How to collaborate on projects with Messages on iPhone

In the Messages app, you can send a text message to invite people to collaborate on a project, and everyone in the conversation is added to the document, spreadsheet, or other shared file.

You can also start from another app, like Notes or Freeform, and then discuss your content in Messages. Files can come from Reminders, Safari, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, and more, but you first need to save the content somewhere others can access it, such as iCloud Drive.

Note: Before you can collaborate on a project with Messages, you and your recipients need to be using iMessage on iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS 13, watchOS 9, or visionOS 1 or later. You also need to save the content somewhere others can access it first, such as iCloud Drive. And for iPhone apps, you may need to turn on iCloud before you can use their collaboration features.

Invite people to collaborate

Starting from another app, you can invite people to collaborate on a project, then discuss your content in Messages. The files you share can come from Notes, Freeform, Reminders, Safari, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and more, but first you’ll need to turn on their collaboration features in iCloud settings, then save the content in a place others can access, such as iCloud Drive.

The process for inviting someone to collaborate depends on the app. Here’s one way you might start a collaboration in a supported app:

1. Select the file you want to share and tap the Share button, or tap Collaborate.
2. Make sure Share a Link (rather than Send a Copy) is selected. Then tap the group or individual you want to collaborate with.

   If you don’t see the group or person listed, tap the Messages app icon.

   The suggested icons may correspond with groups or individuals with active FaceTime calls or recent Messages conversations. A Messages conversation opens with the invitation ready to send.

3. Add a note (optional) and then tap the Send button.

   

After you invite participants in Messages, you can work on the project in the other app and return to the Messages conversation by tapping the collaboration button in that app. When someone edits the file, you see updates at the top of the Messages thread. To return to the shared project and see changes, tap an update.

Note: Before they can interact with the shared item or see any updates, your participants may need to accept your invitation or join it.

Collaborate on a project in Messages

Whenever someone makes an edit to your shared project, activity updates appear at the top of the Messages conversation.

1. Start the Messages app on your iPhone.
2. Go to the conversation that contains the invitation to the project you’ve started collaborating on and then do any of the following to return to the project:
   • Tap the file in your conversation to open it.
   • If you see an update at the top of the conversation, tap Show.
   • Tap the icon of the participant or group at the top of the screen, scroll to Collaboration, then tap the shared project.

Your participants also get updates in the conversation when you make any changes or edits to the project.

Note: Adding a new person to a group conversation doesn’t give them access to the projects you’re collaborating on, so you have to grant it. For someone added recently, tap the notification at the top of the screen to add them, or you can invite them to collaborate.

Manage the collaboration and group

In a Messages conversation with two or more people, you can add or remove participants from a project you’ve shared.

1. Start the Messages app on your iPhone.
2. Go to the conversation you want to manage. Tap the group icon at the top of the conversation to open details about the group’s conversation.
3. Do any of the following:
   • Add new participants: Tap Add Access, then add contacts. (You may need to scroll down to see Add.)

     If you started collaborating with just one other person, you must start a new conversation to add people to the collaboration.

     Note: You must add new participants to any files that were shared in the conversation before they joined. As you add participants, a notification appears at the top of the conversation. Tap Show in the notification to review the previously shared files you can add new participants to.

   • Remove a participant from the conversation: Touch and hold their icon. Then tap Remove from Group.

Important: The apps where the collaboration happens usually control access to the project. Check participant access in the app itself to remove viewing or editing privileges completely.

The group of people in the Messages collaboration may not match the group collaborating on the file. You might invite people to collaborate on the file outside of Messages, for example, or set up two separate groups in Messages, each with its own collaboration conversation. If you add someone to a document you’ve already shared with others, you can add them to an existing conversation or keep the conversations separate. But people added to a conversation can’t read messages sent before they joined.

Stop collaborating on a project in Messages

Usually, the app where the collaboration happens controls access to the project. If you’re collaborating on a document in the Pages app, for example, the Pages settings take precedence over the Messages settings. You can still unsend or delete the invitation from the conversation, though, just as you would any other message.

Important: When you delete an invitation from a thread, that conversation is no longer associated with the collaboration, but it doesn’t remove participants from the file. Check participant access in the app to remove viewing or editing privileges completely.