How to Create Events and Reminders from Messages on iPhone

Apple is introducing quite a few new features and changes to the iPhone with iOS 16. Some of these are obvious, such as the redesigned Lock Screen, and the changes to your favorite Apple apps. But there are other features and capabilities that aren’t as obvious. In fact, despite having iOS 16 Beta 4 installed, we’re still discovering different changes that are making an appearance for the first time.

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• Reminders Not Working? How To Fix
• iOS 16: Best Features Coming To iPhone

How to Create Events and Reminders From Messages on iPhone With iOS 16

While Apple may have ditched the Force Touch technology years ago, the “peek and pop” mentality still lives strong within iOS. Instead of just long-pressing and hoping that you are touching the right spot on a message or picture, Apple has implemented some feedback. Whenever accessing a context menu or certain dialog boxes, you’ll see a drop-down menu appear in some apps, while others (such as Mail) show a horizontal slider. And no matter the reason, feeling the haptic feedback when a context menu appears is such a genuinely pleasant experience.

Speaking of context, the above is important if you want to know how to create events and Reminders from Messages on iPhone with iOS 16. Here’s how you can do so:

1. Open the Messages app on your iPhone running iOS 16.
2. Select the message thread that you want to use to create the event or reminder.
3. Locate the specific message you need.
4. Long-press the message.
5. From the drop-down menu, select one of the following:
   • Create Event
   • Create Reminder
6. When selecting Create Event, enter the New Event details.
7. Once complete, tap Add in the top right corner.
8. When selecting Create Reminder, enter the pertinent Reminders information.
9. Once complete, tap Add in the top right corner.

From the drop-down box, you can also select Show in Calendar and Copy Event. The first option will take you straight into the Calendar app on the date and time references in the message. This gives you a better idea of what your schedule looks like on that day, so you can determine whether to add the event or not.

Does This Work In Other Apps?

At first, the assumption was that the ability to create events and Reminders from Messages was limited to just one app. However, that’s not the case, as you are presented with the same options whenever you long-press pertinent information in other apps. We’ve tried this using the Apple Notes app, along with selecting a date and/or time within Apple’s Mail app.

It does appear as though this functionality is limited in the fact that you can’t create events and Reminders from Rich Text content. So if there’s an email that features a linked date that would normally take you into Safari, you are unable to use this new iOS 16 functionality. Instead, you’ll need to enter the date/time or reminder manually using your app of choice.

Something else that you might not have noticed is that you can actually perform different conversions when long-pressing text or times. For example, if you receive an email that has a written deadline of 12PM PT, but you’re on the East Coast, long-press the text. At the top of the drop-down menu, the time will automatically be converted to show what time the deadline is in your time zone. This also works when converting things such as currency, and even converting temperatures.

Andrew Myrick

Andrew Myrick is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US. He enjoys everything to do with technology, including tablets, smartphones, and everything in between. Perhaps his favorite past-time is having a never-ending supply of different keyboards and gaming handhelds that end up collecting more dust than the consoles that are being emulated.