iOS 10 is now officially out and there are a lot exciting new features that came with this new update.
Messages got the best upgrade with new features that make exchanging messages with other iPhone users a lot more fun.
1. Animation – After you write your message, to add animation, press and hold the send button until the send with effect screen appears. For a bubble effect, you can choose to send your message with a slam, loud, gentle, or invisible ink effect. If you want to send the message with full screen animation, tap on the screen box and swipe left to choose balloons, confetti, or laser.
2. Text to Emoji – Now you don’t have to search for the emoji. Messages will transform the text to an emoji. For example, if you write the word cat and tap on the emoji button, Messages will automatically change the word cat to an emoji.
3. Handwriting – When you turn your iPhone to landscape, Messages will automatically turn the screen to handwriting mode allowing you to write a message or select from options at the bottom of the screen. Once you tap done, it turns what you’ve written into an image that you can then send.
4. Digital Touch – Tap on the heart icon on the left side of the text box to send doodles and heartbeats to your friend’s screen.
5. Tapback – You can automatically send back a reaction to a message by double tapping on the message to choose either a heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, Haha, double exclamation, and question mark as a fast response.
6. Images and Videos – You can add images and videos from the web to your messages by tapping on the App icon beside the text box. Then, enter the keyword for the image or video you want to add to your message. You can, then, choose which media content to send from the results.
7. Website Preview – When you paste a link into a message, you can actually check if the address is the right one by clicking on the Safari icon that appears beside the URL. You can also open the site directly when you click on a link you receive in Messages.
8. Add Photos – You can now take a photo and send it immediately from messages just by tapping the camera icon and taking a photo from inside the app.
9. Stickers – Add stickers to your messages by tapping on the App icon then download stickers from the App store—take note that some of the sticker collections are for sale, but there are a few that are free to download—from there, you can add stickers to your messages.
10. Music – You can even send music from your iPhone: just tap on the App icon then tap on 
and select the music icon to access your music library.
Also published in GADGETS MAGAZINE November 2016 Issue.
Words by Presy Alba