small chat window with multiple options. You can select Pin conversation, and the Messages app will pin the selected conversation at the top.

These tricks work fine, but they are most useful when you want to pin a single conversation.

What if a user wants to pin multiple conversations at once? In such cases, you can check the steps below to pin several conversations at once in the Messages app.

Step 1: Unlock your iPhone and open the Messages app.

Step 2: Tap on the three-dot menu at the upper right corner.

Step 3: Select the ‘Edit Pins’ option from the following menu.

Step 4: Messages will offer the option to pin multiple conversations at once. You will see the same Yellow Pin icon on the right side of each conversation.

Step 5: Select the Pin icons that you want to pin at the top.

Apps like WhatsApp and Telegram pin the conversations at the top with a small Pin icon indicator. Apple’s implementation is different and, in some ways, better than WhatsApp and Telegram.

When you pin a conversation in the Messages app, you will see a rounded profile avatar of users. I like and prefer that compared to WhatsApp’s implementation.

Advantages of Pinned Conversations in the Messages App

You can improve the Messages experience by pinning the conversations at the top. There are three advantages of using the pinned conversations in the Messages app.

You can easily access your most-used conversations at the top. When you are in an active conversation using iMessage, you will see a typing indicator at the top of the profile whenever the other person is typing the message. That is true for normal conversations too. But it looks cool on a pinned conversation. You can’t see the typing indicator in a normal message.

You can see a small preview of an unread message at the top of the profile picture in a pinned conversation.

How Many Conversations Can You Pin in The Messages App

Users can pin up to nine conversations in the Messages app. The app will throw an error when you try to pin more than nine conversations at the top. It will ask you to unpin the conversation to add a new conversation at the top.

Speaking of removing pinned conversations, let’s look at how to unpin conversations in the Messages app.

How to Unpin Conversation In The Messages App

There are a couple of ways to remove pinned conversation in the Messages app. You can either use the long-press function or opt for the Edit Pins menu to get things done.

Long-press on the profile icon and it will open a small window with multiple options to choose from. You can Unpin the person, Hide Alerts, or delete the conversation. Select the Unpin option to remove the conversation from the top.

Apple also allows you to unpin multiple conversations at once. Select the three-dot menu at the top and select ‘Edit Pins’.

The following interface will allow you to tap on the ‘-‘ icon on the pinned profile picture. Tap on it and the system will unpin the conversation in the Messages app.

Keep Conversations At The Top

The ability to pin conversation in the Messages app has been long overdue in the iOS system. I’m glad to see Apple finally adding the option with the iOS 14 update for the iPhone. The company’s implementation is also better than rivals such as WhatsApp and Telegram.

Next up: iOS 14 also brings the support for Picture in Picture mode on the iPhone. Read the post below to find all the details about it.

Last updated on 02 February, 2022

The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

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Apple’s Messages app lets you pin certain texts or iMessages to make them easier to find in the future.

😂🤯😎 Apple has a feature that allows you to pin certain types of text messages in your iPhone’s Messages app. This is great for when you want to save a text to quickly find it later, instead of scrolling through long conversations looking for it.

😂🤯😎 Unfortunately, the type of text messages you can pin is minimal—for some reason, Apple won’t let you pin any old message. Let’s take a look at the sort of texts you can pin and how you can do so in the Messages app.

What Messages Can You Pin in the Messages App?

😂🤯😎 As of iOS 15, you can only pin links and images in your text or iMessage conversations. You can’t pin regular text or iMessages, but we’re optimistic Apple will add that feature soon.

😂🤯😎 Aside from individual text message, you can also pin or unpin entire conversations in the Messages app, so messages from that contact will always appear as a priority at the top of the app.

How to Pin a Text Message on an iPhone

😂🤯😎 Make sure you’ve updated to the latest version of iOS before you begin this easy process. Then follow these steps to pin a text message with a link or image:

1. Open Messages and tap on the conversation you want to pin the text inside.
2. Scroll to find the link or image you want to pin.
3. Tap and hold on the text with the shared content.
4. Tap Pin. You will see a yellow pin icon indicating text has been pinned.

Keeping track of your important conversation is pretty hard on iMessage. Since all your iMessage conversations and SMS text messages are visible on the Messages app, you will have to scroll much to find out important chats in between. You can now pin your important chats on iMessage so that they will always appear on top of the Messages app.

You can see how to pin and unpin conversations on top of iMessage in this article.

