A whopping 200,000 iMessages are sent every second. So, it may seem hard to make yours stand out from the fray. Luckily, some secret iMessage effects can spruce up even the simplest of texts. These little tricks can make someone laugh or smile — and they will certainly make your message memorable.

For iMessage Effects, Type the Right Phrase

To trigger an exciting iMessage effect, you have to know which phrases to type. Your iPhone is called a smartphone for a reason. It’s smart enough to recognize when you’re saying something exciting or congratulatory, and it’ll send the screen effects all on its own.

The recent update iMessage on iOS causes certain words to trigger screen effects. Also, there is a way to long-press on the send button, and bring up an interface for adding these effects. I've found the following associations between screen effects, and the messgaes that trigger them: confetti: 'congratulations', 'happy birthday'.

You can probably guess what a few of these might be. But some surprising keywords will trigger a light show – think along the lines of “pew pew.”

1. Happy Birthday

1. A full guide to iMessage effects. This effect is particularly cool, and comes packaged with its own firecracker-esque vibration pattern when you send it. 'Happy Birthday'.
2. Read on for some of the cool new iMessage features that Apple is working on. Apple is said to be testing the ability to “un-send” an iMessage. While it’s always been possible to.

Here’s one of the more obvious ones. If you type and send the words “Happy Birthday,” your iMessage screen will celebrate accordingly.

Once you press send on a “Happy Birthday” text, balloons will fly up from the bottom of the screen all the way to the top. In other words, your iPhone knows that it’s party time.

2. Congratulations

Similarly, your phone knows what to do when congratulations are in order.

If you send the word “Congratulations” or even “Congrats,” your phone will blast some confetti – on screen, of course – when the recipient reads their message.

3. Happy New Year

Here’s another phrase that makes us all think of celebrating. If you’re iMessaging your loved ones at midnight to say “Happy New Year,” then expect a display on your phone screen.

You can probably guess what the screen effect will be here: these three words trigger a fireworks show in your iMessage.

4. Happy Chinese New Year!

iPhones don’t just celebrate the holidays of the Western world. If you text someone to say “Happy Chinese New Year!,” your phone will give you another light show. But this time, the fireworks show has a red-and-gold motif to match the celebration’s colors.

Just make sure you include the exclamation point, as the complete phrase is what triggers the iMessage effect.

Cool Imessage Hacks

5. Selamat

On that note, your iPhone recognizes an Indonesian word, as well. Selamat is part of the phrase said when people break their Ramadan fast — certainly a cause for celebration.

If you text someone the word “Selamat,” they will get the same confetti shower that comes with the word “Congratulations.”

6. Pew Pew

Not all secret screen effects have to do with holidays, though. You may just want to make someone laugh with an iMessage display.

Well, that’s where this iMessage trick comes in. If you type “pew pew” on your iPhone and press send, your screen will see some colorful lasers darting across it.

This trick’s a great one for impressing your friends – send “pew pew” to the group chat and see who is impressed by your cool iMessage trick.

Pick Your Own iMessage Screen Effects

If none of the above fits what you’re trying to say, you’re in luck. You can still send iMessage with effects, you just have to know where to find them.

Cool Imessage Texts Ready To Copy

You’ll start by typing your message in the text box as you normally would. When you finish, don’t tap the arrow as you normally would. Press it and hold it.

When you do, you’ll be sent to another screen, one full of text effects. At the top, you’ll see two options: bubble and screen.

Bubble Effects

The first set, the bubble effects, will change the way your text bubble looks it arrives in the recipient’s inbox. Your options are:

• Slam, which makes your text into a giant bubble that drops dramatically into place and creates a dust cloud before returning to its traditional size
• Loud, which also makes your text bubble larger and shakes it so that the reader really pays attention to it
• Gentle, which maintains the same bubble size, but makes your text slightly smaller
• Invisible ink, which turns your text into a bubble full of floating particles until the recipient taps it to reveal the message inside

You can get great use out of these text effects, but they’re not the only ones you can have up your sleeve.

Screen Effects

You can also swipe over to the Screen Effects tab to find some more options. As you can probably guess, these fill the screen, rather than simply changing up the text bubble itself.

