How to Send Photos & Videos in iOS 8 Messages

iOS 8 is out in full force and there are a ton of new features that users can enjoy with the new update. Perhaps the biggest new feature for texters are the improvements to the Messages app.

The Messages app in iOS 8 remains largely unchanged compared to iOS 7, but there are a few added features that make the experience more enjoyable and useful.

Most notably, the app can act a lot like Snapchat, where you can send quick photos and videos to friends in an instant, as well as send off quick audio messages to friends or family instead of typing out a reply, especially if it might be a long response.

While we’ve seen the ability to send quick photos and videos to friends in numerous apps, it’s nice that a similar feature is built right into iMessage for iPhone and ipad users. However, those who are new to the iOS 8 experience might see it as something foreign, but we’re hear to teach and inform users about how to use the features in iOS 8, including sending quick photos and videos to friends and family.

Without further ado, here’s how to send photo and video messages quickly and easily through iMessage on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 8.

Like Snapchat, but Better

Sending a photo or video message in the Messages app in iOS 8 is actually really easy to do. Just follow these simple steps.

• Open up the Messages app from the home screen.
• Tap on the New Message icon in the upper-right corner or select an existing conversation from the list.
• You should see a small camera icon to the left of the text box down at the bottom. Tap and hold on it to bring up a couple of options.

• The two options show a camera icon above your finger and then a red circle to the right. Swiping up to the small camera icon and letting go will instantly take a photo and send it to the recipient. Swiping over to the red circle will automatically begin recording a video, and when you’re done recording, simply lift your finger up to automatically have it sent to the recipient.

Easy, right? But what if you still want to do it the old fashioned way like in iOS 7? Luckily, you can just tap on the camera icon to bring up the same options as iOS 7, only this time you’ll also be greeted with your most recent photos and videos that you’ve taken, and you scroll through them and select one that you want to send.

Overall, sending photos and videos is a lot quicker and easier to do than it was in previous iOS versions.

Receiving Photo & Video Messages

So now that you know how to send photo and video messages, how do you receive them?

Luckily, that part hasn’t changed in iOS 8, and you’ll still receive photos and videos like you always have. However, the big difference with video messages is that, by default, video messages delete themselves automatically after two minutes, unless the sender has changed it otherwise.

However, you can still keep the video message forever by tapping on Keep just under the audio message. This will keep the video message in the conversation forever until you delete it yourself.