iOS 18 beta: Everything you need to know about text effects in Messages

Apple released the fifth public beta of iOS 18 on August 20, more than two months after the tech giant announced the software at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The beta brings a host of new features to developers’ and beta testers’ iPhones, including ways to customize your home screen and RCS messaging. For those who like a little nuance in their texting, you’ll also be able to make your texts stand out with new text effects and formatting options.

Text effects range from making your text bold to making the letters explode in your message. You can also use these effects on a single word or phrase in a message to emphasize what you’re saying. Before these effects, all you could do was use all caps on a word or phrase, which is fine in some cases, but sometimes I want to make my words dance on the screen because I’m dancing—badly—while I type.

Learn more: Expert Guide to iOS 18 Beta Features

Keep in mind that iOS 18 is still in beta, and I recommend downloading the beta only on a device other than your primary device. Since this is not the final version of iOS 18, the update can be buggy and battery life can be short, so it’s best to keep these issues on a secondary device. To avoid any issues, I downloaded the beta on my old iPhone XR instead of my iPhone 14 Pro.

Note that the beta is not the final version of iOS 18, so you may see more features available on your iPhone when iOS 18 is released. Apple has said that iOS 18 will be available to the public this fall, but there is no firm date yet.

Here’s how you can make your writing as expressive as you are.

Where to find text effects

1. Open messages.
2. Join a discussion.
3. Tap the text box.
4. Press the A with dashes on its left side, which are found above the P on the keyboard.

This opens the text effects menu. At the top of the menu are the formatting options for bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough. Below that are eight different effects: Large, Small, Shake, Nod, Explode, Ripple, Glow, and Jitter.

You can select and use any combination of formatting options at once, including all of them together. You can only use one text effect at a time. Text effects also clear any formatting options you’ve selected. So you can’t make your message bold and then use the Large effect, which temporarily inflates the message size.

Most of the effects seem like they could be used in a variety of situations, but a few seem to be well-suited to certain emotions or contexts. Ripple, for example, seems tailor-made for sarcasm, especially when used on a word like “really.”

Be aware that if you select formatting options, you must tap the text box again for your keyboard to return to its original state. If you choose a text effect, your keyboard will automatically return to its original state after you tap the desired effect.

Can you use more than one text effect?

You can use multiple effects in a single message, but you can’t apply multiple effects to the same word. So you can’t use the Big and Shake effects on your entire message, but you can apply Big to one part of the message and Shake to the other part of the message. Here’s how to do it.

1. Open messages.
2. Join a discussion.
3. Tap the text box.
4. Write your message in full.
5. Highlight the word(s) you want to add an effect to.
6. Press the A with dashes on its left side, which are found above the P on the keyboard.
7. Tap the formatting options or text effect you want to use.

The text formatting or effect will be applied to whatever you have highlighted. You can then highlight and apply additional formatting or effects to other words in the message. This means that you can use all the text effects in a single message if you try hard enough – I believe in you.

For more on iOS 18, here’s my hands-on experience with the iOS 18 public betas, what to know about RCS messaging, and how to use it T9 numbering. You can also consult our iOS 18 Cheat Sheet.