2023 Author: Gordon Kinson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-06-01 01:17
Group conversation can quickly become quite chaotic. Even a small number of attendees sometimes generate a stream of messages that will be difficult to track on your iPhone. The worst part is that you have to sort out conversations within conversations. Apple tried to help us with this problem, so in iOS 14 (a detailed overview of all new features) it was possible to reply to specific messages in iMessage using built-in conversations.
Together with the new feature of mentions in messages, inline replies allow you to create a separate mini-conversation in a larger group chat, making it easier to keep track of important texts in the context of your interest. Moreover, this feature is useful not only in group conversations, but also in private chats, when you want to talk about something specific, without jumping, as usual, from one topic to another.
If you've ever used the built-in replies in WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, or another third-party messaging app, you'll find this feature close and understandable.
How to reply to a specific message in an iMessage chat
When inside a private or group chat, simply press and hold any message that you want to start an embedded thread. Any element can be used for this, including text, emoticons, photos, videos, links and other types of media.
A text preview appears, where you can add a quick response, copy it and select one of the options using the More button. The quick action we need in this case is "Reply", so click on that.
To be clear, this only works in iMessage conversations. So if you see blue elements, then you are doing everything right. If you see green icons, then you are in a text chat (SMS / MMS). Unfortunately, you cannot use the built-in threads here, even if you are answering someone using an iPhone in a group conversation.
Once you click on Reply, the rest of the conversation will be blurry, except for the message you directly reply to. Enter the desired message (or messages) and click the "Send" button to start a new conversation within the group chat.
View and reply to an embedded conversation
In light mode, a white bubble with a gray outline will appear in chat, inside which will be the original text message. This will help you remember what the embedded conversation is referring to. When using dark mode, it will be a black bubble with a gray outline. In group chats, a small image of the contact will appear next to the bubble, while in private one-on-one conversations it will not be, since it is obvious who is your interlocutor.
If you reply to the audio message, the bubble will be empty, which is a bit confusing. But links, images, videos and other files will get their mini-previews.
All other messages in the chat will be, as before, in a single thread. If you only want to view your thread without the rest of the chat, tap inside the thread with a bubble on the blue " [#] reply " element or the original message that was used to create that thread.
In a more focused view (with the rest of the chat blurry), you can press and hold on any message to react to it, copy the text to the clipboard and save the media, and swipe to view the timestamps.
Any messages sent that are not part of the thread will appear separately in the full conversation, without being linked to the created conversation. If the shared conversation continues, a new conversation bubble with the original message will appear after the shared messages. This does not remove the previous bubbles of nested conversations.
See also:
- New in iOS 14: How to hide unwanted application pages from the home screen on iPhone and iPad.
- In iOS 14, at the top of the screen, a green or orange indicator lights up: what are they for?
- Tap on iPhone Cover - Take a screenshot: How to bind actions to tap on the back of an iPhone.
