Messages Goes Mainstream
Although we’ve always appreciated the fact that Apple provides a version of Messages for macOS, letting you send, receive, and respond to texts and iMessages without having to reach for your iPhone or iPad, the unfortunate fact is that the macOS version of Messages has really been an anemic step-brother to its more robust iOS and iPadOS versions, lacking support for many advanced features like effects and stickers and Memoji.
Fortunately, along with all of the others ways in which Big Sur is getting closer to iOS, Messages is also joining the family, introducing almost all of the capabilities of the mobile version to the Mac, including even the newest features like pinned conversations, inline replies, group photos, and mentions.
Of course, almost all of the other stuff that’s been available on the iPhone since iOS 10 is now here as well, including effects, tapbacks, typing indicators, Memoji, image and GIF support, and best of all, a much much better search capability.
In fact, it seems like the only things we’re really missing now in Messages for Mac are those that require specific hardware. For example, while you’ll get Memoji stickers, you can’t send live animated Animoji or Memoji since there’s no TrueDepth camera on your MacBook, although of course we can still dream that a Face ID equipped Mac will arrive someday.