Can You Mark iMessages as Unread?

Texting and iMessage have evolved to become more user-friendly experiences over the last few years changing the way users express themselves and share their ideas.

In 2016, Apple introduced Emoji Replacement and Prediction which, automatically suggested emoji options for users to select as a replacement for specific words. To use this feature, you first have to enable a few keyboard settings (more on that here) that take a few simple taps. Once you’ve enabled the feature, go to your messaging app, open a new text to your lunch buddy who you picked up the bill for, and start typing: Hey you owe me money for lunch today.

You should notice in the predictive bar (the gray bar with word suggestions, usually the correct spelling of words) emoji suggestions when you type the words ‘hey,’ ‘money,’ and ‘lunch.’ Those suggestions should appear as follows for each associated word:

Hey — 👋
Money — 💰💴💵
Lunch — 🥗🥙🍴

Here are some other examples:

If you want to push the acceptable limits of the amount of acceptable emojis to use in a particular text, your message to your lunch buddy could have been: ‘👋 you owe me 💰 for 🥙 today.’

I’m no psychologist but, not only does this text appear more interesting and colorful, it also comes off as more friendly and less aggressive. Your lunch buddy is likely to send you the same message next time they pick up the tab — this time you’ll be ready to respond with an arsenal of emojis at your disposal.

With the addition of this tool and several others, the question remains: Will there be any additional tools to help those of us who suck at responding to texts?

Instagram added a feature to its direct messaging platform that allows its users to flag specific conversations, filter messages based on a few options (current options: inbox, unread, and flagged), and even mark conversations as unread. As an avid IG user, this tool helps me filter through the noise and get back to people who require a response to the hottest meme of the day or essential networking messages.

Will Apple make this or a similar set of features available to its users in the new year or will our friends have to accept that they’ll have to keep bugging us to get a response?