Inside iOS 10: See everything that's new in Messages

Posted:
in iPhone edited September 2016
Now that iOS 10 is out in the hands of iPhone and iPad users around the world, AppleInsider offers a deeper look at the major feature additions Apple implemented in Messages, including emoji replacement, text bubble animations, rich links and the iMessage App Store.



As seen in the video above, Messages in iOS 10 brings the iPhone's most used app up to date with competing messaging solutions, both on iOS and beyond.

Text replacement received a healthy update with smarter recommendations and the ability to swap out commonly used phrases with corresponding emoji. With text bubble animations like "slam" and "gentle," users can be even more expressive in their correspondence. A new "invisible ink" feature hides private messages from view until activated by a user swipe.

Borrowing from Apple Watch's watchOS UI, Apple included a Digital Touch module into Messages for iOS 10 that lets users send along doodles, their heart beat, a fireball animation and more.

Moving on to the integrate App Store, iOS 10 devices can now run app extensions directly within the Messages ecosystem. Apple offers a few sample apps to get users started, like an #Images browser that searches the web for gifs. Other apps are already taking advantage of Apple's API, for example users can now book a dinner with OpenTable and send cash via SquareCash, all without leaving Messages.

Sticker packs are also a hot commodity on the iMessage App Store, with game developers jumping on board early to market branded content that livens up Messages feeds.

Finally, rich links within Messages provide previews of photos, videos, web content and more without opening a standalone viewer.

For more on Apple's latest and greatest mobile operating system, check out AppleInsider's Inside iOS 10 series.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Yeah I found iMessage easily the most buggy part of iOS 10.
    eriamjh
  • Reply 2 of 18
    Long press on the blue 'send' arrow in messages does not bring up the special menu that it is supposed to do on my iPod Touch 6 Gen running iOS 10 but other stuff like handwriting and heartbeat do work.


    Edit: Fixed, I needed to have 'motion effects' off.
    edited September 2016
  • Reply 3 of 18
    It's a great update. It's working very well for me. If my own experience is a good example, iMessage will leapfrog the competition with first-party integration of all the services, stickers, etc. Other apps, even the entrenched ones -- FB Messengers, What's App, etc. -- aren't going to build their own platforms on iOS as well as Apple can.
    lolliver
  • Reply 4 of 18
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,291member
    Updated IP6 over the weekend. Mostly happy with the update. Two changes that are a bit annoying, though.
    1. The keyboard sounds have changed. I can't stand that some keys have a different sound and the regular sound changed as well. This is change for change's sake and wholly unnecessary.

    2. Unlocking the phone is more convoluted. I used to press the home button to wake and then use my fingerprint to unlock. Usually, I could get it done in one motion. Since my phone is not raise-to-wake capable, I have to press the button to wake, do the fingerprint and then press the home button yet again. Sometimes I get it to unlock when I press it and it reads the fingerprint. However, usually, it triggers Siri. Siri is triggered much to quickly.

    I'm sure I'll get used to it, but for devices without the new Touch ID, it really should operate as it always did.

    UPDATE: I found a setting that makes it the way it used to be. General>Accessibility>Home Button>Rest Finger to Open.
    edited September 2016 zroger73
  • Reply 5 of 18
    mike1 said:

    2. Unlocking the phone is more convoluted. I used to press the home button to wake and then use my fingerprint to unlock. Usually, I could get it done in one motion. Since my phone is not raise-to-wake capable, I have to press the button to wake, do the fingerprint and then press the home button yet again. Sometimes I get it to unlock when I press it and it reads the fingerprint. However, usually, it triggers Siri. Siri is triggered much to quickly.


    Really? On my 6s, it's still just a simple home button press that reads my fingerprint and unlocks the phone with one press.
    jbdragonlolliver
  • Reply 6 of 18
    Turn your phone to landscape mode and Messages gives you a large space to write messages with your finger. This wasn't mentioned in the review. Try it.
    edited September 2016 williamlondonlolliver
  • Reply 7 of 18
    mike1 said:
    Updated IP6 over the weekend. Mostly happy with the update. Two changes that are a bit annoying, though.
    1. The keyboard sounds have changed. I can't stand that some keys have a different sound and the regular sound changed as well. This is change for change's sake and wholly unnecessary.

    2. Unlocking the phone is more convoluted. I used to press the home button to wake and then use my fingerprint to unlock. Usually, I could get it done in one motion. Since my phone is not raise-to-wake capable, I have to press the button to wake, do the fingerprint and then press the home button yet again. Sometimes I get it to unlock when I press it and it reads the fingerprint. However, usually, it triggers Siri. Siri is triggered much to quickly.

    I'm sure I'll get used to it, but for devices without the new Touch ID, it really should operate as it always did.
    I wouldn't be opposed to the new keyboard click sound - IF it were consistent and louder. The best way I can describe it is "creamy". I, too, find the assortment of different key clicks distracting. I never had a problem with the older, louder, consistent key clicks.

    The steps to unlock my iP6 seem to change randomly each time I unlock it. I haven't noticed a particular pattern yet and find it slightly frustrating and more time consuming to unlock. Sometimes I only have to touch the button - once or twice. Other times I have to press the button - once or twice. Still other times it requires a combination of both. I'm confused why this changed - it worked just fine for the past two years before iOS 10.
    mike1
  • Reply 8 of 18
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,291member
    zroger73 said:
    mike1 said:
    Updated IP6 over the weekend. Mostly happy with the update. Two changes that are a bit annoying, though.
    1. The keyboard sounds have changed. I can't stand that some keys have a different sound and the regular sound changed as well. This is change for change's sake and wholly unnecessary.

