The iOS 10 Messages app gets its biggest update since the introduction of iMessage, and the biggest visual and features update in the history of iOS, adding support for a number of new effects and messaging styles along with an App Store for iMessage which allows the app to be expanded with new collaborative features.

The new effects are clearly an attempt to bring Messages in line with more “fun” third-party apps and appeal to a younger user base, although many of them have a practical side as well. Digital Touch from the Apple Watch has come to the iOS Messages app, allowing you to not only receive Digital Touch messages such as taps, sketches and heartbeats from Apple Watch users, but to send them to other Apple Watch and iOS devices. Handwritten messages can also be sent, which animate on the recipient’s device, with custom script to choose from as well as the ability to add your own.
New bubble effects — slam, loud, gentle, and invisible ink — can be added to Messages to provide emphasis (or de-emphasis) on the recipient’s device, along with background effects of balloons, confetti, laser light show, fireworks, and shooting star. The iOS 10 Messages app will also sometimes add effects automatically when appropriate — for example, sending somebody the message “Happy Birthday” will automatically display the balloons background effect.

It’s also interesting to note that these effects are only available if the Reduce Motion option is turned OFF in the iPhone’s Accessibility Settings, so unfortunately if you’re not a fan of the parallax effects introduced in iOS 7, you’re going to have to either live with it or be left out in the cold on the new iMessage effects.
A new “tapback” feature also allows you to drop response icons on top of messages you’ve received or sent to act as quick replies, such as giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, and stickers can also be dropped on top of bubbles or photos, with the new App Store for iMessage expected to provide a huge collection of new options in this area.

The QuickType section now displays emoji in addition to text, and it’s more contextually aware so you’ll see the appropriate emoji for whatever you’re typing. There’s also a new tap-to-replace emoji feature, which will highlight keywords when switching to the emoji keyboard, and you can tap on those words to replace them with the appropriate emoji. It’s a slightly goofy way to text in our opinion, but again, it should appeal to a younger audience.
When sending links in Messages, they’ll now be rendered as previews of the web pages you’re sharing, similar to how Facebook Messenger handles links.

The photo sharing section has also been reorganized slightly, with more previews of your photo library and a live camera preview panel, which includes a button for quickly switching between the iSight and FaceTime cameras. You can tap on an image to immediately insert it into the current conversation, or tap-and-hold to bring up the image browser, which also now includes a Markup option for annotating the image before sending. Swiping to the right on the camera/image preview panel will also reveal buttons for bringing up the full camera or your full photo library; notably, if you want your photos to be saved to the iOS Photo Library, you’ll need to use the Camera button rather than the live preview.

Messages has also been opened up to developer enhancements via the new App Store for iMessage, and from what we’ve heard there should be a huge collection of apps coming, ranging from simple graphical sticker apps to more collaborative apps for sharing content, making payments, and arranging group reservations.
Finally, one last small tweak to Messages allows you to determine whether Read Receipts are sent out on a per-conversation basis. This can be found by going into the Details section for the current conversation, where a toggle switch can be used to turn Read Receipts on or off, overriding the global setting.