Use Messages on your Mac

1. Open Messages. You may be asked to sign in with your Apple ID. Can't sign in?
   
2. Click the New Message button  at the top of the Messages window.
   
3. Type the name, email address or phone number of one or more recipients. Or click the Add button  and choose from your contacts.
   
4. Press Tab or click the message field at the bottom of the window, then type your message.
   • To include emoji, click the Emoji Picker button .
   • To include an image or other file, drag or paste it into the message field.
   • To include an audio recording, click the Record Audio button  and record your message.
   • To include other items, such as Memoji stickers, GIFs and message effects, including balloons or confetti, click the Apps button . Requires macOS Big Sur or later. 
   • To help bring your message to the attention of a recipient, include @ before their name, such as @John. Or click their name after you've typed it. Their name will then be highlighted in the message, and they'll receive a notification letting them know that they've been mentioned. Requires macOS Big Sur or later.
5. Press Return to send the message.

Requires macOS Ventura or later

You can edit a sent message up to 5 times within 15 minutes after sending it. 

1. Control-click the message that you want to edit.
2. From the shortcut menu that opens, choose Edit. 
3. Make your edits, then press Return to send or click outside of the message bubble to cancel.
4. Here's what recipients see:
   • If they are using macOS Ventura or later, iOS 16 or later, or iPadOS 16.1 or later, they’ll see your edited message with the word Edited under the message. They can click Edited to see the original message as well, then click Hide Edits to only show the edited message.
   • If they are using any other operating system, they’ll see your edited message as an additional message preceded by "Edited to".

You can undo a sent message within 2 minutes after sending it.

1. Control-click the message that you want to unsend.
2. From the shortcut menu that opens, choose Undo Send.
3. Here's what recipients see:
   • If they are using macOS Ventura or later, iOS 16 or later, or iPadOS 16.1 or later, they’ll see that you unsent a message, but no longer see the message itself.
   • If they are using any other operating system, they might still see your message.

A Tapback is a quick response that expresses what you think about a message, such as whether you like it or think it's funny. Your Tapback will be visible to everyone in the conversation who is using iMessage.

• Control-click a message to open a shortcut menu, then choose a Tapback from the menu.
• Or click a message and press Command-T.

In macOS Big Sur or later, you can create an inline reply to make it clear which specific message you're replying to in a conversation.

• Control-click the message to open a shortcut menu, then choose Reply.
• Or click a message to select it, then press Command-R. 

To see all of the photos, links and other attachments that were exchanged in a conversation, select the conversation in the sidebar, then click the Details button  in the top right-hand corner of the window, or press Command-I.

In macOS Monterey or later, you can also see these items in the Shared with You section of the corresponding app. For example, photos and videos you've received will appear automatically in the Shared with You section of the Photos app, and links to websites will appear in the Shared with You section of the Start Page in Safari.

In macOS Big Sur or later, you can pin a conversation to the top of the conversation list in the sidebar so you can get to it quickly.

• Control-click the conversation to open a shortcut menu, then choose Pin.
• Or drag the conversation to the top of the sidebar.

In macOS Monterey or later, you can pin links and other content that you receive, such as podcasts and TV programmes. Control-click the item, then choose Pin from the shortcut menu. The item is then elevated in the Shared with You section of the corresponding app, in Messages search and in the Details  view of the conversation.

Requires macOS Ventura or later

Mark a message as unread when you can’t respond in the moment, but want to come back to it later.

1. Select the conversation.
2. Take any of these actions:
   • Choose Conversation > Mark Unread.
   • Select the conversation, swipe right with a two-finger Multi-Touch gesture, then click the Mark Unread button.
   • Press Shift-Command-U.

If you don't want to be disturbed by notifications related to a conversation:

1. Select the conversation in the sidebar.
2. Click the Details button  in the top right-hand corner of the window.
3. Select Hide Alerts.

If a recipient is using Focus to silence notifications, their status appears automatically in Messages, so others know not to interrupt. This feature is available in macOS Monterey or later.

When you block a person, they are not able to message you.

1. Select a conversation in the sidebar.
2. From the menu bar, choose Conversation > Block Person.

To unblock a person:

1. Choose Messages > Settings (or Preferences).
2. Click iMessage.
3. In the Blocked tab, select the phone number or email address of the person you blocked, then click the remove button (–).

During a conversation, you can start a FaceTime call with that person or group:

• In macOS Monterey or later, click the FaceTime button  in the top right-hand corner of the window, then choose FaceTime Audio or FaceTime Video.
• Or click the Details button  in the top right-hand corner of the window, then click the FaceTime audio  or FaceTime video  button.

Find out more about using FaceTime on Mac

Select the conversation in the sidebar, then click the Details button  in the top right-hand corner of the window.

• Click the screen sharing button  to share your screen.
• Click Share My Location to share your location temporarily or indefinitely. Or click Send My Current Location to send your current location at a given moment. You can also see the recipient's location – if they're sharing their location with you.

Settings for changing your own name and photo are available by choosing Messages > Preferences from the menu bar. You can click your photo to edit it, and choose whether to share your name and photo with others.

To customise the group, select the group conversation in the sidebar, then click the Details button  in the top right-hand corner of the window. You can then do the following:

• Click Change Group Name and Photo.
• Control-click a name, then choose Remove from Conversation. This is available for groups of four or more members.
• Click Leave this Conversation to remove yourself from the group conversation.
• Click Add Member to add a new person to the conversation.

If you have an iPhone, you can set up text message forwarding to send and receive SMS and MMS messages on your Mac.

Forward SMS/MMS text messages from your iPhone to your Mac or iPad

You can also use iCloud to keep your messages up to date across all of your devices:

Set up iCloud for Messages on all of your devices

You can use Siri to send, read and reply to messages. Examples:

• “Send a message to Susan and Johnny saying I'll be late" or “Tell Johnny Appleseed the show is about to start” or “Text a message to 408 555 1212”.
• ”Read the last message from Brian Park” or ”Read my new messages”.
• ”Reply that's great news” or ”Tell him I'll be there in 10 minutes”.

To delete a message from your device, Control-click the message, then choose Delete from the shortcut menu. Or select the message and choose Edit > Delete from the menu bar.

To delete a conversation from your device, Control-click the conversation in the sidebar, then choose Delete Conversation from the shortcut menu. Click Delete to confirm.

In macOS Ventura or later, you can recover recently deleted messages for up to 30 days after deletion:

1. From the menu bar, choose View > Recently Deleted. 
2. Select a conversation in the sidebar.
3. Click Recover. All of the recoverable messages in that conversation are undeleted.

FaceTime is not available in all countries or regions.