Apple’s native messaging app is the obvious choice for your texting needs as an iPhone user, especially if you’re seeped into the Apple ecosystem. There are, however, a few changes you can make so your conversations feel smoother. If you’re a new Messages user or want to improve your texting experience on the app, make sure you enable these settings now.
To set up your custom profile, go to the Messages app, then tap the “Edit” button in the upper left corner. Go to “Set Up Name and Photo,” then choose an avatar or poster (you can use emojis, memeojis, monograms, or photos from your gallery). After this, you can set up your first and last name to be shown to contacts, and pick whether you want to show this profile to your contacts automatically. Tap “Done” to finish.
Alternatively, go to your iPhone’s Settings app and tap on Apps > Messages > Share Name and Photo to set up your profile and sharing permission.
Continuity between your Apple devices is a great way to jump between two (or more) devices in your ecosystem. Be it webcam continuity, content copying and pasting, or even calls and messages, there are some settings you can tweak to make continuity feel seamless and uninterrupted. One of these is Text Message Forwarding, which makes texting across devices convenient.
Which useful or fun features have you missed?
Go to Settings > Apps > Messages > Text Message Forwarding, then toggle on whichever device you have connected to your iPhone. Once this is enabled, SMS, MMS, or RCS messages that you send and receive on your iPhone can also appear on your Mac, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro, so you can start a conversation on one device and pick it up on another.
If you get a lot of spam or promotional texts on your Messages app, you can skip manually deleting them by enabling this feature to delete messages after 30 days automatically. This is also a good way to clear old conversations to clear some space on your device, so you can take Messages off your mind in case of storage issues.
Go to Settings > Apps > Messages > Message History > Keep Messages. You can then choose to keep messages for 30 days, one year, or forever. If you’re switching out from “Forever,” you will get a deletion confirmation. Note that keeping your messages only for 30 days or a year deletes them permanently, including old conversations (attachments from the app included) with your saved contacts as well.
Safety and privacy are vital when you’re texting, especially when you start a conversation with a stranger. Your Apple devices have a setting that ensures messages, calls, and attachments you receive are safe to see, by helping you avoid unwanted nude photos or videos.
This feature can be enabled on your iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro, blurring sensitive attachments containing nudity.
For Messages, it’s easy to enable this setting to ensure you don’t receive unwarranted attachments, and it comes in handy for any children who may be using your device or are part of your Family Sharing plan.
Go to Settings > Apps > Messages > Allow Messages to Access > Sensitive Content Warning, and toggle it on. You can then choose which apps and services can access this feature (including AirDrop, Contacts, and FaceTime) and skip manually enabling it for each app.
Sensitive Content Warning requires iOS 17 or later, iPadOS 17 or later, watchOS 10 or later, macOS Sonoma or later, or visionOS 2 or later.
When it comes to shared content on your Messages app, there are a few things you can do with it, including pinning it, sharing it with others, and even finding it in the “Shared With You” section on other apps. Content shared with you via Messages (on any Apple device) will automatically appear in apps you select.
To enable this feature, go to Settings > Apps > Messages > Shared with You, and toggle on “Automatic Sharing.” Now, you can choose which apps you want to view shared content in. Apps that support Shared with You include Photos, Music, Safari, News, and other Apple apps, along with a few third-party apps like Netflix, Amazon, Airbnb, etc.
Even when this feature is not enabled, pinned content will appear in specific apps. To pin shared content, go to the Messages app on your iPhone and navigate to a conversation. Find the message you want to pin, hold it, then tap “Pin.” Photos cannot be pinned, but saved to your Photos app.
You can further customize the way your conversations look on the Messages app and make your chats feel more personalized. iOS 26 also brought many new changes to the way you message on Apple devices, which you can ensure are enabled.
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Hasn’t been called “iMessage for years”. 
