These new iPhone features will save you from group chat chaos

In just one of several group chats I’m a part of, six of my friends and I are discussing the latest Trump legal drama and Father’s Day baby pics at the same time. We’re asking one friend, who is a new dad, which lame nickname he likes best. We’re also leaning heavily on another friend, who is an attorney, for her take on the legality of a recent high profile firing. 

Some might call it group chat chaos. Others might call it maddeningly incomprehensible. Prolific Messages users like us call it a Sunday.

Enter Apple with some much needed new tools to rein in the free-for-all that is the Messages group chat. In iOS 14, which is set to roll out in September, Messages will come with inline replies, which is a threading feature that lets users respond to messages directly. The new-and-improved Messages app will also feature the ability to tag someone, sending them a notification directly, with a feature called Mentions.

During its virtual Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, Apple gave viewers a preview of the changes to iPhone that users can expect with the upcoming iOS 14. That includes the new features for Messenger, as well as big changes to home screen organization, a way to multi-task video watching, and more.

The Messages features are a boon to people who use group chats a lot. Threading is theoretically a much more organized way to manage conversational sidebars. When your aunt chimes in with a random question to the extended family group chat, while everyone else is discussing the merits of one family dish over another, your aunt’s question won’t get lost, or derail everything entirely.

Mentions is a feature that lets you tag a participant in the group chat just by writing their name. Say you’re in a group chat with “Anne”; if you write the word Anne in that chat, then the word will light up, and you’ll have the option to tag her. Then, Anne will get a notification that she’s been mentioned.

The tool is particularly useful if you make use of the “Hide Alerts” function. Group chats can be overwhelming, so sometimes I hide alerts during the work day so that my friends going off about a TV show doesn’t cause my phone to uncontrollably buzz while I’m taking a conference call. With Mentions, you can just get a notification when someone’s mentioned you — but not get any of the other 10,000 notifications for messages in the thread. 

There’s no way to turn off the ability to tag completely, although you do have a choice about whether to actually tag someone’s name, or just to have it exist as regular text. You can also disable notifications for mentions if you really don’t want to be reached.

With inline replies and mentions, Apple brings some of the same features to Messages that make Slack so great. Now, if only animated emojis were next…