How To React To An iMessage With Any Emoji You Want

Tapback reactions are a fun and handy feature in iMessage. Apple introduced this in 2016 with iOS 10 for a straightforward purpose: quick and easy texting. By long-pressing a message, you can select one of six icons to respond with: a heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, ha ha, double exclamation, or question mark. While their intended meanings are clear, like many things on the internet, they can be open to interpretation. This ambiguity can increase the chance of miscommunication, which is problematic since texting is already a lossy medium. For instance, you might send a thumbs-up to mean "got it" or "good idea," but the recipient might interpret it as flippant or rude, or assume you don't want to continue the conversation.

However, most people don't know that they can use any emoji in their library as a Tapback reaction, which adds a lot more flexibility. Instead of being limited to six Tapbacks, you can be as colorful and expressive as you want, and minimize the risk of being misunderstood. 

Here's how to get started: 

1. Open the conversation you want to react to in Messages.

2. Tap the message field to bring up your keyboard.

3. Next, tap the smiley icon at the bottom left of the screen to open the emoji library.

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4. Long press on the emoji you want to use as a reaction, then drag it onto the message you're reacting to and release it.

5. You can resize the emoji by pinching in or out on the screen before you release it. You can also react to a message with more than one emoji — just repeat the process to tack another reaction beside (or onto) the first one.

And that's it. You now have 3,500+ options for message reactions. You can delete a reaction if you don't like how it looks, or if you've added too many. To do this, long-press on the message you've reacted to, then select Sticker Details from the drop-down menu. Swipe left on the emoji reaction and tap the bin to delete it.

There's more fun to be had with emojis in iMessage. You can spice up your conversations with unique stickers by stacking emojis, and that's just one way to go. Here are other hidden features in iMessage you should also try out.