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.
While viewing a Messages chat, tap Details in the upper right to uncover a host of capabilities.
② You can now name groups in the new Details view, but you won’t see the Group Name field until you pull down.
③ Yay, you can finally leave a chat!
Conversation members can tap the attachment that appears to see a Maps-like view of your location.
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.
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:
⑤ Tap an image to get a blue checkmark at its lower right and add it to the batch that will be saved.
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.
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.