7 iMessage Tricks For “Pew Pew” Like Special Effects on iPhone

Quick Tips

• iMessage effects Like Pew Pew are triggered by certain text, such as Happy Birthday, Congratulations, Happy New Year, etc.,
• You can also animate the text before sending it (iOS 18). Select the text → Text Effects → select animation and send.
• To send full-screen animation or animate the message bubble, tap and hold the Send button → select animation and send.

Things to Keep in Mind While Using iMessage Text Effects

• The special effects mentioned below work only for iMessages between Apple devices and not for regular SMS messages.
• The effects will show on both your screen and the recipient’s screen.

Trick 1. Add iMessage Effects Like Pew Pew by Sending Keywords

Just like the Pew Pew iMessage effect, you can trigger more iPhone text effects that will fill up the entire screen by sending some keywords. Before we discuss these keywords, let’s see how Pew Pew works.

Step 1: Launch the Messages app on your iPhone. Open the chat you want to send the message.

Step 2: Write Pew Pew or any of the following special effects keywords in the message box and hit the Send button.

Your entire screen will be filled with animation. And the same thing will happen on the receiver’s end when they open the message.

List of Words That Trigger Effects like Pew Pew

Note:

• Send the keywords alone i.e., do not add more text with the keywords, otherwise; the special effects won’t work.

• The effects are accompanied by sound effects and vibrations, so keep the volume up while testing and sharing!
  
• Words with similar meanings in the English language or a different language will also trigger animations. Some examples are covered in the table below.

Trigger word	Effect
Pew Pew	Laser light
Happy Birthday	Flying balloons
Congrats or Congratulations Selamat (Indonesian) Complimenti (Italian) Herzlichen Glückwunsch (German)	Confetti from the top of the screen
Happy New Year Bonne Année (French) Buon anno (Italian) Feliz Ano Novo (Spanish/Portugese)	Fireworks
Happy Chinese New Year	Red explosion or celebration effect
Eid Mubarak	Shooting star effect
Happy Diwali	Fireworks
Best Wishes	Confetti from the top of the screen

Tip: For a list of Languages and words that generate special effects, check out the link.

Trick 2. Add Fun Animated Effects To Any Text (iOS 18)

iOS 18 brought in a bunch of changes in iMessage, including new animated text effects. You can add these effects to a singular word or sentence.

Step 1: Open the iMessage chat and type in your message. Select the text you want to animate.

Tip: Double-tap to select a word, and triple-tap to select the entire message.

Step 2: Tap > (arrow icon) from the pop-up menu. Select Text Effects from the list.

Step 3: Tap the effect you want to apply and Send.

List of Text Animation Available in iOS 18

• You can also mix animations and put different animations to different words in the sentence.
  
• When you copy-paste or forward the animated text, the animation is also copied.

Effect	Animation
Big	Increases the size of text
Small	Decreases the size of text
Shake	Slides the text left and right
Nod	Move the text up and down
Explode	Text bursts out
Ripple	A ripple goes through the text
Bloom	Highlights the alphabets/words of the text one by one
Jitter	The text jitters

Tip: Need a guinea pig to test all the iMessage effects mentioned in the article? iMessage yourself and experiment as much as you want.

Trick 3. Send Full-Screen iMessage Effects For Any Message

Not just animate the text, but animate the whole screen with the text. To do so, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the Chat in iMessage. Type in your message.

Step 2: Hold the Send button, and a new screen will show up. Tap the Screen tab from the top.

Step 3: Swipe left to see all available options. You can see the preview of the iMessage effect selected. Choose one and tap Send.

List of Full-Screen Effects

Name	Effect
Echo	Numerous copies of the message zooms around the screen.
Spotlight	Puts a spotlight on the message.
Balloons	Balloons fly up from the bottom of the screen.
Confetti	Confetti falls from the top of the screen.
Love	A big animated heart pops out of the message.
Lasers	Color-changing laser beam shoots out from the message
Fireworks	Fireworks erupts in the background
Celebration	Celebration effect in the background

Trick 4. Add Special Effect to Message Bubble Only

If you think animating the whole screen is a bit much, you can animate just the blue message bubble. While these are not the same effects as above, there are some interesting animations here. Follow these steps to animate message bubble on iPhone:

Step 1: Type in your message. Long-press the Send icon.

Step 2: From the Send with effect screen, stay on the Bubble tab.

Step 3: Tap the effect to see a preview. Tap again to send the message with that effect.

List of iMessage Bubble Effects

Slam	Slams the bubble on the screen and shakes all the previous messages.
Loud	Increases the bubble/text size of the message.
Gentle	Decrease the bubble/text size of the message.
Invisible ink	Hides the message initially. It will be visible only when the recipient taps it.

Trick 5. Send Emoji or Stickers with Full-Screen or Bubble Effect

On yes! Not just text, you can also animate Stickers or Emojis. The process is pretty much the same, select the emoji or sticker → long-press the Send button → select the effect and send.

The animations available are the same as for text. And though the Invisible Ink doesn’t work for stickers, it works like a charm for emojis.

Send Multiple Emojis with iMessage Effect

While you can’t do the same with stickers (as you can send only one sticker at one time), you can add multiple images in one message horizontally or vertically and add effects to them before sending.

Tip: If you’re facing trouble sharing stickers, check out our guide to fix stickers not working in iMessage.

Trick 6. Send a Handwritten Message or Doodle

Handwritten messages are so rare these days. If you want to relive those moments and add a personalized touch to your messages, you can create handwritten messages in iMessage. The message will animate for the recipient as if you are writing it at that moment only.

To send a handwritten note from an iPhone or iPad, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the chat thread in the Messages app.

Step 2: Rotate your iPhone to switch to the Landscape mode (only then will the handwriting option appear). Tap the Handwriting icon.

Step 3: Write the message with your finger or Apple pencil or choose a saved message from the bottom list. Tap the arrows on the left and right edges to increase the writing area.

Step 4: When you’re satisfied with the message, tap Done.

Step 5: Tap the Send button.

What’s more, you can even animate this handwritten note using the screen or bubble effects. Simply long-press the Send button, select the animation, and send.

Trick 7. Send A Digital Touch Effect

While essentially designed for the Apple Watch, where the receiver would actually feel vibrations based on the sent effect, you can use it to send a special message.

Use the effect to send a hand-drawn sketch or animated graphics such as heartbeats, taps, fireballs, kisses, and a broken heart.

Step 1: In the chat thread, tap + to open iMessage apps. Swipe down to find and select the Digital Touch icon (heart with two fingers).

Step 2: The Digital Touch screen will open. Use your fingers to draw something or use gestures (mentioned below) to send animated graphics.

When the receives the sketch, it appears step-by-step, drawn as you’ve drawn it initially. To change the pencil color, tap the color button on the left-hand side, and select from available options.

Tip: If you can’t find the Digital Touch, here’s a guide to adding or deleting iMessage apps on iPhone.

List of Digital Touch Effects

Gestures	Effects
Draw something	Draws your doodle as you’ve drawn
Touch and hold the canvas with two fingers	Sends a red beating heart
Touch with two fingers and drag down	Broken heart
Tap with two fingers	Draw Something
Touch and hold the canvas with one finger	Fireball
Tap repeatedly on the canvas	Ring effect

You can also use Digital Touch to send a short video/photo with these animated gestures. Tap the camera icon → click picture or record video → use gesture as shown above → send.

Tip: Looking for some more fun things to do on iMessage, check out these best iMessage apps.

FAQs About iPhone Text Tricks