How to Pin Important Conversations on iMessage

With the iOS 14 and newer versions, iPhone users can now add conversations to a “pinned” section on top of the Messages window. By adding your favorite conversations to pinned, you no longer need to scroll down top open them. It is possible to see the messages sent by the favorite contacts on the top of the Messages app. You can pin both personal conversations as well as group chats to the top.

You must be already familiar with the chat pin-to-top feature on WhatsApp. It allowed users to pin chats so that they stick on the top of the list no matter what. The new conversation pin option on iMessage is also the same, but with better animations and graphics.

If you want to pin important chats on top of the screen on iMessage, follow the steps below.

1. Launch Messages app on iPhone.
2. Long press the conversation you want to pin.
3. Tap “Pin Contact Name.”
4. You can also swipe the conversation from left to the right edge to pin it to the top.

When you pin a chat, it will be shown as a circular bubble with display picture on top of the screen. Even when you get messages from other contacts, the pinned ones will always be on top. You can see the unread message as a floating popup on top of the pinned conversations. You can pin up to 9 favorite chats on top of the iMessage.

How to Unpin Conversations on iMessage

Don’t worry if you have an unimportant chat pinned to the top on iMessage. You can easily unpin a chat from the Messages app on iPhone. When you unpin a chat, it will be removed from the pin section on top and will be moved to among other normal chats. Here is how.

1. Long-press the pinned conversation.
2. Tap “Unpin contact.”

The unpinned conversations will be moved down and can be found among other chats.

How to Pin Multiple Chats on iMessage

Well, as you read above, it does not much effort to pin individual conversations on top of the iMessage. However, when it comes to multiple chats, you will definitely find it difficult. There is no option to select multiple messages and apply the “Pin” option. Instead, it is possible to select chats individually to appear on top always. Well, here is how you can pin multiple chats on iMessage.

1. Open Messages app on iPhone.
2. Tap the three dots button on top of the screen.
3. From the menu, tap Edit Pins.
4. You can now scroll down and tap the pin icon on any chat to instantly add it to the Pinned section on iMessage.

You can also unpin multiple chats by tapping the “-” button along with the pinned conversations.

How to Rearrange Pinned Conversations on iMessage

The pinned chats on the Messages app is showed in the order of the time you added them. Therefore, the first added conversation can be found on the first and rest to the right and in the following rows. If you want to change the arrangements of pinned chats on iMessage, follow the steps below.

1. Open Messages app.
2. Tap the three dots menu icon on top.
3. Tap Edit Pins.
4. Now long-press the pinned conversation and drag along the screen to change its position.
5. Tap Done.

Pinning conversations on top of iMessage is really helpful since you can easily access the important conversations always without any hassle on the Messages app. Also, the pinned conversations have some beautiful message preview graphics and animations. So, that’s it. This is all you could do with the new Pin Conversations feature on iMessage. Drop a comment and share your thoughts.

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How to better manage all the texts on your iPhone or iPad

How to better manage all the texts on your iPhone or iPad

You can tweak Apple’s Messages app to organize all your texts. Here are a couple of tricks.

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The messaging app built into iOS and iPadOS can be challenging to navigate. Each conversation appears on the messaging screen in descending order by date. That includes people you chat with on a regular basis as well as automated texts and one-time messages. And this means you often have to swipe your way through a bunch of trivial texts to find a specific conversation. Fortunately, Apple now offers you two key ways to help you manage and juggle all your texts.

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• 6 easy tips for cleaning up your inbox (TechRepublic Premium)

With iOS/iPadOS 14, you can pin a particular contact or conversation to the top of the screen so it’s easily accessible. You can also filter your texts to see only those from known senders.

First, make sure you’ve updated your iPhone or iPad to the latest version of the OS. Go to Settings and then General. Tap the setting for Software Update and you’ll be told that your software is up to date or prompted to download and install the latest update.

Next, open the Messages app. Find a conversation or contact that you frequently use in order to pin it to the top of the screen. You can pin it using any one of four different methods:

1. Press down on the conversation and tap Pin from the popup menu.
2. Swipe the conversation to the right and tap the Pin icon.
3. Drag the conversation to the top of the screen and drop it onto the circle that says: Drag here to pin.
4. Tap the ellipsis icon at the upper right of the screen and select Edit Pins. Tap the pin icon next to any conversation you want to pin and then tap Done.

Continue that process until you’ve pinned your most frequently used conversations at the top (Figure A). To unpin a conversation, press down on it and tap Unpin from the menu.

