Send a message on Mac
After you set up Messages on your Mac, you can send messages to one person, a group of people, or a business. You can include text, photos, animated effects, and more. You can express yourself in all sorts of ways:
Tapbacks: See Use Tapbacks.
Polls: See Poll people.
Formatting and effects: See Format and animate text and Add full-screen and bubble effects.
Audio messages: See Send an audio message.
Photos and videos: See Send photos and videos.
Stickers and images: See Send stickers, Use #images, and Create your Memoji.
If Apple Intelligence* is turned on, you can create original images with Image Playground, or create custom emoji—called Genmoji—in Messages.
Messages you send to a group can include the same attachments and effects you can send to an individual person if the group meets these requirements.
Go to the Messages app
on your Mac.Click
to start a new message.In the To field, type the name, email address, or phone number of the person you want to send a message to. As you type, Messages suggests matching addresses from your contacts or from people you previously sent messages to.
You can also click
in the To field. Click a contact in the list, then click the email address or phone number to use.Note: If you see
Enter your message in the field at the bottom of the window. You can use typing suggestions, if available.
Siri: Ask Siri something like, “Message Mom that I’ll be late.” Learn how to use Siri.
Press Return on your keyboard to send the message.
If Apple Intelligence* is turned on, you can use it to suggest a reply to a message you receive. See Use Apple Intelligence in Messages. If you want to reply inline to keep the conversation more organized, see Send an inline reply to a message. If you want to send your message at a different time, see Schedule a message to send later.
To forward a message, see Forward a message or attachment. If you realize you made a mistake in your message, see Unsend or edit a message.
If someone sends an Apple Cash payment or request, you can see it on your Mac, but you can only respond to it on your iPhone or iPad.
Your messages are end-to-end encrypted so that nobody other than you and the person that you’re sending messages to can read them—not even Apple. To further verify that you’re only exchanging messages with the people you intend, use Contact Key Verification.