iMessage is Apple's online instant messaging service for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS users. Back in 2017, Apple paved the way for an even richer iMessage experience with the introduction of iMessage apps, which let you do all sorts of cool new things using the app.

You could already send text, voice, picture, and video messages in iMessage. But with iMessage apps, you can play games, share your location, send files, and do even more cool stuff.

How to Install and Use iMessage Apps

It's only possible to use iMessage apps in an iMessage conversation on your iPhone or iPad; that means your outgoing messages should appear in blue.

If your messages appear green, then you aren't using iMessage. Find out how to fix iMessage to learn why that might be the case.

To see your iMessage apps, tap the gray App Store icon near the text input box in any iMessage conversation.

iPhone keyboard highlighting iMessage apps button

From here, slide along the colored iMessage app icons to view all your apps, or tap one to start using it. Open the blue App Store app to find and download new iMessage apps.

Scroll to the rightmost edge of your iMessage apps and tap More to see every iMessage app on your device. Then use the Edit button to choose your favorites, re-order them, or enable and disable particular apps.

Many regular iPhone apps include iMessage apps as part of the package. You can enable or disable these add-ons from the Edit page. This is especially handy for sticker packs or useless apps you have no interest in.

And that's really all there is to it! So now you know how to use them, here are all the cool things you can do with different iMessage apps.

1. Play Games

This one's pretty obvious, but there are many games that lend themselves well to the asynchronous nature of an iMessage conversation. These include favorite apps like GamePigeon and 8 Ball Pool.

GamePigeon iMessage app on iPhone

Playing games is one of the most fun things to do with iMessage apps, and we've only scratched the surface of it here. Take a look at all the best iMessage games to learn more about what's available to you.

2. Share Your Location

You can share your location easily with other iMessage users simply by tapping the i button in the top-right corner, then hitting Send My Current Location. This is fine if you want to use Apple Maps, but if you normally use Google Maps—like the rest of the world—install and enable the Google Maps iMessage app instead.

You can then hit Send to get an exact fix on your location and send a Google Maps link to someone over iMessage.

3. Send GIFs

Everyone loves GIFs—so why not liven up your conversations with some looping animations? Apple provides you with a cool iMessage app called #images for this task, which is a Bing-powered animated image search, and it does the job fairly well.

But if you'd like to step it up, GIPHY is the best iMessage GIF app available right now. Use it to create your own GIFs, save your favorites to a collection, and access a far bigger GIF library than what you get with #images.

Giphy iMessage app on iPhone

Related: How to Add Cool Animated Effects to Your iMessages

4. Go Crazy With Stickers

Most of the options you'll find on the App Store are iMessage sticker packs, which allow you to send still images and animations to friends for a quick laugh. The coolest thing about iMessage stickers is that anyone can pick them up, move them around, and place them over messages or images you've already sent.

They aren't exactly useful, but there are stickers available to brighten your everyday conversations, and there's at least one pack to fit everyone's taste. For retro tech, check out Apple's Classic Mac and Microsoft's Halo Stickers for free.

You can also try out the Bitmoji sticker pack to create your own sticker avatar.

5. Share Some Music

Apple's built-in Music app for iMessage lets you quickly share a song with a friend. Launch it, and you'll find the last few songs you played, along with the currently playing item, which you can send with a tap. This provides your contacts with a playable link, which may or may not be useful depending on whether they use Apple Music or not.

Apple Music iMessage app on iPhone

Alternatively, install Spotify and use the Spotify iMessage app to send song links that anyone can play for free.

If you want to share a song that's playing around you at the moment, use the Shazam iMessage app. Hit the Shazam button and as soon as it identifies the song, you'll find a link added to the text box.

6. Send Private or Self-Destructing Text and Media

You can already hide most messages you send in iMessage. Simply type a message or select a photo, then tap and hold on the Send button and choose Invisible Ink.

The recipient will need to swipe across the message to reveal its contents, which is a cool trick if you don't want other people glancing at your iMessage conversation.

To take this a step further, install Confide to create self-destructing text and photo messages. This app also features end-to-end encryption just like iMessage, and though there are premium options available the core functionality is completely free.

7. Talk About the Weather

A lot of us spend more time talking about the weather than we should. But if that's something you're happy to lean into, take it a step further by using an iMessage-friendly weather app to quickly check and share the forecast in your chats.

Meteored provides basic free forecast sharing functionality. But for a monthly subscription, CARROT Weather is probably the funniest weather app money can buy. It lets you watch or send cool animations in iMessage that also give you up-to-date weather readings across the world.

Meteored iMessage app on iPhone

Also, don't miss Weathershot the next time you need to brag about the weather with a selfie, or check out MOON if you happen to be a werewolf.

8. Translate Your Conversation

There are a lot of translation apps on the App Store, but not all of them play nicely with iMessage. It's also worth keeping in mind that translation and language-learning services often require a premium subscription. So the best apps for the job aren't necessarily free.

Fortunately, iTranslate offers unhindered access to a huge number of languages for translating. You just need to make sure you're connected to the web, as offline translation requires an in-app purchase. Yandex.Translate is another free option with offline support, but it isn't quite as well-designed as iTranslate.

It's a huge shame Google Translate doesn't offer iMessage functionality. Otherwise, it'd probably be the only translation tool you ever need.

9. Find a Film to Watch

Planning a trip to the cinema to watch a movie with some friends? Enter IMDb and its iMessage extension, which shows you with a list of films playing nearby (provided you've granted location access) and a searchable IMDb database right from the Messages app.

IMDb iMessage app on iPhone

Once you've found something cool to watch, simply select that film from the iMessage app to send an IMDb link to your friend. They can check out the listing and showtimes to let you know what they think.

10. Share Files in the Cloud

iCloud isn't so great when it comes to file sharing, which is why there's no iMessage app for sharing items in your iCloud Drive. But both Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive have added this functionality. If you use either of these services, you likely already have the app installed.

Once installed, each of these apps allows you to browse and share files directly inside a conversation. A cool thing you can do with the OneDrive iMessage app is open a file directly into Microsoft's other apps, like Word and Excel.

11. Send a Quick Scan

Although you can scan documents using Notes or Files, neither of these apps let you scan and share documents directly in iMessage. That's where the Scanner Pro iMessage app comes in.

Scanner Pro iMessage app on iPhone

If you're not already storing your documents digitally, do yourself a favor and use this app to get started. Whenever you need to share a document over iMessage, either select it from the files you already scanned or hover your iPhone over the document to scan it in real time with the camera.

12. Check a Math Formula

Finally, if you're a mathematics student who needs to bounce ideas off your classmates, then Vulcanize is the iMessage app for you. It allows you to convert LaTeX to beautiful mathematical formulas worthy of any printed textbook.

Of course, not everyone will agree that this is a cool thing to do with iMessage apps. But if you've ever tried typing a complex mathematical formula into a text in the past, you know how painful it normally is.

13. Share Your Heartbeat

If you own an Apple Watch, you can make use of Apple's Digital Touch feature to send your heartbeat over iMessage. Just open the Digital Touch iMessage app, then tap and hold with two fingers to record a few seconds of your heartbeat.

Digital Touch iMessage app showing heartbeat

Alternatively, you can use the various colors on the left side to draw a sketch with your finger. Though your doodles aren't likely to be as touching for loved ones as a snippet of your heart skipping a beat.

14. Transfer Money

Need to send some money to a friend? You can use iMessage apps for that, too. The available apps are likely to change with your region, but some of the most popular options include Venmo and Apple Pay.

If someone else owes you money, you can even use these apps to request for them to pay you. When you do so, the app generates a link that you contact can tap to easily clear their debt with you. There'll be no need for those hired goons after all.

15. Share Videos

We've all been sucked down a YouTube rabbit hole before. But now you don't need to go there alone. The YouTube iMessage app makes it easy to share video links. And when someone else taps the links you send, they can watch the video inside the YouTube app itself, without ever leaving your conversation.

YouTube iMessage app showing recently watched videos

From the iMessage app, you can search for new videos to watch or see a list of all your recently watched videos, if you want to share something cool you recently found.

16. Book a Table

Need to book a table with some friends? The OpenTable iMessage app lets you do that right from your conversation. You can find restaurants, create online bookings, then share the reservation details into iMessage.

If you share the details in a group chat, other people can then tap to accept or decline the invitation, so you'll know if you booked a big enough table or not.

17. Create Custom Animations

We've already shown you the best app for finding pre-existing GIFs, but it's way more fun to make your own. With JibJab, you can stick your face onto a variety of eCards, short videos, and GIFs with almost zero effort.

JibJab iMessage app showing custom GIFs

After initially downloading the app, follow the prompts to take a selfie, then crop it and add details for yourself. Once you've done that, open the iMessage app to browse the huge collection of eCards, videos, and GIFs that already have you face pasted onto them.

Which iMessage Apps Do You Use?

iMessage apps may seem like a gimmick, but the right apps can really speed up your workflow and brighten your daily conversations. Whether you're playing word games, sending dank memes, or sharing your latest playlist, there's no shortage of cool things you can do with iMessage apps.