Apple has updated its messaging app iMessage to include a bunch of new features. Users will start receiving these new features when they get to update their iPhones to iOS 14 which is scheduled to release sometime in September alongside the iPhone 12 lineup. The Mac is also receiving the same iMessage experience as the company has now rebuilt the complete iMessage Mac app.
Users on iMessage are now greeted to slightly refreshed designs. Group chats now have a group icon on the top which can either be a custom icon or a combined honeycomb style collection of all user profile pictures. The biggest additions in iMessage is to the group chat facility. Users can now reply to a specific message and the message can then be seen as a thread for easier understanding when there are a lot of messages.
In groups chats, Apple is also introducing “mentions” which will help users tag their contacts for a specific message. Another interesting feature is “mute except mentions” which will not send any notifications if you have muted a group but will send a notification only if you have been mentioned in a group chat.
These group chat features in iMessage are not exactly new in the industry, some of them can be found in apps like WhatsApp and more, but they are definitely welcome additions. Apple continues to refine its popular messaging platform by adding features that help users improve their messaging flow.
iMessage is only available on Apple devices – iPhone, iPad, Mac, and iPod Touch. iMessage which is also generally just referred to as the Messages app is very particularly very popular in the United States as a lot of people buy iPhones in the country (around 50%).
All the new features in the Messages app will be available for users when iOS 14 releases.
