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iPhone: How to Add a Signature to Text Messages

iPhone: How to Add a Signature to Text Messages

By Kat Armstrong 122 Comments

The Apple iPhone doesn’t have a way to create a signature for a text message the way you can for an email. There are a few apps on iTunes that claim to do this for you, but I don’t recommend any of them. They’re pretty cheesy, cost money and are a pain to use. You have to switch between the text and the app in order to insert the signature. Who wants to add those extra steps and time?

Thankfully, I figured out a way to add a signature of sorts to the end of all of my outgoing text messages (and iMessages) using a keyboard shortcut. It only takes a moment to set one of these up and you can easily insert it at the end of every text message.

NOTE – This method can be used for any and all phrases you find yourself typing regularly into a message such as a URL, phone number, address or anything else you use often. Just follow the steps below to create a new keyboard shortcut and then use it while you type!

To create a keyboard shortcut:

  1. From the Home screen, open “Settings“.
  2. Choose “General“.
  3. Scroll down to find the “Keyboard” field and tap on it.
  4. Select “Text Replacement“.
  5. Select the + at the upper-right corner to add a new shortcut.
  6. In the “Phrase” field, type whatever it is you want to use as a shortcut or signature within text messages. Keep in mind that texts are supposed to be on the short side, so don’t create something insanely long here.
  7. In the “Shortcut” field, type the 2-3 letter shortcut you will use to bring this signature up within a text. When you are finished, tap the “Save” button in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Using the Shortcut as your Signature

In my example photo above, I chose to have the short phrase “Blessed Be” show up at the end of my text messages. When I am finishing up a text message, I just type bb at the end and my shortcut will pop up. I then simply tap the space bar and iOS places the shortcut/signature within the message for me.

Be creative – if you want to end your texts with something like:
~ Kat Armstrong – https://katarmstrong.com ~

You would type this into the Phrase field in the screen to create the shortcut. For the shortcut trigger, you could then use something such as “siggie” to trigger it.

You can choose to use whatever you’d like as your shortcut “signature” – short is usually always better when sending an SMS. Likewise, the trigger shortcut should be something around 2-3 letters for the most part and easy to remember. You’re trying to save yourself time, not add to your troubles.

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Filed Under: iOS Tagged With: iPhone, iPhone X

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nancy says

    December 3, 2020 at 10:07 am

    You are wonderful!!
    Thanks, Nancy

  2. Michelle Platt says

    June 29, 2020 at 7:19 am

    Great!!
    My only question is -do you click on the newly added phrase when it pops up? Or will it auto detect with my shortcut when I click send?

  3. Michelle Platt says

    June 29, 2020 at 7:17 am

    Great!! Trying this right now!

  4. Jan Stern says

    June 2, 2020 at 10:04 am

    Absolutely terrific! THANK YOU!
    I’ve just set up TWO signatures, one for each business – Survival to Thrival Coach and Realtor.
    I’m thrilled.

  5. Jacqueline says

    May 30, 2020 at 2:50 pm

    This is great, time-saving help.
    Worked perfectly. Thanks Mitch!

  6. Rosella jw.org says

    May 3, 2020 at 10:49 am

    Thank you this was Stellar! Still valuable five years after it posted. Thanks

  7. Daphine Robinson says

    May 3, 2020 at 10:43 am

    Thank you so much! I am new to Apple switching from android. That was awesome I greatly appreciate it.

  8. Deborah says

    March 31, 2020 at 5:38 pm

    New user to iPhones. This is great! It would be fantastic if it would autofill after you hit return.

  9. Sam says

    February 12, 2020 at 9:51 am

    It works
    Great. Thanks a bunch ?

  10. Rosie says

    August 14, 2019 at 4:55 am

    Do networks treat this as a multimedia message?

  11. Susan Malotte says

    August 6, 2019 at 11:28 pm

    This is a great shortcut! Love it! Thank you so much for sharing!

  12. Laura F says

    July 26, 2019 at 10:11 am

    Thank You so much!!!!

  13. Andrea Schutter-Riebeling says

    June 24, 2019 at 8:55 am

    YES THANK YOU!!!

  14. Amy says

    May 21, 2019 at 12:21 pm

    This works perfectly, Thank you so much for the recommendation on doing signatures on iphones!!

  15. Patricia Van Pelt says

    March 20, 2019 at 8:51 am

    Wow! That works just fine!

  16. PJ says

    January 14, 2019 at 11:51 am

    Hi -how would one add a company logo to a text signature?
    Thanks

  17. Lisa says

    December 29, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    Patti,

    Try shortenin your signature. Maybe even writin it altogether, as ONE word. Only separatin the different words by capital letters, if ya can. Otherwise, maybe ABBREVIATE, that’s what “I’ve” done.