Figure A

Next, you can filter your conversations to see only those from known senders or only those from unknown senders. To set this up, go to Settings and tap the entry for Messages. Swipe down the screen and turn on the switch for Filter Unknown Senders (Figure B).

Figure B

Return to the Messages app. Tap the Filters link in the upper left corner. From there, tap All Messages to see every conversation. Tap Known Senders to see conversations only from known contacts. Tap Unknown Senders to see conversations from anyone else (Figure C).

Figure C

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If you’ve updated your iPhone to iOS 14, you may have been prompted to pin conversations in your Messages app. This new feature allows you to pin up to nine conversations to the top of the app for easy access, and you can add and delete pins at any time. Note that after you’ve pinned conversations, any unread messages not part of those conversations will appear beneath your pins.

How to pin message conversations on an iPhone with iOS 14

1. Go to the Messages app.

2. In the top left corner, tap “Edit.”

3. Tap “Edit Pins.”

4. Pin messages to the top of the app by tapping the yellow pin icon next to the conversation.

5. When finished, tap “Done.”

Alternatively, you can pin a conversation to the top of the app by pressing and holding your finger on a conversation, then tapping “Pin.”

How to unpin message conversations on iPhone with iOS 14

1. Go to the Messages app.

2. In the top left corner, tap “Edit.”

3. Tap “Edit Pins.”

4. Tap the minus “-” symbol next to a name to unpin the conversation.

5. When finished, tap “Done.”

Alternatively, you can unpin a conversation by pressing and holding your finger on a conversation, then tapping “Unpin.”

iOS 14 brings a really useful feature to the table that allows favorite conversations to appear first. If you use an iPhone, it’s all about the ecosystem and Apple’s Messaging app. With iOS 14 Apple brought forward a bunch of features centered towards the service. You now have the option to Pin messages with iOS 14 so your favorite conversations appear on top every time you open the app.

Here Are Two Ways to Pin Messages on iPhone Running iOS 14

If you have updated to iOS 14, there are a bunch of features that you should try right now. The platform now boasts widgets on the Home screen and widget stacks with customized options. Apart from that iOS 14 now also allows you to Pin your favorite messages so they always appear on top. If you’re unfamiliar, here’s how to do it.

1. Firstly, open the Messages app on your iPhone.

2. Now, find the conversation that you want to pin.

3. You can either Swipe Right on the conversation and reveal the Pin icon in Yellow OR long-press on the conversation and tap Pin.

4. You will see that the conversation that you have selected is Pinned to the top of the Messages app’s interface as a dedicated round icon.

5. To unpin a conversation, long-press on the pinned icon of the conversation and tap on Unpin.

That’s all that you have to do in order to pin your favorite conversation in the Messages app on iOS 14. This will make it easier for you to open the dedicated conversation in a jiffy without the need to look for it through the list.

Pinned messages are a pretty neat addition that debuted with iOS 14. Apple is giving users the option to add up to 9 pinned messages which include iMessage as well as standard Green-bubble messages. Once all the 9 places are taken up, you will be notified to unpin any conversation to add the new one.

Have you updated to iOS 14 yet? What is your favorite feature in the update?

Stay connected to the conversations that matter the most. Send texts, photos, videos, and more. Then personalize your messages with animated effects, pin your important conversations, send inline replies, and add mentions.

Send a message

1. Open Messages.
2. Tap the Compose button to start a new message. Or go to an existing conversation.
3. Type your message, then tap the Send button .

With iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 and later, you can also use inline replies and mentions to call attention to specific messages and people within the messages.

Reply from the Lock Screen

1. From the Lock Screen, touch and hold the notification that you want to reply to. Or depending on your device, you might need to swipe left over the notification and tap View. *
2. Type your message.
3. Tap the Send button .

If you have an iPhone X or later, or an iPad with Face ID, and can’t reply to a message from the Lock Screen, go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode, and turn on Reply with Message. If you have an iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd generation), iPhone 8 or earlier, or an iPad, go to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode > Allow Access When Locked, and turn on Reply with Message.

* Touch and hold is available on most devices that support iOS 13 and later, or iPadOS.

Use Shared with You

With iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, content that’s shared with you in the Messages app is automatically organized in a Shared with You section in the corresponding app. Shared with You works with Photos, Safari, News, Music, Podcasts, and the Apple TV app.

Content that’s shared with you is labeled in the corresponding app, so you can see who shared the content with you. With a simple tap on the name, you can easily reply to the share and continue the conversation in Messages.

To disable Automatic Sharing or a certain app from using Shared with You, go to Settings > Messages > Shared with You, and turn off Automatic Sharing or the app.

