All the words and phrases that cause special texting effects on your iPhone (2024)

• Make special text effects on your iPhone by typing out certain phrases, like "Happy Birthday."
• You can manually add effects to any text you send by holding your finger on the send button.
• Your iPhone's text effects on iMessage include laser shows, fireworks, invisible ink, and more.

Your iPhone's Messages app isn't just for sending plain texts. You can send photos, videos, GIFs, and even your current location. With a wide variety of special effects, you can spruce up your messages, too.

These special effects can add a bit of flair to your messages, making them shoot off lasers, slam onto the screen with a thud, and more.

There are two ways to activate most of your iPhone's special effects: By sending messages that include certain words, or by holding your finger on the send button.

Here's how to activate every special texting effect on your iPhone, both automatically and manually.

What words cause special iPhone text effects on iMessage?

While you can pick and choose your effects, you can also activate them by sending special words or phrases. Here are the words that work.

'Happy New Year'

When you send a "Happy New Year" message, your text will be accompanied by its own colorful fireworks show.

'Happy Chinese New Year'

Chinese New Year gets its own effect, too. This effect comes packaged with its own firecracker-esque vibration pattern when you send it.

'Happy Birthday'

Text "Happy Birthday" to summon a flood of colorful balloons. Shortened versions like "HBD" won't trigger the effect, unfortunately.

'Congrats' or 'Congratulations'

When you congratulate someone, confetti will rain down from the top of your screen. You can also try sending congratulations in different languages, like the Spanish "Felicitaciones" or Indonesian "Selamat" — these usually work too.

'Pew Pew'

Typing in "pew pew" will shoot laser beams out from your text.

How to cause iPhone texting effects on any message

If you don't want to cram one of the special words or phrases into your message, but still want a cool effect, don't worry: There's a feature for that.

After you type out your message, press and hold your finger on the send button. After a moment it'll open up the Send with effect menu, which lets you pick and choose which special effect you want your text to have. In this menu, you'll find all of the automatic effects we already talked about and more.

There are two types of special effect: Bubble and Screen. The Bubble effects only change how your single text message bubble will look, but the Screen effects will fill up the entire screen when you send them.

The Bubble effects are:

• Slam: This makes your text message fall onto the screen like a boulder, even kicking up a dust cloud when it lands.
• Loud: Makes your text bubble grow and shake, as if you're screaming it.

• Gentle: Your text message will start out in a much smaller font than normal, then grow back to normal.
• Invisible Ink: Your text message will look strange and scrambled at first, and you'll have to tap it to reveal the actual message.

The Screen effects are:

• Echo: When your text arrives, dozens of copies of it will zoom around the screen for a few seconds.

• Spotlight: The entire Messages app will go dark, and a single light will illuminate your message.
• Balloons: Sends a flock of colorful balloons floating across the screen.
• Confetti: Makes confetti rain down from the top of the screen.
• Love: A giant 3D heart will fly out of your text message and float off the screen.

• Lasers: A bunch of color-changing lasers will shoot out from your text message bubble and travel up-and-down the screen.
• Fireworks: The app's background will turn pitch black, and bright fireworks will explode all over.
• Celebration: Sparkles of light will erupt from the corners of the screen.

Extra tricks for your iMessages

Beyond text effects, there are fun ways to react to text messages and other types of unique messages to send. Here are a few to try:

Tapback expressions

If you want to "like" or react to a message, you can give it a thumbs up, a heart, emphasis, question mark, or even a quick laugh.

1. In an iMessage thread, double-tap the message bubble, photo, video, or GIF you want to react to.

2. Tap to select a Tapback expression. Options include a heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, "ha ha," two exclamation points, and a question mark.

Direct reply

Sometimes you need to respond to a text message that isn't the most recent message in the conversation. There's an iPhone feature that lets you directly reply to an earlier message in a thread so that it's clear what you're responding to.

1. In an iMessage thread, double-tap the message bubble, photo, video, or GIF you want to reply to.

2. Tap Reply.

3. Type out your message, then tap the Send button (it looks like an arrow pointing up).

Send a GIF

Sending GIFs via iMessage is easier than ever, and you can do it straight from your keyboard. When words fail, GIFs allow you to express what you're really thinking or feeling.

1. In an iMessage thread, tap the App button next to the message field.

2. Select the GIF finder. It's a red icon with a magnifying glass.

3. Type in a few words to search for the perfect GIF. When you find the one you want, tap to select it.

4. When the GIF is finished loading in the message field, tap the Send button.