Thus, structuring the URL for the iMessage (or text message send from the iMessage app) would look like the following:įor a live example: hover over this link to see the URL, click on it to open message app with the provided number 40, and no that is not a real number, but if you click on the link it will demonstrate how this URL trick works to launch the Message app to send the iMessage.Įmbedded in an email could look something like the following, it’s a regular URL but the action is what’s different, triggering Messages app to launch with the recipient filled out.Ĭlicking on the iMessage URL will instantly launch the Messages app in OS X or iOS with the target recipient as the contact pre-filled in the message window.Īs hinted before, this is really useful for internal staff directories and communications, embedding into emails, using as part of an HTML signature on the iPhone or iPad (or an HTML signature in the Mac Mail app too), or for just referencing on the wider web. Here are how these iMessage links may look, you can specify an email address, a phone number, or an Apple ID as the target. Those who are familiar with HTML will recognize this quickly, as it’s simply using an anchor tag with the reference being the iMessage application protocol rather than http or ftp. The secret to starting an iMessage conversation from a link is structuring the URL correctly.

Imessage link ipad and iphone