This post will walk you through using the built-in reaction features such as heart, like, laugh and others on the iOS Messages app. Here’s a quick guide to like a text on an iPhone with the latest iOS version.
Wondering how to like a message you receive on your iPhone Messages? You can use the iOS Tapback feature to react to a text message. Just keep reading for more detailed instructions.
iPhone Message Reactions
The thumbs up icon is by far the most widely recognized emoji for liking a post in various social media apps and platforms. Even Apple utilizes this emoji as the like symbol/icon in the stock Messages app on an iPhone.
That said, iPhone users can now use this emoji symbol to like or react to any text message that arrive on their inbox. The Messages app also allows users to change or even delete a reaction.
Liking a Message
One way to let someone know that you’ve received, read and appreciate his/her message is to put a like or heart reaction on it.
In recent iPhones, you can do this without having to send a reply. All you have to do is put a like/love reaction on the message so that the sender will get notified about it. You can like a message within a group messages or a text message in a conversation thread.
If you’re new to iOS and need some input on how to access and utilize this feature on the iPhone’s stock messaging application (Messages), you can refer to the outlined instructions as follows.
Steps to Like a Text on iPhone
Performing the following steps will enable the in-built Messages reaction tools including the one that lets you like a text message on your iPhone. Just follow these steps whenever you’re all set to access the reaction feature on your iPhone Messages.
Step 1: Launch the iOS Messages app to begin. Just find then tap Messages from the Home screen or Apps Library of your iPhone.
Step 2: In the Messages app screen, find and then tap to open the desired conversation (message thread).
Step 3: Inside the selected message thread, long-press (touch and hold) the message bubble with the text that you want to like.
Step 4: To like the message, just tap the Like (thumbs up) icon/emoji from the given reactions on the quick menu.
You can also use the Heart icon as it can likewise denote liking or loving the text message. Just tap on the Heart icon from the reactions menu to heart/like the message.
You will see your reaction displayed on the corner of the message bubble.
Aside from Like, you can also use other reactions such as haha, unlike, question, and exclamation mark.
To unlike the message, just tap the Like (Thumbs Up) icon again to nullify the previous reaction you made. The sender of the message will also get a notification that your reaction has been removed.
Just like social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, a notification will show up on the sender of the message that you reacted to along with the icon in the message thread.
Aside from liking photos, the iOS Messages app also offers a number of other cool features such as Memoji stickers, multimedia messages and more.
To ensure all new features are available, be sure to keep your iPhone software up-to-date. New iOS updates Apple release periodically usually contain new features and enhancements to system apps and services including Messages.
To avoid missing important updates, enabling automatic updates on your iPhone is recommended. Just be sure to allocate ample space on your iPhone storage.
More on iOS Tapback Feature
Aside from plain text messages, you can also add reactions to any of the messages you’ve received through iMessage.
This is made possible with the Tapback feature on the iPhone’s iMessages that lets users choose from a selection of reactions such as Love, Like, Dislike, Laugh, Emphasized and Questioning.
The Tapback effect is by far known among those who are engaged in a large group of chats.
Liking an Image from iPhone Photos
Aside from messages and iMessages, you can also put reactions to an image on your iPhone. This is made possible with the Loved option in the Photos app on iPhone.
You can use this tool to indicate that you really like or love a photo.
Once you’ve marked a photo as loved, it will be tagged among other special photos in a separate album called Loved. This album is only visible on your iOS device.
And that’s how to like a text in a conversation thread on the iPhone’s preloaded Messages app.
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