10 Hidden Messages Features in iOS 17

[Jett0516]

Just give me the ability to access my contacts when typing a name for a new message. I don’t want suggestions for groups or people I message months ago.

Swipe down in the Lock Screen or Home Screen and type in the person you want to text.

That’s the fastest way.

 

[Jett0516]

iMessage desperately needs pinned emojis 🙏

 

[Avenged110]

I just want the iOS 5 Messages app back. None of this nonsense getting in the way.

 

[victorvictoria]

Sounds like Apple is running out of new features to add to iOS updates. I don't see any of these as useful to me. Others will surely disagree.

 

[nt5672]

I"m curious as to how many people actually ever send stickers. I bet its a low low number.

Most people outgrew the little stars on the bulletin board before 9th grade.

 

[mxrider88]

Messaging with voice messages is basically impossible. It is just useless and unreliable. Messages get interrupted by the screen going on standby, the interface is so bad that sometimes it takes 3 attempts to start recording a message, listening to them is also a joke, can't scroll properly back and forth, can't skip etc. But we have the app full of junk emojis. I had to reinstall whatsapp after years, just to be able to swap some long thoughts via voice message with a friend overseas and he also has an iPhone.

Without mentioning that in the car the phone doesn't play messages through the car's bluetooth but it plays one second and then stops and if you are recording a voice message while driving you have to make sure the screen doesn't go on standby. On top of that if you are recording with AirPods sometimes it switches to the car' bluetooth microphone and the recording stops. It is an absolute joke.

 

[basehead617]

Why have they still not made it so you can go back to a certain date range? it’s IMPOSSIBLE to look at old text messages without scrolling back for hours (which usually crashes before you get years back anyway)

 

[Boeingfan]

I send stickers frequently. Only to people I know. And others send stickers to me.

Same, works great.

 

[Boeingfan]

Is there a way to capture a QR code directly in iMessage? Currently, I use the camera app to grab the link, then share it via iMessage.

 

[ifxf]

Swipe down in the Lock Screen or Home Screen and type in the person you want to text.

That’s the fastest way.

Sorry this is not intuitive, if I in am messaging I am in the message app.

 

[darngooddesign]

Just give me the ability to access my contacts when typing a name for a new message. I don’t want suggestions for groups or people I message months ago.

You can already do that.

1. Tap the new message button
2. Tap the plus
3. Tap the contact name

 

[JosephAW]

iOS 17 makes it a little easier when having a green bubble text group to add and delete people. 🙄

 

[tokyojimu]

I don't want to see cute pictures of your dog.

Even worse is my cousin who daily posts pictures of her ugly dog. If the dog were cute I might mind less.

 

[Goofyking]

Give the shortcut back. This update is not an improvement, it’s a regression. I wish Apple will work on optimizing and stabilizing the system instead of making these changes that don’t really improve user experience.

 

[svish]

Some useful tips in the list. Faster access to Photo Library and customising messages menu are very useful.

 

[oldwatery]

Are people so empty they that stickers and emojis drive their lives. As an earlier poster said…get out, ride a bike, go for a hike, smell the damn roses! This **** is pathetic and illustrative of what society has become in a few short years. I think messaging is a wonderful thing…but this is mindless nonsense and very sad to see how Apple continues to champion this move towards a truly dystopian future.

 

[darngooddesign]

Are people so empty they that stickers and emojis drive their lives. As an earlier poster said…get out, ride a bike, go for a hike, smell the damn roses! This **** is pathetic and illustrative of what society has become in a few short years. I think messaging is a wonderful thing…but this is mindless nonsense and very sad to see how Apple continues to champion this move towards a truly dystopian future.

And get off your lawn!!!!

 

[Sippincider]

The UI is a mess - drag paradigm mixed in with tap and long press. Jobs is truly gone from this OS.

And I don't see things getting any better.

With Craig Federighi's recent directive to "create as many new AI features as possible", don't be surprised to see a whole new layer of complexity with every bundled app and every corner of the OS going in different directions. Kinda like Windows.

 

[Stiksi]

… and this is why everyone uses Whatsapp. Well, apart from the thing that iMessage only works with 30% of your friends and you never know which ones until you try.

 

[tigres]

anyone know how to do something really useful, like tee up all contacts with a birthday today, and send wishes with any sort of non-manual process?

 

[lk400]

Stickers in general are trash, but emoji reactions as stickers is just braindead. Why can't I just send any emoji as a reaction through a long-press like literally every other messaging app in existence?

Having a rough day?

 

[lk400]

I send stickers frequently. Only to people I know. And others send stickers to me.

I do on occasion. I don’t have the emoji keyboard enabled as it always activates when I type. On the odd occasion that I want to send some sort of image, I use a sticker. I would say, once per week.

 

[lk400]

Sad, but if people have this much time to make perfect visual messages the world is lost.

Get outside and enjoy life or do something useful with your time like volunteering, instead of trying to impress your friends that you are enjoying life by spending so much time with emoji, cute pictures, etc. It is no wonder there is so much mental illness in the world today.

Just FYI, I don't want to see cute pictures of your dog. This is like viewing vacation pictures. No one really cares, they just act excited so as to not upset you.

This is from your perspective. I don’t use emoji, but living in Japan where emoji were created, the people around me do, constantly. It adds to the messages to help with interpretation. That was quite important in the early days of typing in Japanese where context is very important to communication.

As for vacation pictures, I feel sorry for your friends. I love seeing my friends and families vacation pictures. It’s an aid in their storytelling about their time away, which was special to them. It’s nice to hear about my friends having fun and to hear their stories.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

This is super useful! Thanks MacRumors!!

 

[kurtfoster]

I’d love to see BCC available for group texts. There’s nothing more annoying than getting replies from people you don’t even know which were sent in a group text three weeks after you’ve deleted the original message.