How to Create and Use Rich Links in Messages in iOS 10

Here is a guide on how to use the new Rich Links feature within iOS 10. We are constantly sharing various media items with our friends and family that we find interesting throughout our day through Messages.

We are usually able to gather what the link is in relation to, yet iOS 10 packs a great new feature for viewing links to online content. This feature brings richer information to your shared material, gibing it more of a preview and the ability to interact. These are auto generated by iOS 10 and will instantly give your message threads a much richer view for finding your shared media.

How to Create and Use Rich Links in Messages in iOS 10

Here are the steps to better understand and utilize the new rich links features in iOS 10.

Watch the above video for a demonstration on creating and using rich links.

Creating Rich Links

As mentioned above, one of the new native features of iOS 10 is to make these pasted links appear much richer than a standard URL, including a website preview and often playable content in-line with your messages.

Copying and Pasting an article or Youtube link into your Messages app will then create a rich link preview including picture and playable link for music and video content. These links now highlight your conversation, giving both you and your participant a preview of what was shared and the ability to interact within the app for media content.

Using Rich Links In-Line

When the rich links appear in our messages, we will be able to open them in their respective apps by simply tapping the link preview. There are times as mentioned where we will send a playable item such as a Soundcloud link or iTunes song.

The rich data will display a play button over these playable links and will allow you to listen or view in-line with your Messages app. This is yet another example of Apple’s desire to allow full interaction with apps like Messages within any other application.

This new delivery method of rich data is a welcomed update to sharing information as we have always been able to share photos and other media. This ability to create a presentable live preview of your information is a small yet impactful change that will likely improve some usability for iPhone owners.

What's New in iOS 11.4.1

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The iOS 11.4 update added Messages in iCloud and AirPlay 2, but it also brought issues along with it. The iOS 11.4.1 update keeps these long anticipated features and includes fixes for some iOS 11.4 problems.  Specifically the iOS 11.4.1 update; Fixes an issue that prevented some users from viewing the last known location of their AirPods in Find My iPhone.  Improves reliability of syncing mail, contacts and notes with Exchange accounts.   This update also includes other bug fixes and security upgrades. It's possible that this update includes a fix for bad iOS 11.4 battery life.  Messages in the Cloud allows you to backup your iMessage conversations to the cloud just like you back up your notes, contacts and photos. This means they are backed up in case something happens to your phone, but that's not all.  Messages in the Cloud syncs deleted messages and threads across your iCloud devices. This means everything will show up the same across your Apple devices. With this in place you should see the same conversations everywhere, all of the time.  This also backs up the photos and attachments in the cloud so you have more room on your iPhone or iPad. When you get a new device all of the messages sync to that device so you don't lose anything.

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