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    Table of Contents

    Messages User Guide

    • Welcome
    • What’s new
      • Set up Messages on Mac
      • Get SMS, MMS, and RCS texts from iPhone
      • Share your name and photo
      • Send messages
      • Messages for Business
      • Collaborate using Messages
      • Send later
      • Unsend or edit a message
      • Forward a message or attachment
      • Send an inline reply
      • Mention a person
      • React with Tapbacks
      • Turn read receipts on or off
      • Send stickers
      • Send and save GIFs
      • Send photos and videos
      • Send an audio message
      • Add full-screen and bubble effects
      • Format and animate text
      • Share your location
      • Make calls
      • Keep track of your shared content
      • View photos, videos, and audio
      • View special effects
      • View a Check In notification
      • Request or view someone’s location
      • Translate text in a conversation
      • Watch, listen, or play together using SharePlay
      • Share screens
      • Search for a conversation
      • Pin a conversation
      • Catch up on messages you missed
      • Mark a conversation as unread
      • Manage a group conversation
      • Delete messages and conversations
      • Recover deleted messages
      • Create a reminder from a conversation
      • Respond to Screen Time requests for more time
      • Print or create a PDF of a conversation
      • Change settings
      • Create your Memoji
      • Block and filter messages
      • Create and manage contacts
      • Manage notifications
    • Keyboard shortcuts
    • Copyright

    View special effects in Messages on Mac

    During a conversation, you may receive messages with special effects, such as messages in invisible ink, a handwritten message, or a Digital Touch heartbeat. You can view these items right in the conversation or in Info view.

    Tip: Double-click a conversation in the sidebar to open it in its own window.

    Open Messages for me

    View an item with invisible ink or other message effects

    1. Go to the Messages app on your Mac.

    2. Select a conversation.

    3. Hold the pointer over an item sent with invisible ink to “wipe” it away and view the item. The item is again blurred when you move your pointer.

    Other message effects are displayed automatically. To view the effect again, click the Replay button below the message.

    If you send an item with message effects to someone whose device doesn’t support them, the recipient sees descriptive text, such as “sent with Slam Effect.”

    View items from an iPhone or iPad

    On certain iPhone and iPad models, people can send you handwritten messages and Digital Touch elements (like a sketch or heartbeat), and send payments with Apple Cash. Some of these items can only be viewed on an iPhone or iPad, but you can view others on your Mac.

    Note: If someone sends an Apple Cash payment or request, you can see it on your Mac, but you can only respond to it on your iPhone or iPad.

    1. Go to the Messages app