Introduction
iMessage apps are a great way to express your emotions, play games, or even
send videos or pictures. Some even allow you to send GIF's, Memes and other
assortments of stickers.
What are iMessage Apps
iMessage apps are apps that are primarily for iMessage. iMessage apps can
come in two forms.
* Regular apps: An app will appear on your home screen, but the app
could contain an iMessage app extension, such as
YouTube for instance.
* iMessage only: Apps that do not appear on your home screen,
because it's only the iMessage app itself, hence the title.
Installing iMessage Apps
If you know how to install an app from the App Store, then the iMessage app
installation uses the same process. Simply download the app from the App
Store like you would a regular app.
However, do take note that like regular apps, not all iMessage apps are
guaranteed to be accessible, especially graphical packs like stickers or
GIF's.
To view an extensive list of iMessage apps in a story by Apple, open this
page <https://apps.apple.com/us/story/id1271888049> .
Using iMessage Apps
To use an iMessage app, you must make sure you have a conversation open.
This is done by doing the following:
1. Select the Messages app from your home screen.
2. Select any conversation to bring up the conversation view.
3. To the left of the text field, there is a button that hides or shows a
window below the conversation. Make sure it is set to visible, then navigate
downward. You should start hearing several apps being listed out, and if
it's "New" it will say so.
4. Double-tap on an app to open its card. App cards are smaller versions
of the app that appear below the window. As you would imagine, this would be
very cluttery, so if needed, navigate down to the app card, where it is
collapsed, and like the icon before the message text field, expand it so
that it hides everything else.
Managing apps on the iMessage home screen
Sometimes it may be useful to add or remove apps from the iMessage home
screen, or the window below your conversation. To manage your apps, select
the More button, the last item in the window. When it opens, you can manage
all your apps here.
The favorites section holds some of the default apps, like Digital Touch,
Apple Pay and Music, with some others listed as well. Your favorites always
appear above your other apps. This means if you want to add apps to your
favorites, you can use the edit button. This also allows you to reorder apps
that are already in your favorites.
The More Apps section of this More window includes all the other apps listed
on your iMessage home screen. Selecting the insert button on any app will
add it to your favorites. You can also swipe down and double tap to delete
the app.
If you would rather not delete or insert the app, you can also just switch
the app off entirely by double-tapping on the app, until it announces "off."
This removes clutter from your home screen and allows you to sort out the
apps you need and don't need. Note that this does not affect apps that have
content besides iMessage apps, like Pandora, or YouTube. The regular app
will still function the same, but you won't be able to use it from the
iMessage home screen until you switch the app on again.
App Attachments
If you complete an action in a game or select something from an app, it
generates an attachment called an app attachment. App attachments contain
information saying, for instance, in a game it could be your opponent's
turn. Or, it could be the other way around, receiving an attachment contains
information that it's your turn to play. In terms of apps however, the
information being generated is quite the same. When you send a picture, they
receive it as such. Same applies to attaching a document or video, or even
audio files. The app I'll be using in this guide to demonstrate is YouTube.
We'll be attaching a video (app attachment) and as an example, sending it to
Scott Davert from AppleVis.
Attaching Apps
1. Open the iMessage home screen; Messages>random_conversation>messages
apps, visible, this must say visible for the window to appear.
2. Navigate down to the YouTube app and select it to reveal a window below
the home screen. Also, for less clutter (optional) expand the app card.
3. You can either pick from your recently watched list, or double-tap
search. I'll be searching for a video in this example.
4. Search "timecrest podcast" and hit Search. Note that the voice search
option is available here, so you can speak to Google and she will input your
text for you, or you can use Apple's Dictation function at the bottom of the
keyboard, or with a magic tap (double-tap with two fingers).
5. Once you're done searching, a results heading will appear below the
search bar. What you are looking for (depending on state, mine is U.S.) is
AppleVis Extra. If you can't find this, find a video of your choosing so you
at least know what to do.
6. Double-tap on the video to attach it to your message, or if you would
like to confirm it's the video you want before sending, swipe down on the
video to set Actions to play, then double-tap. A player similar to the
default YouTube app's video player will show up. If you are satisfied, you
don't even have to go back and find the video in the results again. Just
find the Send button prior to the video player and it'll attach the app as
if you double-tapped on the video without listening first.
7. Finally, hit the 'Send' button in Messages, or if you made a mistake,
select the Remove app attachment button and repeat the above steps.
A List of Accessible iMessage Apps
This will generally be updated if I do find any apps, but for now, here's
the list I've found useful so far.
To copy the app name to the clipboard, quadruple tap (tap 4 times) with
three fingers.
YouTube
Pedometer++
Google
GarageBand
Bible
ESPN
Pandora
More will be listed as I find them.
Conclusion
iMessage apps can be used to share things. Whether to express feelings, play
a game, or send a funny video or picture, it's all up to you with iMessage
apps.
Have a great day, and thanks for taking the time to read this through.
Submitted by Tunmi at:
www.applevis.com
