How do replies, reactions, and photos work in Family Chats?

Every message in a thread carries the same set of interactions. Long-press a bubble on mobile, or right-click on desktop, to open the actions menu.

React with an emoji.

From the menu, pick an emoji to react. Reactions appear as pills under the message with a count. Tap a pill to add your reaction; tap it again to remove yours. Hover a pill to see who reacted. Quick acknowledgement when you don't need a full reply — "Got it." via a 👍 instead of a one-word message.

Reply to a specific message.

From the menu, pick Reply. This opens a thread side-sheet where you can answer that message without breaking the main conversation. The parent message gets a small 💬 N replies footer — tap it later to re-open the side-sheet.

Replies show a small quoted preview of the parent message above the bubble so a co-parent skimming back doesn't have to open the side-sheet to keep context.

Attach photos.

Tap the camera button in the composer to pick photos from your library. You can attach up to 10 photos per message. Photos are arranged in a grid inside the bubble; tap any one to open it full-screen and swipe to flip through. Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, HEIF.

Photos can be sent on their own — no message body needed — or alongside a note.

Edit a recent message.

For the first 15 minutes after you send a message, the menu shows an Edit option. Edited messages get a small edited label after the timestamp. After 15 minutes, edit is locked — send a follow-up instead.

Unsend.

Unsend removes your message for everyone in the thread. The bubble is replaced by a faint Unsent placeholder so the thread doesn't shift around — it's clear something was there, just not what.

Tag a message about a specific child.

With two or more children, the + button next to the input lets you tag which child the message is about. The tag shows on the bubble so a co-parent knows the "slept badly" note is about Arlo, not Maya.

Quick-reply chips.

Above the input is a small row of suggested phrases that adapt to who's on the watch right now — see family-chats-overview. Tap a chip to stage the phrase in the input. You can still edit before sending.