These are your choices under the screen effects tab:

• Echo, which fills the screen with a flurry of text bubbles to make sure the reader really sees your message
• Spotlight, which turns the screen black, then places an orb of bright white light over your text
• Balloons, the same ones that float up when you send the words “Happy Birthday”
• Confetti, the colorful shower that you see if you text someone and say “Congratulations”
• Love, during which a giant, red, heart-shaped balloon inflates and floats away from behind your text
• Lasers, which creates a light show from behind your text bubble, just as the words “pew pew” do
• Fireworks, which turns the screen black and sets off a virtual fireworks show, just like sending “Happy New Year” does
• Celebration, another fireworks show, but with golden fireworks — the same you see if you send “Happy Chinese New Year!”

Once you select your effect, all you have to do is press the arrow next to it to send your message.

Send Messages With Flair

Now that you know these iMessage effects — some more secret than others — it’s time to send some messages with flair.

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You need iMessage to send message effects. Learn the difference between iMessage and SMS/MMS texts. Depending on your carrier, messaging rates might apply when you send SMS/MMS. If you use iMessage and Wi-Fi is unavailable, cellular data rates might apply.

Send a message with effects

With message effects, you can use bubble effects to change the way your message bubbles look, or use full-screen effects to animate the screen. You can even add a Memoji sticker with bubble effects or full-screen effects.

Add a bubble effect

1. Open Messages and tap the Compose button to start writing a new message. Or go to an existing conversation.
2. Enter your message or insert a photo, then touch and hold the Send button .
3. Tap the grey dot to preview bubble effects.
4. Tap the Send button .

To replay a message effect that you receive, tap the Replay button under the message. If you can't receive bubble effects, check your Reduce Motion settings.

Add a full-screen effect

Cool Imessage Texts Pew Pew

1. Open Messages and tap the Compose button to start writing a new message. Or go to an existing conversation.
2. Enter your message.
3. Touch and hold the Send button , then tap Screen.
4. Swipe to the left to see full-screen effects.
5. Tap the Send button .

To replay a message effect that you receive, tap the Replay button under the message. If you can't receive full-screen effects, check your Reduce Motion settings.

Send a message with Camera Effects

With Camera Effects in iOS 12 and later, and iPadOS, you can liven up your conversations even more. Quickly create and share a photo or video with Memoji, filters, text, fun stickers and more. Follow these steps:

1. Open Messages and tap the Compose button to create a new message. Or go to an existing conversation.
2. Tap the Camera button .
3. Tap the Effects button , then select one of the effects, like Memoji* or an iMessage app. You can add more than one effect to a photo or video.
4. After you select the effect that you want to use, tap Done.
5. Tap the Send button or tap Done to add a personal message. If you don't want to send the photo, tap the icon in the upper-right corner of the photo.

You need a compatible iPhone or iPad to use Memoji.

Respond to a message with expressions

With Tapback, you can quickly reply to messages with expressions, like a thumbs up or a heart. Here’s how:

1. Open a conversation in Messages.
2. Double-tap the message bubble or photo that you want to respond to.
3. Select the Tapback that you want to send.

You can also use Tapback in group messages. To see who replied with a Tapback, tap it.

Send a handwritten message

You can personalise your messages by adding a note in your own handwriting. Your friends and family will see the message animate, as if it were being written in front of them. To send a handwritten note, follow these steps:

1. Open Messages and tap the Compose button to start writing a new message. Or go to an existing conversation.
2. If you have an iPhone, turn it sideways and tap on the keyboard. On an iPad, there's no need to turn it sideways, just tap on the keyboard.
3. Write your message or select one of the options at the bottom of the screen.
4. If you need to start again, tap Undo or Clear. When you've finished, tap Done. Then tap the Send button .

Do more with Messages

• Learn how to use Memoji to mirror your expressions through messages.
• Use Digital Touch to send sketches, taps and even a heartbeat.
• Use iMessage apps to create and share content, share a song, add stickers to photos and more.
• If you have Reduce Motion on, you can't receive message effects.