How to Animate Words in iMessage on iOS 18

Apple’s iOS 18 update significantly enhances the Messages app by introducing dynamic text effects that can be applied to individual letters, words, or full sentences. Unlike previous iterations of iMessage that only supported full-screen or entire-bubble effects, iOS 18 allows targeted styling and continuous animations on a granular level. This guide outlines the specific word-level text effects available in iOS 18 and details how to use them.

Dynamic Word-Level Text Effects

iOS 18 includes eight distinct animated text effects that add movement to selected words. These animations loop within the message bubble:

  • Big: Temporarily scales the chosen word up, making it expand toward the reader to show emphasis or excitement.
  • Small: Shrinks the word down to a miniature size, ideal for whispering or downplaying a statement.
  • Shake: Vibrates the word rapidly from side to side, simulating tension, fear, or frustration.
  • Nod: Bobs the word smoothly up and down, resembling a nodding head to signify agreement.
  • Explode: Causes the text to violently burst outward into pieces before snapping back together.
  • Ripple: Sends a continuous wave-like distortion across the individual letters of the word.
  • Bloom: Causes the selected word to gently expand and illuminate with a bright, glowing flare.
  • Jitter: Makes the individual letters rapidly twitch and shudder in place.

Standard Formatting Styles

Alongside the dynamic animations, iOS 18 introduces traditional typographic controls that can also be applied to individual words rather than the entire message:

  • Bold: Emphasizes words with heavier font weight.
  • Italic: Slants the chosen text for subtle emphasis.
  • Underline: Places a horizontal line directly beneath the selected word.
  • Strikethrough: Draws a line through the center of the text to represent deletion or irony.

How to Apply Word-Level Animations

To apply an animation to a single word in iMessage:

  1. Open a conversation in the Messages app and type out your text.
  2. Double-tap the specific word you want to animate to highlight it.
  3. In the pop-up contextual menu, tap the right arrow and select Text Effects (represented by an italicized "A" icon). Alternatively, tap the Text Effects button located in the toolbar directly above the keyboard.
  4. Swipe through the tray of effects to preview them.
  5. Tap your chosen effect to apply it to the highlighted word, then send the message.

iOS 18 also features automatic intelligence that proactively suggests specific text effects based on the words you type, such as automatically suggesting the "Explode" effect when typing terms like "boom" or "congratulations."