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Take and edit photos or videos in Messages on iPhone

You can capture photos and videos directly in the Messages app. You can also modify the photos and videos before you send them by editing the image, marking it up, or adding effects.

Note: Your carrier may set size limits for attachments; iPhone may compress photo and video attachments when necessary.

Send a photo or video

  1. Go to the Messages app 👁 Image
    on your iPhone.

  2. In a conversation, tap 👁 the Add button
    .

  3. Do one of the following:

  4. To add stickers, labels, and shapes to your photo, tap Markup, then use Markup. When you’re done, tap Save.

  5. Tap Done to add the photo or video to the message bubble, add a comment (optional), then tap 👁 the Send button
    to send your message.

    Note: To send SMS, MMS, or RCS attachments on models with Dual SIM, you need to set up Dual SIM.

You can also send a photo or video with a Digital Touch effect or record a video message in the FaceTime app.

Note: You can have your (or a family member’s) iPhone receive warnings about sensitive content and warn you before it’s sent or received. See Receive warnings about sensitive content or Check for sensitive images and videos.

If Apple Intelligence* is turned on, you can create original images with Image Playground, or create custom emoji—called Genmoji—in Messages.

Send photos faster

You can send smaller-sized previews of images so your recipients get them right away, before the full-resolution images arrive.

  1. Go to the Settings app 👁 Image
     on your iPhone.

  2. Tap Apps, then tap Messages.

  3. Turn on Send Low Quality Photo Previews.

When Low Data Mode is on, only the preview is sent. See Manage roaming options and choose other cellular data options.

To remove a photo or video from the message bubble before sending it, tap 👁 the Cancel button
.

Note: Attachments you send over iMessage (such as photos or videos) may be uploaded to Apple and encrypted so that no one but the sender and receiver can access them. To improve performance, your iPhone may automatically upload attachments to Apple while you’re composing a message. If you decide not to send your message, the attachments are deleted from the server after several days.

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