iMessage on iOS 18 Features Bold, Underline, Italics, and Text Effects

Apple today previewed new features coming to the Messages app with iOS 18, and this finally includes bold, italics, underline, and strikeout formatting options.

iMessage iOS 18 1
iMessage has also gained all-new text effects that can be applied to individual words in a message to give them a "dynamic, animated" appearance. These effects include Big, Small, Shake, Nod, Explode, Ripple, Bloom, and Jitter.

Other new Messages app features on iOS 18 include upcoming RCS support for improved texting with Android users, an option to schedule messages to be sent later, the ability to use any emoji as a Tapback, the ability to send messages via satellite connection when Wi-Fi and cellular networks are unavailable, and more.

iMessage iOS 18 Text Effects
The first developer beta of iOS 18 is available now, and a public beta will follow in July. The update should be widely released in September.

Related Roundups: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, WWDC 2025

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...
terminal macos tahoe

Apple's Terminal App Gets Colorful Redesign in macOS Tahoe

Monday June 16, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's Terminal app is getting a visual refresh in macOS Tahoe, and it's the first notable design update since the command-line tool debuted. The updated Terminal will support 24-bit color and Powerline fonts, according to Apple's State of the Platforms presentation at WWDC25. The app will also adopt the new Liquid Glass aesthetic with redesigned themes that align with macOS 26's broader...

Top Rated Comments

Schnort Avatar
13 months ago
Please give a web interface to iMessage. It would be dandy to handle my chatty-chat while working and not having to pull out my phone.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
duyxbox Avatar
13 months ago
So my wife gonna bold text to add more weight to already heavy words every time we argue.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
orangeadrenaline Avatar
13 months ago

So my wife gonna bold text to add more weight to already heavy words every time we argue.
Take out the trash, now
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
orangeadrenaline Avatar
13 months ago
Group messages: Please only notify me if someone reacts to MY message. I don’t care if someone reacts to someone else’s message.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bn-7bc Avatar
13 months ago

Group messages: Please only notify me if someone reacts to MY message. I don’t care if someone reacts to someone else’s message.
I'll go one further, "only notify me if someone actually sends text or a file" I don#t need numerous notifications about hearts or any other reactions, they don't give me any useful info beyond possibly thumbs up/down for agree/disagree, I might be old but I don't read emoji, to mer they are just a lot of visual noise, and sadly my ADD does not aprichiate that
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mimiron Avatar
13 months ago
Sure it's nice to have and all but if they are legit calling this a feature they are really running out of ideas. Fn formatting in messages.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)