All iMessage Icons and Symbols and What They Mean

iMessage is your go-to messaging app for staying connected, but are you using it to its full potential? Those little icons and symbols scattered across the iMessage screen hide quick actions and useful features. This guide is your visual roadmap to understanding every key icon and symbol in the iMessage app.

Table of Contents

iMessage Home Screen Symbols Meaning

When you open the iMessage app, you’ll see key symbols at the top and alongside your message list. Let’s break down what each of them means:

Edit Message Menu (Three Dots in a Circle) Icon: Tapping this option opens up a menu with things like “Select Messages,” which lets you pick a bunch of messages to delete or forward. You’ll also find “Edit Pins” here to manage which chats stay at the top of your list. And the “Set Up Name & Photo” option to customize your contacts.
Compose New Message (Square with Pencil) Icon: This icon is for starting a new conversation. Just tap it, and you can pick a contact or type in a phone number to get chatting.
Search (Magnifying Glass) Icon: Similar to every other app, this magnifying glass is your search tool. Tap it and search specific messages, contacts, or keywords in your chats.
Voice Search (Microphone) Icon: You’ll see a microphone option next to the search bar. This allows you to use your voice to search. Super handy for when you want to find something quick without typing.
Open Message (Right Direction Arrow) Icon: You’ll notice a right-facing arrow next to each message in your list. To be honest, we’re not quite sure why it’s even there since you can open any message just by tapping anywhere on the message itself.
Unread Message (Blue Dot) Icon: If you see a blue dot on the left side of a message. That means you haven’t opened or read it yet. Once you jump into the chat, the dot disappears.

And hey, there’s even more. Did you know you can do a couple of things by swiping left on any message in your list? Let’s check those out.

Mute Conversation (Bell with Slash) Icon: If you swipe left on a message, you’ll see a Mute button. Tapping it means you won’t get any more notifications from that particular conversation.
Delete Conversation (Trash Can) Icon: Right next to the mute icon, you’ll find the classic trash can. Tapping this will delete the entire conversation. So, if you’re looking to clear out some clutter, that’s your go-to. Just be sure you want to delete it because once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Pro Tip: If you swipe to the left on a message, you can skip tapping the trash can and delete the conversation instantly.

Now, let’s talk about swiping right.

Mark as Read/Unread (Checkmark/Dot) Icon: If you swipe right on a message, you’ll see an icon that lets you mark the message as read or unread. If the message is unread, it’ll show a checkmark. Tap it, and the message will be marked as read. If it’s already read, it’ll show a dot in the corner instead, and tapping it will mark it as unread again.

Just like with deleting, you can swipe to the right on a message to instantly mark it as read without even opening it.

Icons Within an iMessage Conversation Meaning

Alright, now let’s dive into what you see when you open a conversation. Here’s a breakdown of the icons you’ll encounter:

Unread Message Count (Numbers in Blue Circle) Icon: If you’ve got a lot of catching up to do, you’ll see a number in a blue circle in the top left corner. This tells you exactly how many messages you haven’t read yet in your iMessage App.
Contact (Profile Picture/Initials) Icon: Right at the top, you’ll see the contact icon for the person you’re chatting with. This is usually their profile picture or initials. Tapping it will open the contact information screen.
Video Call (Video Camera) Icon: Want to switch to a video call? Just tap this video camera icon in the top right. It gives you different video calling options, including FaceTime and Screen Share.
Attach (Plus Sign) Icon: This little plus sign icon is your gateway to all sorts of sharing options. Tap it, and you’ll get a menu with things like Camera, Photos, Stickers, Apple Cash, Audio, and a whole bunch more.
Voice Message (Microphone) Icon: This microphone icon is for sending voice messages. Press and hold it to record your message, then release it to send.
Send (Up Arrow) Icon: Once you start typing a message, the microphone icon transforms into an upward-pointing arrow. That’s your “Send” button. Tap it, and your message zips off to your contact.

Exploring the Attach (+) Menu: Sticker Icons

When you tap that little plus (+) icon in an iMessage conversation, a whole world of sharing options opens up. Let’s focus on the Sticker section first, and what those icons mean:

Recently Used (Clock) Icon: See that clock icon in the Stickers tab. That’s your “Recently Used” shortcut. Tap it, and you’ll see all the stickers you’ve used in your recent conversations. Super handy for quickly grabbing your favorites.
Stickers (Sticker Sheet) Icon: Right next to the clock, you’ll find the sticker sheet icon. This is where all your saved and downloaded stickers live. Tap it, and you can browse through your collection of stickers.
Emoji (Smiley Face) Icon: And of course, we can’t forget emojis! The smiley face icon takes you to the emoji keyboard, where you can find all those classic emoticons to express yourself.

Location Tools in the Plus Menu

When you tap the plus (+) icon and head to the Location option, you’ll find a few icons to help you share your whereabouts. Let’s take a closer look:

Current Location (Blue Dot) Icon: That bright blue dot on the map? That’s you! It shows your current location in real-time, so you can easily share where you are.
Pin Location (Key) Icon: Want to pin a specific location? Tap the key icon. This will drop a pin at your current spot, or wherever you’ve moved the map.
Return to Previous Screen (Arrow) Icon: After you’ve pinned a location, the key icon transforms into an arrow. Tapping this arrow takes you back to the previous screen, so you can confirm or adjust your selection.
Pinned Location (Red Pin in Circle) Icon: The red pin in a circle marks the location you’ve pinned. You can tap and drag this pin to move it to a different spot on the map, giving you precise control over where you want to share.