    2. Unlocking the phone is more convoluted. I used to press the home button to wake and then use my fingerprint to unlock. Usually, I could get it done in one motion. Since my phone is not raise-to-wake capable, I have to press the button to wake, do the fingerprint and then press the home button yet again. Sometimes I get it to unlock when I press it and it reads the fingerprint. However, usually, it triggers Siri. Siri is triggered much to quickly.

    I'm sure I'll get used to it, but for devices without the new Touch ID, it really should operate as it always did.
    I wouldn't be opposed to the new keyboard click sound - IF it were consistent and louder. The best way I can describe it is "creamy". I, too, find the assortment of different key clicks distracting. I never had a problem with the older, louder, consistent key clicks.

    The steps to unlock my iP6 seem to change randomly each time I unlock it. I haven't noticed a particular pattern yet and find it slightly frustrating and more time consuming to unlock. Sometimes I only have to touch the button - once or twice. Other times I have to press the button - once or twice. Still other times it requires a combination of both. I'm confused why this changed - it worked just fine for the past two years before iOS 10.
    Agreed! So, coincidentally. I found a setting that makes it the way it used to be. General>Accessibility>Home Button>Rest Finger to Open. Siri is still accessed too quickly, but at least unlock is normal. :-)
    edited September 2016 zroger73
  • Reply 9 of 18
    mike1 said: So, coincidentally. I found a setting that makes it the way it used to be. General>Accessibility>Home Button>Rest Finger to Open. Siri is still accessed too quickly, but at least unlock is normal. :-)
    Oh, MUCH better! Now, I just wake the phone by pressing the Wake or Home buttons then touch and hold the Home button (NOT pressing) without having to press it to unlock the phone - just like it used to be. Thank you!

    The screen stills to "press" the Home button to unlock, though. I would expect this instructional message to change to match the setting of the Rest Finger mode.
    mike1
  • Reply 10 of 18
    Ah the stupid 'Reduced Motions' option that I enabled was causing iMessage's new Motion effects to not work. Why would they think those two are related? I enabled 'Reduced Motions' in iOS9 to save battery life for the silly animations...
  • Reply 11 of 18
    My new iOS does not sync bluetooth headphones except until after a couple minutes. The headphones still say "Power on. Connection Successful." And they show up in the bluetooth list as connected. But turning on the phone, it plays out the phone speaker. Pretty annoyed about this one.
  • Reply 12 of 18
    mike1 said:
    Updated IP6 over the weekend. Mostly happy with the update. Two changes that are a bit annoying, though.
    1. The keyboard sounds have changed. I can't stand that some keys have a different sound and the regular sound changed as well. This is change for change's sake and wholly unnecessary.

    Goes to prove that some things are subjective. 
    Personally, I really like the new sounds and find it much more pleasant.
    And as someone here mentioned, you can set it back to the older style clicks if you so desire.
    tokyojimulolliverjony0
  • Reply 13 of 18
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,291member
    drewys808 said:
    mike1 said:
    Updated IP6 over the weekend. Mostly happy with the update. Two changes that are a bit annoying, though.
    1. The keyboard sounds have changed. I can't stand that some keys have a different sound and the regular sound changed as well. This is change for change's sake and wholly unnecessary.

    Goes to prove that some things are subjective. 
    Personally, I really like the new sounds and find it much more pleasant.
    And as someone here mentioned, you can set it back to the older style clicks if you so desire.
    I didn't see any posts about changing the sound. Just mine about changing how the Touch ID works. If there is a way to change the keyboard sound back, please tell how.
    My main objection to the sound is that there's multiple sounds.
  • Reply 14 of 18

    Messages App is all screwed up.

    I have an iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 10.0.1 and message search is not working.  It is not searching thru all my messages.  I tried it on my wife's phone (iPhone 7Plus) and it is doing the same thing.  I have tried all suggestions that I could find (change language, turn off and on spotlight search for messages, log out and back into icloud, toggle imessages off and on, restored phone) and the issue still persists.  My daughter has an iPhone 7 and her search works just fine.

     

    Anyone else experiencing the same?  Any solutions?

  • Reply 15 of 18
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,898member
    mike1 said:

    1. The keyboard sounds have changed. I can't stand that some keys have a different sound and the regular sound changed as well. This is change for change's sake and wholly unnecessary.
    No it's not change for change's sake. There are three sounds which are consistently applied.  One sound for striking a letter/symbol, one for function keys like space bar or shift and one for backspace/delete. The purpose is to give the user audible feedback which can help with typing accuracy and speed. A welcome and reasonable improvement.
    drewys808jony0
  • Reply 16 of 18
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,291member
    welshdog said:
    mike1 said:

    1. The keyboard sounds have changed. I can't stand that some keys have a different sound and the regular sound changed as well. This is change for change's sake and wholly unnecessary.
    No it's not change for change's sake. There are three sounds which are consistently applied.  One sound for striking a letter/symbol, one for function keys like space bar or shift and one for backspace/delete. The purpose is to give the user audible feedback which can help with typing accuracy and speed. A welcome and reasonable improvement.
    That should be optional and not forced upon everybody. Who types on a phone without looking at it? I doubt it would make anybody type faster and more accurately.
  • Reply 17 of 18
    How do you clear hand written txt, I have used up all the available boxes but can write any more, I need to clear some of the old text !!
  • Reply 18 of 18
    should have said txt as in text messaging !!!
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