Messages is the default chat app for billions of Apple users, and if you own an iPhone, iPad or Mac, chances are you open it dozens of times a day. But most people only ever use it to fire off plain texts, even though the app is packed with tools that make it smarter, safer and far more useful. Here are ten hacks worth setting up, whether you live in Messages on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
Filter Out Spam Before It Reaches You
Nobody wants a new text to turn out to be a scam, yet that is exactly what happens far too often. Apple has quietly built in tools that screen out messages from senders you do not know and route obvious junk into its own folder. To turn this on, go to Settings, then Apps, then Messages, and switch on both Screen Unknown Senders and Filter Spam. Filter Spam simply moves suspected spam into its own folder, while Screen Unknown Senders brings extra options. Tap Allow Notifications and four settings appear. Time Sensitive is on by default and lets alerts from unknown senders through when the device judges them urgent. The other three are off by default: Personal, for texts from unfamiliar people that do not look like a business or organization; Transactions, covering texts or receipts from online orders; and Promotions, for offers and updates from companies. Leave them off and all three types of texts arrive silently, so a coupon from a store you bought from once will not ping your phone every time. Turn any of them on if you would rather not risk missing something, for example enabling Personal so a text from a brand new contact still gets an alert. Back in Messages, tap the three lines at the top to see the filter categories: Messages shows texts only from known contacts, Unknown Senders collects texts from contacts the device does not recognize, and Spam gathers everything that looks like junk. Together these filters keep the inbox tidy while still making it easy to double check that nothing legitimate got swept into the wrong pile.
Let a Reminder Nudge You Mid-Conversation
Apple's Reminders app has quietly become a solid way to stay on top of the day, and it can be tied directly into Messages. If there is something to tell a friend but it is not the right moment to text them, a reminder can be set to text them later. Better still, Reminders can be set to nudge automatically the next time that person is actually texted. Open Reminders and create a new reminder, tap the (i) icon, then scroll down to Places & People. Switch on the toggle next to When Messaging, then tap Select Contact to choose the person in mind. Hit the checkmark in the top right, and the reminder will now show a line reading Messages: [Contact name] underneath it. From that point on, texting that contact automatically surfaces the reminder.
A Quicker Way to Reach Your Photos
There is more than one way to share a photo in Messages. Photos can be shared straight from the Photos app, or through the Photos option inside the (+) menu. Neither is wrong, but when a specific shot is already picked out, tapping (+), then Photos, then waiting for images to load feels slower than it needs to be. Instead, the next time a photo needs sending, just press and hold the (+) button. It jumps straight into Photos, shaving off a few unnecessary taps.
Write Messages by Hand Instead of Typing
Messages supports more ways to communicate than most people realize, typed texts and audio messages are the obvious ones, but handwritten notes are also possible if you know where to find the option. Start by making sure Portrait Lock is off, open Control Center by swiping down from the top right corner and confirm the Portrait mode icon, the lock with the arrow, is not engaged. Open a conversation and turn the iPhone sideways, then tap the keyboard. A new icon that looks like a scribble or cursive letter will appear. Tapping it opens a blank canvas that can be drawn on directly. The last 24 handwritten messages sent are saved and shown along the bottom of the screen, so any of them can be resent with a single tap. Two fingers can be swiped across the canvas for extra writing room if needed. Hitting Done once the note is finished sends it straight away.
Reorganize the Quick-Action Menu
The (+) menu is loaded with useful tools. Check In automatically lets friends and family know you have arrived safely, Polls starts a vote on any topic, and Send Later schedules a message for a future date and time. Apple arranges these apps in the order it thinks makes sense, which can be frustrating if something used often sits near the bottom of the list. The good news is that layout is not fixed. Tap (+), then press and hold any app to move it. After a brief moment a haptic buzz confirms it has been grabbed, and it can then be dragged anywhere in the list. Frequently used tools such as Send Later or #images can be moved to the top, while Apple's AI apps like Genmoji and Image Playground can be pushed toward the bottom if they rarely get used.
Translate Conversations Automatically
For anyone texting a friend or family member who speaks a different language, Messages has a feature that smooths out the back and forth. Open the conversation, tap the contact's name at the top, scroll down, and switch on the toggle next to Automatically Translate. If the conversation already contains messages in a language different from the device's set language, Messages suggests that language to translate from automatically; otherwise, the contact's primary language can be picked from Apple's list. A new button labeled Translating [language] then appears at the bottom of the chat and can be tapped at any time to stop translation. It helps to have the other person turn on the same setting from their side.
Lock the Messages App Behind Face ID or a Passcode
Whatever gets said in Messages is meant to stay there, but a phone can end up in someone else's hands, whether it is handed over willingly or grabbed mid-use. Messages can be locked behind Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode, so even an unlocked iPhone will not give anyone access to the chats without that authentication. To set it up, press and hold the Messages app icon on the Home Screen and choose Require Face ID, or Require Touch ID or Require Passcode depending on the device. A pop-up warns that other apps will not be able to access Messages content without authentication, and that content will not appear in previews or Spotlight search. Confirming by tapping Require Face ID again triggers a face scan, fingerprint scan or passcode prompt, and once approved, Messages is locked.
Send Encrypted Messages to Android Friends Over RCS
One of Apple's biggest recent moves has been adopting RCS, which finally makes texting Android friends in Messages far less painful. The bubbles are still green, but the experience now closely mirrors iMessage: high-resolution photos and videos can be sent, group chats work properly, and typing indicators show up. The bigger win, though, is support for end-to-end encryption, or E2EE. Texts with Android users used to travel completely unencrypted, while iPhone-to-iPhone chats already benefited from iMessage's native E2EE. RCS now supports E2EE too, though Apple only added that support in May. In practice, that means Android conversations can be encrypted, but only if set up correctly. An iPhone needs to be running iOS 26.5 or later, and the Android contact needs a chat app that supports E2EE RCS, which in most cases means Google Messages. From there, go to Settings, then Apps, then Messages, then RCS Messaging, and make sure both RCS Messaging and End-to-End Encryption (Beta) are switched on. No separate app is needed anymore to send protected messages to non-iPhone contacts.
Encrypt the iCloud Backup Too With Advanced Data Protection
Even though iMessages are end-to-end encrypted in transit, that protection does not automatically extend to backups. If messages are backed up to iCloud, there is a good chance the backup itself is not encrypted, leaving those texts exposed if Apple's servers were ever successfully breached, and leaving Apple itself with access to those backups. Advanced Data Protection closes that gap by encrypting most of the data backed up to Apple's servers, including the Messages backup, device backups, iCloud Drive, Notes, Photos and more. That is a real win for privacy, but it comes with a trade-off: once Apple no longer has access to that data, it also cannot help recover it if the account's recovery information is lost, so it is worth turning on carefully. The setting is found under Settings, then your name, then iCloud, then Advanced Data Protection.
Make One-Time Passcodes Delete Themselves
One of the most loved things Messages does is surface one-time passcodes automatically in the keyboard, but that convenience does not solve everything, those codes otherwise sit in the Messages app until they are manually deleted. A lesser-known setting fixes that by deleting one-time passcodes automatically once they have been used. To enable it, go to Settings, then General, then AutoFill & Passwords, and under Verification Codes, switch on the toggle next to Delete After Use. From then on, any time AutoFill enters a one-time passcode, the device removes it from Messages automatically.
