Skip to content 
How To Send iPhone Messages With Bubble & Screen Effects: Make Your iMessages Pop!
If you want your iPhone messages to stand out, try sending them with screen effects. Here’s how…
One of people’s favorite features of the iPhone is the Messages app. Apple Messages, or iMessage as it’s sometimes known, is one of the most popular messaging apps on the planet. People love those blue bubbles.
In recent versions of the iPhone’s operating system – including iOS 14, iOS 15, and iOS 16 – Apple has added new features to the Messages app. Features like the ability to delete sent messages, edit sent messages, and add reactions to messages.
But there are also additional little-used features of Messages, which can make sending messages more fun. Those features are Bubble effects and Screen effects.
What Are iPhone Messages Bubble Effects?
The first set of effects built into Messages is Bubble effects. Bubble effects are effects – that is, animations – that affect the chat bubble (also known as chat balloon or word balloon) itself – so the blue bubble text message you’ve sent.
Bubble effects work on text messages, emojis, and picture attachments – whatever fits inside a blue iMessage text word balloon. Bubble effects come in four varieties:
- Slam: This effect makes your message slam down onto the text message thread. It’s an eye-catching animation that gives your message a tone of authority or hilarity (depending on what the message says, of course).
- Loud: this bubble effect temporarily enlarges the text message and shakes it before shrinking it back down to normal size. As the name suggests, this animation represents you yelling the message.
- Gentle: this bubble effect temporarily enlarges the chat bubble, but the text inside it is small. Eventually, the text grows to normal size. This animation represents a whisper.
- Invisible ink: this bubble effect is perhaps the coolest. When you send a text message or photo using this effect, the text or photo is blurred out. The recipient has to swipe their finger over the blurred content in order to reveal it.
As of iOS 16, these are the only four bubble effects so far.
What Are iPhone Messages Screen Effects?
The next set of effects built into Messages are Screen Effects. Where Bubble effects affect just the look and animation of an individual chat bubble, Screen Effects affect the whole screen displaying the messages in the chat thread.
Screen effects last for just a few seconds. There are multiple types of Screen Effects:
- Echo: this causes the most recently sent sext to replicate itself all over the screen.
- Spotlight: this effect will cause a spotlight effect to show on the text message.
- Balloons: this effect shows balloons floating up on the screen behind the text messages. It’s a great effect when sending happy birthday wishes.
- Confetti: this effect sends confetti cascading down the screen. It’s good for texts that are congratulating someone.
- Love: this effect will show a helium heart-shaped balloon inflate on screen and float off.
- Lasers: this effect will make it appear like multi-colored lasers are projecting from a. Point behind the text bubble.
- Fireworks: this effect will cause fireworks to appear on the screen.
- Celebration: this effect will cause golden sparks to shower across the screen.
As of iOs 16, the above screen effects are all the app offers right now.
How To Send An iPhone Messages Bubble Effect
Sending an iPhone Messages Bubble Effect is easy:
- In the Message app, compose your message in the text field.
- Now, instead of tapping on the blue send button, tap and hold it.
- The Effect screen will appear. Make sure the Bubble tab is active by tapping it.
- Now, tap the dot next to any of the four Bubble effects to preview it.
- Tap the Send button next to the selected Bubble effect you want to use.
And that’s how you send Bubble effects in Messages on iPhone!
How To Send An iPhone Messages Screen Effect
Sending an iPhone Messages Screen Effect is easy:
- In the Message app, compose your message in the text field.
- Now, instead of tapping on the blue send button, tap and hold it.
- The Effect screen will appear. Make sure the Screen tab is active by tapping it.
- Now, swipe to the right to swipe through the various Screen effects to preview them.
- Tap the Send button on the selected Screen effect you want to use.
And that’s how you send Screen effects in Messages on iPhone!