One of my favorite iOS 8 features was Interactive Notifications, which not only gave text preview of the notification content, but also lets you perform an action on the notification without leaving the current app.
It also included Quick Reply for Messages app, which allows you to reply to a text message by swiping down on the banner notification or swiping to the left and tapping on Reply on a notification on the Lock screen.
If you were wondering why other Messaging apps haven’t implemented the feature then it was because they didn’t have the option for text input action, which was available to the Messages app.
As Rounak had pointed out in his very interesting WWDC 2015 developer notes, Apple has introduced User Notifications Text Input in iOS 9 for developers. It will finally allow developers to implement the Quick Reply feature in their Messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger etc. The Quick Reply feature can be paired with other actions as well.
This is a big deal, and will significantly improve the way we respond to notifications from apps like WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger etc., which are probably some of the most used apps on the iPhone.
If you’ve installed iOS 9 beta then don’t expect the Quick Reply feature to be available immediately. Since it is an iOS 9 feature, developers will be able to release an update for their apps with Quick Reply only after iOS 9 Golden Master is released later this fall. The Golden Master is the final build of an update before the software is publicly released so that developers can use it to submit apps to the App Store.
If you’ve jailbroken your iPhone, then tweaks like Couria, Nuntius, Envelope, TwitkaFly and QuickReplier for Viber bring Quick Reply to some of the popular Messaging apps right now. Couria brings enhanced Quick Reply and Quick Compose to the Messages app, Nuntius brings Quick Reply to WhatsApp, Envelope brings the feature to Telegram, TwitkaFly brings Quick Compose and Quick Reply to Tweetbot and Twitter, and the last one as the name suggests brings the Quick Reply feature to Viber.
If you’re a developer, then you can check out the What’s New in Notification video session on Apple’s Developer site to find out how to implement the feature.
I am looking forward to the Quick Reply feature for WhatsApp and Tweetbot. What about you?