Pin important conversations

With Messages in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 and later, you can pin up to nine conversations. When you pin a conversation it shows up at the top of the Messages app, so it’s easy to get to.

To pin a conversation, open Messages, then swipe right over the conversation. Or follow these steps:

1. Open Messages, then tap Edit or the More button .
2. Tap Edit Pins , then tap the Pin button .
3. Tap Done.

Change your name and photo

1. Open Messages and tap Edit in the upper-left corner.
2. Tap Edit Name and Photo .
3. Edit your name. Or tap the image circle to choose an image, photo, emoji, or Memoji.
4. Tap Done.

Your name and photo can be shared with anyone using iMessage, but you’ll be asked to confirm that you want to share with someone when sending or replying to a new message. You can also turn sharing on and off. Just complete steps 1-2, and turn Name and Photo Sharing on or off.

Delete a message or conversation

When you delete a message or conversation, you can’t get it back. So make sure that you save important information from your messages.

To delete a single message:

1. Within a conversation, touch and hold the message bubble to open an options menu.
2. Tap More .
3. Tap the Trash button , then tap Delete Message.

To delete a conversation:

1. Touch and hold the conversation to open an options menu.
2. Tap Delete .
3. Tap Delete once more to confirm.

As long as the conversation isn’t pinned, you can also swipe left over the conversation, tap Delete, then tap Delete again to confirm. To delete more than one conversation, open Messages and tap Edit in the upper-left corner. Tap Select Messages, then tap the circle next to the conversations and tap Delete in the bottom-right corner.

To keep your messages for a certain amount of time, go to Settings, tap Messages, then tap Keep Messages. Then select how long you want to keep your messages.

If you regularly use iMessages with group conversations, you’ll likely appreciate the Mentions feature that is part of Messages on iPhone and iPad.

Group chats are fun and all, but at times, it could get confusing especially when someone in the group conversation wants to direct a certain message at someone else. Sometimes this leads to responses like “Who are you talking to?” from other participants in the group. Well, that should no longer be an issue since Apple now allows users to mention their contacts in iMessage and notify them. And combined with inline replies, any messaging confusion should be a thing of the past. So, want to try out mentions on Messages? Read along!

How to Use Mentions in Messages on iPhone & iPad

This feature is only available to devices running iOS 14/iPadOS 14 or later:

Launch the stock Messages app on your iPhone or iPad.

Open the group conversation where you want to mention someone. Now, type “@” in the text field as shown below.

Next, follow it with the contact’s name. For example, if your contact’s name is John, type “@John”. The text you typed will now turn grey to indicate that the mention worked. Now, just send the message.

As you can see here, the name of the mentioned contact will appear slightly bolder than the rest of the text.

That’s pretty much all there is to it. Now you know how easy it to mention users in the Messages app for iPhone and iPad.

Once you mention someone, the mentioned user will get a notification on their device even if they’ve muted the group conversation depending on their setting.

By default, notifications for mentions are turned on. However, you can easily disable them by going to Settings -> Messages -> Notify Me and setting the toggle to off.

Of course, mentions can be used in one-on-one conversations too, but in reality, you wouldn’t be using that unless you want to intentionally notify someone who has muted your messages. Also, it goes without saying that you can only use mentions in iMessage conversations and not regular SMS text messages, since only the iMessage protocol supports this feature. Thus if you’re texting someone on Android or a device without iMessage, it won’t work.

Apart from this nifty feature, Apple has also added in-line replies that may come in handy for group chats, and also the option to pin and unpin threads to make sure your relevant conversations stay right at the top in the app.

Do you use mentions, or will you now? What do you think of this feature? Share your feedback in the comments.

Users are often in a hurry and need to get to a specific text message on their iPhone or iPad right away and spend a few minutes scrolling through conversations to get to it. However, if you are spending more than a few seconds to get a certain message, you’re doing it wrong.

iPhone offers an extremely easy alternative for just typing and looking for certain phrases within the text messaging app. The shortcut for searching can be accessed right from within the messaging app.

Search for messages on iPhone and iPad

The Search feature in iOS messages is particularly useful when you are trying to remember what someone said a few months ago. In the previous iOS version, the feature used to be hidden but from iOS 13 onwards, it appears at the top in the Messages app.

Here is how it is done:

Launch the Messages app on your iPhone or iPad.

The search bar may not appear within your app at first. To access the search bar within your app, swipe down.

The search bar will appear above your recent thread.