Copy Only Part of a Text Message

Apple Messages is great, but it’s long been limited to copying only entire text messages. Whenever you received a long message from a friend with an address, a code, or a comment, you either had to copy the entire bubble or retype the part you wanted. Luckily, iOS 26 finally fixes that.

Now you can grab just a word, sentence, or line from inside a single text message — and it’s super easy to do.

1. Open the Messages app and navigate to any conversation you’d like. 
2. Long-press the message you want to copy, but instead of tapping Copy, tap Select. 
3. A couple of handles will appear at the beginning and the end of the message.
4. Move the handles to highlight only the section you want to copy, and then tap on Copy.

This is perfect for grabbing just the tracking number, address, or just the one sentence you actually need. Keep in mind, though, that this only works in the Messages app. It’s up to third-party developers to enable it in other apps.