Adding a handwritten message to your iMessage can really personalize things, but it’s not super obvious how to do it if you’ve never tried. Here’s the lowdown:
-
First, open the Messages app and go to the conversation where you want to send your handwritten message.
-
Tap the text input area to bring up your keyboard. Then, turn your iPhone to landscape (horizontal) orientation. If the screen doesn’t rotate, you probably have Portrait Orientation Lock turned on. You need to disable that for this to work. To turn it off, open the Control Center (swipe down from the top-right or up from the bottom, depending on your iPhone model), and then tap the lock icon.
-
Now, in landscape view, you should see a squiggly line icon next to the return key. This won’t show in portrait mode. Tap that squiggly line to open a blank canvas where you can create your handwritten message.
-
Use your finger to write or draw anything on the screen. You can also select from some ready-made messages, like “hello” or “thank you” at the bottom, if you prefer.
-
Need more room? Tap the arrow on the right to get a second page. You can have up to two pages for your masterpiece.
-
If you mess up, use the Undo button at the top left.
-
To start completely over, tap the Clear button, also at the top left.
-
When you’re happy with it, tap Done at the top right.
-
Your message will then show up in the text input box. You can send it as is, or add some regular text alongside it.
-
Finally, tap the blue send arrow and your handwritten message will be sent exactly as you wrote it.
Deleting saved handwritten messages
Any handwritten messages you’ve sent are automatically saved and appear with the pre-written ones. If you want to get rid of them, just long-press one, until they all start to jiggle and show a little “x”. Then tap the “x” on the message you want to delete.