iOS 18 Text Animation Effects in iMessage

iOS 18 introduces dynamic text formatting to the Messages app, allowing users to animate individual letters, words, or full sentences instead of applying effects to the entire screen or bubble. Alongside standard formatting options like bold, italics, underline, and strikethrough, Apple includes eight distinct animated text effects designed to emphasize specific words visually within a conversation.

The 8 Text Animation Effects in iOS 18

Users can select from eight specific animations to bring individual words to life:

  1. Big: The selected word rapidly scales up in size, staying larger than the surrounding text to emphasize excitement or shouting.
  2. Small: The selected text shrinks significantly, visually conveying a whisper, hesitation, or subtlety.
  3. Shake: The word vibrates rapidly side to side, giving the impression of physical shaking, shivering, or nervousness.
  4. Nod: The word smoothly bobs up and down repeatedly, mimicking an affirmative nodding gesture.
  5. Explode: The word dramatically bursts outward into floating fragments before snapping back together.
  6. Ripple: A fluid, wave-like motion travels across the selected characters from left to right.
  7. Bloom: The text swells outward while lighting up with a soft, glowing color effect, then settles back down.
  8. Jitter: The letters twitch chaotically in place, creating a nervous or energetic visual tremor.

How to Apply an Animation Effect to an Individual Word

Applying these animations to a specific word requires only a few steps:

  1. Open a conversation in the Messages app.
  2. Type a message into the text field.
  3. Double-tap the specific word you want to animate to highlight it.
  4. Tap the Text Effects icon (an uppercase "A" with motion lines) above the keyboard, or select Text Effects from the pop-up context menu.
  5. Swipe through the eight animated options and tap your preferred effect.
  6. Send the message.

The animation will play automatically for both the sender and the recipient when the message appears on screen, looping periodically when viewed.