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iOS 16 lets you mark text messages as unread on your iPhone — here’s how to do it

  • Starting with iOS 16, Apple allows you to mark text messages as unread in the Messages app on your iPhone.
  • You can mark a conversation as unread by swiping it to the right or by tapping and holding the conversation, then choosing Mark as Unread from quick actions.
  • The Filters view now lets you see just your unread messages.

If you’re a long-time iPhone user, you probably know the frustration of reading a text message and then forgetting to reply to it.

Apple has fixed that annoyance in iOS 16 by adding the ability to mark messages as unread on the iPhone. Now, if you don’t have time to reply right away, you can mark it as unread as a reminder to get back to it later. Even better, you can change the view in the Messages app to see just the unread messages.



How to mark messages as unread on iPhone

There are several ways to mark messages as unread. Start the Messages app and go to the conversations list. Once you are there, you can do whichever method is most convenient:

  • Tap a conversation. Find the conversation you want to mark as unread. Tap and hold the chat until the message preview window pops up, and then tap Mark as Unread from the list of quick actions at the bottom of the screen.
  • Swipe right on a conversation. Swipe a conversation to the right. If you swipe all the way, it’ll automatically be marked as unread; if you swipe it part way, release and tap the Mark as Unread button on the left.
  • Select several conversations at once. Tap the three-dot menu at the top of the screen and choose Select Messages from the drop-down menu. Tap to select each message you want to mark as unread, then tap Unread at the bottom of the screen.

How to find all unread messages at once

You can filter the conversations in the Messages app to just your unread chats. From the conversation list, tap Filters at the top left. Then, on the Filters page, tap Unread Messages. Here, you’ll see all your unread messages — both messages that you haven’t read and messages you manually marked as unread.