Like most modern mobile operating systems, iOS makes it easy to send messages to family and friends. While most messages contain quick snippets of text, you also can send selfies, videos clips or audio messages via the same method you use to send your text-based communications.
Quickly send a selfie to your friends.
The iOS Messaging app integrates with the camera app and allows you to snap a photo quickly and send it off to your family or friends. It’s a great way to share a moment while it still is occurring.
- Open the Messages app on your iOS device (requires iOS 8 or greater).
- Tap the compose button in the upper right corner or select an existing Messaging conversation.
- Tap and hold on the Camera icon in the bottom left to open the Camera interface.
- Use the flip camera icon in the top right corner to switch to the front camera if necessary and then tap the camera button on the left side to take a photo.
- Once you take a photo, the image will be processed and sent automatically to the recipient.
Send a Video Message to a contact
Sending a video message is very similar to sending an image, except there is one major difference — instead of snapping a photo with the camera, you need to to select the video camera as follows:
- Open the Messages app on your iOS device (requires iOS 8 or greater).
- Tap the compose button in the upper right corner or select an existing Messaging conversation.
- Tap and hold on the Camera icon in the bottom left to open the Camera interface.
- Use the flip camera icon in the top right corner to switch to the front camera if necessary and then tap the red recording button on the left side to take a video
- Tap the recording button again to end the recording.
- Select the play button if you wish to review the clip or tap the up arrow to send the clip automatically. You also can tap the “x” to cancel the recording.
Record and send an audio message
Sometimes the simplicity of an audio message is preferable to a video message. Audio messages are easier to record and take less time to send because their file size is significantly smaller than a comparable video file. Sending an audio message is easy thanks to the microphone integration that is built into iOS 8. Here’s how:
- Open the Messages app on your iOS 8 device.
- Tap the compose button in the upper right corner or select an existing Messaging conversation.
- Tap and hold the Microphone icon on the right side of the screen to begin the audio recording.
- Release the microphone icon to end the recording.
- Tap the Play button to review the message before sending or select the Up arrow to send the message. You also can tap on the “X” to cancel the recording.
