I didn’t have enough room in the previous chapter to cover all the new Messages features in iOS 8, so in this chapter, I focus on more of what’s new, most of which can be found in the new Details view ①.
① The new Details screen in Messages has new features, like location sharing.
It’s All in the Details
While viewing a Messages chat, tap Details in the upper right to uncover a host of capabilities.
Group Details
- Name a group: Pull down on the Details view, and then enter a name in the Group Name field at the top ②. The group name replaces the participants’ names at the top of the chat’s thread and in the chat’s entry in your messages list.
② You can now name groups in the new Details view, but you won’t see the Group Name field until you pull down.
- Leave a group chat: In iOS 8, you can (finally!) leave a group chat that just won’t end. Tap Leave this Conversation ③; you may need to scroll down a little to find it.
③ Yay, you can finally leave a chat!
- Add a contact to a chat: Not only can you leave an ongoing conversation, but you can also now invite someone else to it. Tap Add Contact.
- Mute a chat: To remain in the chat, but no longer receive notifications each time a new message arrives, enable Do Not Disturb in the Details view.
Share Your Location
- Share your location once: Tap Share My Location to send a map showing your current location to the chat.
Conversation members can tap the attachment that appears to see a Maps-like view of your location.
- Share your location over time: Tap Share My Location to let chat members monitor your location for 1 hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely.
Chat members can view a map of your location in the Details view. The map can be tapped for more location-related options.
Sharing your location shares it with the people in the chat, not just within the chat. Chat members can see your location in the Find My Friends app (if installed) and in any other chats you have with them.
Manage All Attachments
All chat attachments are displayed in a grid in the Details view ④.
④ Scroll down in Details view to see all attachments in the chat.
Experiment with tapping items (such as photos, videos, PDFs, and audio clips), and with holding on items to open a popover, to find controls for copying, saving, and deleting:
- Batch-save images: In the Details view for a chat, touch and hold any photo or video until a popover appears, and then tap More. Select the items you want to save ⑤, and then tap Save # Images in the lower left. (You can batch-save only images and videos.)
⑤ Tap an image to get a blue checkmark at its lower right and add it to the batch that will be saved.
- Batch-delete images: Follow the directions just above for saving a batch of images, but tap the Trash
icon in the lower right to delete them.
Mark All Messages Read
An unread message is marked in the messages list with a colored circle at its left. To mark all chats as read, tap Edit in the upper left of your message list, then tap Read All.
Automatically Delete Messages
Tired of message attachments taking up lots of storage space? By default, messages are kept forever. But go to Settings > Messages > Keep Messages, and you can tell Messages to delete individual messages and attachments after 30 days or 1 year.
However, audio and video messages—not attachments—are a bit different. By default, they self-destruct after 2 minutes, but you can opt to keep them forever in Settings > Messages.
Copyright © 2014, Josh Centers. All rights reserved.
