iPhone owners to receive huge iMessage upgrade with 12 new iOS 18 features – and it’s coming sooner than expected

THERE is a treasure trove of new iMessage features about to land on your iPhone, including satellite texts and custom-created emojis.

And Apple boss Tim Cook announced this week that they will be coming sooner than expected.

The tech giant released iOS 18 - dubbed Apple's 'biggest ever' update - to iPhone owners who are part of Apple's Developer Programme last week.

Though the highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features were missing.

It was previously thought that Apple Intelligence features would be landing on iPhones in 2025.

However, Cook has since squashed that rumour, saying: "We started with some features of Apple Intelligence, not the complete suite.

"There are other features like languages beyond U.S. English that will happen over the course of the year.

"And there are other features that will happen over the course of the year, and ChatGPT is integrated by the end of the calendar year, and so, yes, it is a staggered launch."

There are 12 features coming to iMessage as part of iOS 18.

And five of them rely solely on Apple Intelligence.

• See The Sun's iOS 18 launch date prediction here

iOS 18 iMessage boost

iPhone owners who are eligible for the iOS 18 update will be able to use seven features right away, including:

Send Later - Which will allow users to schedule a message in conversations with other iMessage users.

Tapback emoijs - Along with the six classic Tapback responses, users will be able to choose any emoji character when using Tapback.

After long pressing to respond to a message, users can choose any emoji to react to a message.

iPhone owners can also select from their stickers or your Memoji menu.

RCS support - This long-requested feature is set to bring eight iMessage-style features to texts between iPhone and Android users, including:

• Higher-resolution photos and videos
• Audio messages
• Typing indicators
• Wi-Fi messaging between iPhones and Android devices
• Improved group chats, including the ability for iPhone users to leave a conversation that includes Android users
• Improved encryption compared to SMS
• Share location with people inside text threads

Satellite iMessages - Once connected to iMessage via satellite, iPhone owners will be able to use key features like emoji and Tapbacks.

According to Apple, "To connect to a satellite, you need to be outside with a clear view of the sky and horizon.

"When you use a satellite connection, the experience is different than sending or receiving a message via mobile connection."

Text formatting - Which will give users the option to add bold, italic, underline, or strikethrough formatting to their iMessages - like they can on WhatsApp.

Text effects - New animated text effects that can be applied to entire message, a single word, a phrase, or even an emoji or sticker are also coming.

This can give iMessages dramatic movements that help emphasise a text.

Math notes - This feature lets your ‌iPhone‌ solve equations for you inside iMessage.

It can even be used to convert currencies, temperatures and measurements over text - so there's no more $ to £ or Fahrenheit to Celsius confusion.

Apple Intelligence

Features that require Apple Intelligence to work are forecast to arrive slightly later than the initial iOS 18 features. These include:

Smart Replies - Using Apple Intelligence, your ‌iPhone‌ can actually reply to a message for you.

By analysing the content of a message you've received, the AI can suggest Smart Reply options that users can tap for a quick response.

Writing tools - While not specific to the iMessage app, these tools can proofread, rewrite and summarise a text you've written before you hit send.

Notification summaries - Apple Intelligence will summarise multiple notifications from the iMessage app, so you can catch up at a glance.

Image Playground - This feature is designed to let users create images using text-based prompts.

The AI can create personalised images, in sketch, illustration and animation styles, based on the people in your photo album.

You can see how this feature works in the video above.

Genmoji - This lets iPhone owners AI-generate custom emoji with text prompts.

All users need to do is type what they're looking for, and iOS 18's injection of AI will make it.

For example, giving the prompt "T-Rex wearing a tutu on a surfboard" will get you exactly that emoji.