Apple’s Messages app is about to get a major upgrade in iOS 18. Get ready to ditch the static text and embrace a world of animated words, improved cross-platform messaging, and smarter autocompletion. These changes will help make your iMessage experience more expressive, convenient, and unified across devices.
Currently, iMessage offers a range of bubble effects and full-screen animations, such as invisible ink, confetti, and fireworks. With iOS 18, Apple plans to take this a step further by enabling users to animate individual words within a message. This feature will allow for more expressive and dynamic conversations, potentially making everyday messaging more enjoyable and visually appealing.
The new text effects are expected to function similarly to rich text formatting found in other applications, with the added flair of animations. Users might be able to highlight specific words with unique animations, providing a creative way to emphasize certain parts of their messages. While specifics are yet to be confirmed, the possibilities are intriguing, from playful animations to potentially more formal text styles like bold, italics, and underline.
In addition to these text effects, iOS 18 will introduce Rich Communication Services (RCS) support to the Messages app. RCS is a significant upgrade over the traditional SMS standard, offering features akin to iMessage, including higher-resolution photos and videos, audio messages, typing indicators, read receipts, the ability to send messages over Wi-Fi, and enhanced group chat functionality. This means that iPhone users will enjoy a more seamless and enriched messaging experience when communicating with Android users. The inclusion of RCS support could also mean that the new text effects will work with both blue and green bubbles, further bridging the gap between iOS and Android messaging.
Another major enhancement coming to the Messages app in iOS 18 is an AI-powered autocompletion tool. This feature aims to streamline the messaging process by predicting and suggesting words and phrases as you type. This smart autocomplete functionality is designed to save time and make typing more efficient, potentially learning and adapting to your unique writing style over time.
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024, set to kick off on June 10, is the highly anticipated event where these new features will be unveiled. Developers in the Apple Developer Program will gain access to the first beta version of iOS 18 immediately following the keynote. The public beta is expected to roll out in July, with the official release slated for September, coinciding with the launch of the iPhone 16.
(via MacRumors)
