iOS 18 to include emoji reactions for iMessage, ability to schedule messages to send later

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman today reported on a few additional features to expect from the Messages app in iOS 18.

One of the perhaps most requested messaging changes will be an upgrade to the Tapbacks system, allowing users to respond to any message using an emoji of their choice. Apple will also address another long-standing feature request, adding the ability to schedule messages to be sent at a later time.

The Tapbacks feature builds off of critical feedback from the iOS 17 release, where Apple added the ability to reply to messages using emoji stickers. But that functionality was hard to discover and somewhat messy in terms of the visual design.

The new emoji tapbacks sound like they appear in the same place as the other Tapback reactions, making them much more conveniently accessed and likely will be much more widely used by customers. It also brings iMessage inline with functionality offered by other popular messaging platforms, like Facebook Messenger and Discord.

Rather than being limited to the current predefined set of six options (Love, Like, Dislike, Laugh, Emphasize and Question), users will be able to react with any emoji they wish. It may also tie in to a separately rumored feature where users will be able to generate custom emoji on the fly.

You will also be able to be more expressive in your communications with the addition of text effects, that expand beyond the current Screen and Bubble effects options.

Scheduling messages to send later has been available on Android for a long time, and the lack of such a feature on the iPhone has been a common user complaint. Bloomberg says iOS 18 will finally close that feature hole, allowing users to compose a message in Messages but have it actually send to the other person at a later time. This is useful if you are messaging people across time zones, and perhaps don’t want to disturb them while they are sleeping.

Apple has also committed to supporting RCS inside Messages with iOS 18, with it supposedly coming “later this year”. This will improve the experience when texting with Android users who also have RCS, allowing for higher resolution photo and video attachments, typing indicators and other group chat improvements. We don’t know how many of these newly-introduced features will be iMessage exclusive though.

Apple will officially unveil the new version of iMessage, and a bunch of other new features coming as part of iOS 18, at its WWDC presentation on Monday.

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