Genius trick to find any message you’re looking for in seconds

December 24, 2022

By Kim Komando

Social media platforms let you pin a post to the top of your page, so it’s always the first thing your audience sees. Did you know that this useful feature is also available on your iPhone? Tap or click here to pin messages for easy reference later.

How often do you endlessly scroll through a text conversation to find that one bit of information you need? It could be an important date, the name of a movie, an address — just about anything.

There’s an easier way to find what you’re looking for, and it works with just about any messaging app.

Growing by the day

Depending on how often you text, you can have thousands of messages stored between many people on your phone. It’s a historical record of conversations that can go back for years, even as you upgrade to new phones.

Remember that confirmation number you got from an order you placed last month? Probably not. You can easily find it by searching for the word “confirmation.”

What was the name of that Italian restaurant your cousin recommended? You can search “Italian restaurant” or just “restaurant” and find it.

There’s no limit to what you can find. Search “dentist” to locate the date of your last dental appointment or “anniversary” to see the message you sent to a loved one on that special date last year.

RELATED: How to save text messages on iOS and Android

How to search messages on your iPhone

The Messages app makes it easy to search through your iPhone text messages:

• Open the Messages app.
• At the top of the screen, type your search word or term in the Search field.
• You’ll see options to search your Conversations.
• Tap See All to get a list of messages containing your search word or term.
• Tap on a conversation to be taken to that particular message.

You may also get results under other categories like Collaboration, Links, Photos, Locations and Documents.

How to search messages on your Android phone

Google’s Messages app is the default for Android phones. Here’s how to search through it:

• Open the Messages app.
• At the top of the screen, type your search word or term in the Search images & videos field.
• Hit Enter to perform your search.
• Tap on a conversation to be taken to that particular message.

If you click the search button, you see your last contacts and can choose from categories such as Starred, Images, Videos, Places and Links.

How to search messages through Facebook Messenger

Facebook’s messaging app is free to use and lets you make calls, share videos, photos and more. Here’s how to search through your conversations:

• Open the Facebook Messenger app.
• At the top of the screen, type your search word or term in the Search field.
• As you type, you’ll see results come up in past conversations.
• Tap on a conversation to be taken to that particular message.

If a username matches your search word, you’ll also see them under the results. You may also get suggested links to businesses, pages, and blogs on Facebook that match your search.

RELATED: End-to-end encryption comes to Facebook Messenger – Here’s how to enable it

How to search messages through WhatsApp

WhatsApp has a global reach, with billions of users using the app every month.

• Open WhatsApp.
• At the top of the screen, type your search word or term in the Search field.
• As you type, you’ll see results come up in past conversations.
• Tap on a conversation to be taken to that particular message.

You may also see results for Photos, GIFs, Links, Videos, Documents and Audio that match your search.

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