I’m an iPhone expert and almost no-one knows my genius iMessage text trick

YOUR iPhone has a clever iMessage trick that lets you send fun animations to pals.

It’s hidden in the iMessage options so you might never have seen it.

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Apple has packed loads of features into your iPhone, and they’re not all obvious.

But TikTok gadget whiz @howfinity has revealed a clever texting hack online.

First, make sure you’re updated to the latest version of iOS.

Go into Settings > General > Software Update to check.

Now tap on the Messages app and open an iMessage conversation with a pal.

Next tap on the chat bar so the keyboard appears.

Then choose the Heart icon on the row of options above the keyboard.

If you’re on the zoomed-in menu, it will say Digital Touch below it.

Tap on it and you’ll find that a new mini-display replaces the keyboard.

Now you can hold your finger down to create a pattern.

You can change the colour of the pattern, and even two-finger hold to add a heart-rate pulse.

It’s possible to tap in multiple locations to have different pulses across the animation.

And you can drag two fingers apart to send a kiss icon.

Then you can send these animations to pals.

One more thing

Here’s a bonus iMessage texting hack on us.

Texting can take up a lot of time, especially if you’re sending a very long message on iPhone.

But if you regularly send similar texts, there’s an easy solution.

It’s possible to use Apple’s text-replacement feature to quickly type out long missives.

So if you often share an address, a phone number, a common phrase or anything else regularly, it’s worth setting up a text-replacement for it.

First, open Settings and then go into General.

Scroll down to Keyboards and then tap into Text Replacement.

You can then create replacements, typing in a phrase and a shortcut.

The shortcut is what you personally type out, and the phrase is what it transforms into.

So keep the shortcut short, and have the phrase as long as you’d like.

Now when you type that shortcut using the built-in Apple keyboard, it’ll automatically transform into the phrase.

Make sure to pick shortcuts that are slightly obscure that you wouldn’t accidentally type in normal conversation.

If one becomes annoying or isn’t very useful, you can edit or delete it at any time.

You should also read our guide on how to type faster on iPhone.

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