Turning Right Arrow With 2 Lines on the Left of the Message

You might occasionally notice a unique icon to the left of some messages within your iMessage conversations.

Summarized Message (Lines and Right Arrow) Icon: This icon indicates that Apple Intelligence has analyzed the message and generated a summary. It essentially means your iPhone has automatically condensed the key information in the message for you. This allows you to quickly get rid of longer messages without reading every single word. However, it didn’t end well with Apple recently, when it misinterpreted the notifications from news and entertainment.

Find My Location Icon Meaning

You might have noticed the location/GPS/Find My icon with dots appearing when the sender is typing a message in your iMessage conversation.

Find My Location (Blue Dot in Green Circle) with Three Dots Icon: This icon shows up when the other person is typing a message while sending their location. You’ll see a small Find My icon a blue dot inside a green circle, appear in the typing indicator area (where you normally see the three dots when someone is typing). This icon means they’re typing a message that’s related to the location they’re sharing, giving you a heads-up that they’re adding context to their location pin.

Message Threads Icon Meaning

iMessage has a handy feature called message threading, which helps keep conversations organized when replying to specific messages. You’ll see this in action when someone replies directly to a particular message you’ve sent, or when you reply to theirs.

Here’s how it works:

Sliding to Reply:

To reply to a specific message, you simply slide that message to the right. This creates a direct reply, linking your message to the one you’re responding to.

Threaded Lines:

When a message is part of a thread, you’ll see thin, curved lines connecting the reply to the original message (as highlighted in the screenshot). These lines visually indicate that the messages are related and part of a specific exchange.

Highlighting the Conversation:

This threading feature helps highlight the flow of the conversation, making it easy to follow along even if there are other messages in between. If you reply to a person’s message that you replied to his message, then it makes a thread inside a thread.

This keeps everything clear and organized so that both the sender and receiver know exactly which message is being referenced.

Dotted Bubble Icon Meaning

When you schedule a message for later delivery using the “Send Later” option (found within the plus (+) icon menu), you’ll notice a unique visual indicator. Instead of the usual solid blue message bubble, the scheduled message appears with a dotted outline.

Scheduled Message (Dotted Bubble) Icon: This dotted bubble signifies that the message is set to be sent at a future time. It’s a clear visual cue that the message isn’t going to be sent immediately.

Once the scheduled time arrives, the dotted bubble will transform into a regular solid blue message bubble, and the message will be sent to the recipient. This allows you to easily distinguish between messages that are sent immediately and those that are scheduled for later.

Scheduled Message Indicator

In addition to the dotted bubble within the conversation, you’ll also see a clock icon appear in your main iMessage chat list. This clock icon shows up on the right side of the screen, next to the person’s name and the message preview.

Scheduled Message Indicator (Clock) Icon: This clock icon serves as a clear visual cue that you have a message scheduled to be sent later in that particular conversation. It’s a reminder when you’re looking at your message list, letting you know that a message is in a queue for future delivery.

Down Arrow Inside the Square Icon Meaning

When someone sends you an image via iMessage, you’ll notice a convenient icon that appears directly on the image preview (as shown in the screenshot). This icon, which looks like a downward-pointing arrow within a square or a simple download symbol, is your “Quick Save Image” button.

Quick Save Image (Down Arrow Inside the Square) Icon: Tapping this icon instantly saves the image to your device’s photo library. This is a super handy shortcut, allowing you to quickly save images without having to open the image in full-screen mode or go through any extra steps.

Image Viewing Options Icons Meaning

When you tap on an image sent in iMessage to view it in full screen, you’ll see a row of icons at the bottom of the screen. These icons give you quick access to various actions you can take with the image:

Share Image (Up Arrow in Square) Icon: This icon is a “Share” button. Tapping this opens the standard iOS share sheet, allowing you to send the image to other apps, save it to your files, copy it, and more.
React to Image (Plus in Bubble) Icon: The next icon lets you react to the image. Tapping this gives you options to add a reaction like a heart, thumbs up, or other Tapback reactions.
Reply to Image (Left Curved Arrow) Icon: The left curved arrow icon is your “Reply” button. Tapping this allows you to directly reply to the image, creating a threaded message in your conversation.
Save Image (Down Arrow in Square) Icon: The downward-pointing arrow within a square is the “Save Image” icon. Tapping this saves the image directly to your device’s photo library.
Live Text (QR Scanner Type) Icon: The last icon, which resembles a QR code scanner, activates the “Live Text” feature. Tapping this allows you to select and copy text that is present within the image.

Red Voice-to-Text Icon Meaning

You might notice a red voice-to-text icon with sound wave lines. This icon appears when iMessage detects that you’ve recently used the voice message feature more frequently with that particular contact.

Red Voice-to-Text (Red Sound wave lines) Icon: It’s essentially a temporary indicator that the app is prioritizing voice-to-text functionality in that conversation. While there’s no immediate way to remove it, the icon should disappear over time as you use standard dictation (text input) more often in that thread. However, it may take some time for the app to adjust and remove the red icon.

And there you have it guys. We hope this guide has helped you unravel the mystery behind those iMessage icons. Now you can confidently navigate your conversations, share content, and use all the features iMessage has to offer.

Want to learn about the icons in other popular apps? Check out our icon explanation guides for: