How Do I Turn Off Messages Effects On My iPhone? Here’s The Fix!

Enough is enough — they were cute at first, but the effects in your iPhone’s Messages app are getting on your nerves and it’s time to turn them off. In this article, I’ll explain how to turn off effects in the Messages app on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod so you can get back to texting as usual.

Before you go looking for “Disable iMessage Effects” in Settings, let me save you the trouble — it isn’t there. Apple will probably include that feature in a future update after enough people complain, but for now, the only way to turn off effects in the Messages app is by turning on a setting in Accessibility.

How Do I Turn Off Messages Effects On My iPhone, iPad, or iPod?

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap on Accessibility.
  3. Tap on Motion.
  4. Tap on Reduce Motion.
  5. Tap the switch on the right side of Reduce Motion to turn it on and disable iMessage effects in the Messages app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod.

accessibility motion reduce motion

iPhone Messages Effects: Turned Off.

Turning on Reduce Motion isn’t a perfect solution because it doesn’t just turn off effects in the Messages app on your iPhone — it disables the less-annoying animations too. The silver lining to turning on Reduce Motion is that it’s a battery life saver, and a part of my series about how to save iPhone battery life.

If you’re not happy about not being able to turn off iMessage effects in Settings -> Messages on your iPhone, you can share your thoughts with Apple on their product feedback website.

Thanks for reading, and remember to Payette Forward,
David P.

About Author

I'm a former Apple employee and the founder of Payette Forward, and I'm here to help you with your iPhone.

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Simon
2 years ago

Just tap the send button, don’t hold it. All will be good then.

mel
1 year ago
Reply to  Simon

When I tap the send button it doesn’t send.

Elmer
2 years ago

II did as you asked the special effects are still there how do I get a message back to be normal message

James
3 years ago

Oh My Gosh! Thank you so much David. Why Apple keeps creating these annoying features WITHOUT notification and activating them WITHOUT approval is beyond me. Thanks for helping to restore normalcy to messaging again!

kathl
3 years ago

Hey David,
You live in Boise?
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for showing me how to turn of effects on texts!!! They were driving me crazy, and making me wish for my good old LG Cosmos!!

Eve
3 years ago

I have an iPhone 8 with version 13.6. There’s no “message effects” in the iMessage app. So what other solution do you suggest?

Judie Patterson
3 years ago
Reply to  Eve

Thank you for help with this; very annoying when your 80 yo

NJJoany
3 years ago
  • Doesn’t work for me & is driving me nuts. I hate it. Must be something that works ?
Janet
3 years ago

I did as suggested above to turn off the special effects of texts, but it did not work. Is there anything else I can do. THESE EFFECTS ARE MOST ANNOYING and come up when least expected or wanted.

Anonymous
5 years ago

Louise Whitford Mocerino Thank you! Finally, I got the message to send!

Anonymous
6 years ago

A quick tap to send vs a longer tap will end this frustating feature.

Anonymous
5 years ago

I keep following your instructions to no avail. They will not go away.

Anonymous
5 years ago

It didn’t work for me.