    On my Straight Talk phone and this CRAPPY iphone, for Christmas, I wrote, “!MryCHRISTmas!” For Halloween, I wrote, HpyHALLOWEEN! For my NAME, I either just use my INITIAL, “L” or I write, Lisa. But, abbreviate whatcha don’t have the space for.

    Hope this helps. If you’d like to contact me, my email’s, [email protected]

    Happy 2019!

  18. Patti Scuderi says

    November 26, 2018 at 11:37 am

    I’m also having trouble with my text message signature. It was working fine until I tried to use it today and it just won’t work. I’ve tried deleting it and doing it over and it still doesn’t work. Any more suggestions? My signature is just too long to type each time I need it.

    Thanks for any help you can send my way!

  19. Gina says

    November 25, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    I was using this feature nicely until a few days ago when it stopped working. Any suggestions on why this iall of a sudden stopped working. I deleted it and reentered it and still doesn’t work. I loved my Android because I could always have it on the end of each text, now I have to type the 3 letter phrase for it to populate! I use to be able to schedule text messages also and it doesn’t seem to work on the iPhones!

  20. Cynthia Halverson says

    August 24, 2018 at 11:26 am

    I want to add a particular emoji at the end of every text as a signature. How do I accomplish that?

  21. BeDo says

    July 28, 2018 at 7:20 am

    Thank you too much. ~By God’s grace~

  22. Ragnhild says

    June 21, 2018 at 9:16 am

    I tried but could not use space.. Look like it works with everyone else :/

  23. Emily says

    May 9, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    You get 5 stars! Very Helpful I have an Iphone 5 and this works great ! so easy! Thanks!

  24. Tricia Hakenson says

    April 17, 2018 at 9:27 am

    My first iphone! I’ve been wanting one for a VERY long time. Thank you so much for the “work-around” on the signature. I am a Realtor and have a lengthy signature that would require a lot of repetitive text.
    ~ Tricia Hakenson ~
    Keller Williams Realty
    Tricia.TeamVirgadamo.com
    So, I created (thanks to you) three phrases, one for each line with the shortcuts of: th for my name; kw for the Broker; tv for my website. I text th and hit enter, kw and hit enter, tv and hit enter then send. Sor much easier!
    Thanks!!! for making my text life that much better!

  25. Lawana Towner says

    March 27, 2018 at 4:45 pm

    Thanks Kat for the step-by-step. Now I have a signature. Thanks for showing all the steps involved.

  26. zzzz says

    March 2, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    Thanks bunches! step by step instruction and visual aid to boot! Now we’re cooking!

  27. Karen Baker says

    February 28, 2018 at 5:39 pm

    Thanks so much. It is a pain that this cannot be permanently installed, but at least it is a shortcut to typing the entire closing each time.

  28. BC says

    January 4, 2018 at 6:39 am

    Awesome! Works great! Thank you!

  29. John Hogan says

    November 8, 2017 at 6:02 pm

    Works a treat! Thank you Kat.
    John

  30. Crickett Bottoms says

    November 3, 2017 at 1:38 pm

    It’s still not working. I have an iPhone 6 and I want to add “nolans mom” at the end of every SMS text message why isn’t it working??? Ugh!

  31. Jairo says

    October 13, 2017 at 7:24 am

    Help a lot. Read so many ideas that were unavailable on my phone. This works. Thank you very much!

  32. Marie LaFalaise says

    August 29, 2017 at 10:55 am

    Thank you so much. That is the most useful information I have gotten for my I-phone.

  33. Craig says

    August 26, 2017 at 6:40 am

    Brilliant! I just switched from an Android which (I miss) and has this feature. A plus over the Android is you can use at will.

  34. Zahra says

    August 8, 2017 at 11:16 pm

    Thanks smarty!!!! Didn’t even think of it till i read this Ugh … ?

  35. Mandy says

    August 2, 2017 at 8:04 pm

    Thanks, this is so easy and a great help
    Mandy

  36. Emily says

    June 30, 2017 at 12:47 pm

    Mitch! Thank you! This is NOT the first time I’ve used your techni-solutions. And it won’t be the last. Thank you for straight forward and helpful insights.

  37. Buttafly says

    June 23, 2017 at 12:56 pm

    This really helped.. But I wish it could automatically show up without me having to remember to put it in there…..

  38. Art says

    June 1, 2017 at 12:19 pm

    Thank you. This was of great help! No need to type my signature every time.

  39. Linda Humes says

    May 29, 2017 at 12:27 pm

    When I had an android phone you could set an automatic signature that entered on a line below the message you typed. Is there any way for that to happen with the iPhone 5s?

  40. Tanya says

    May 21, 2017 at 12:08 am

    Thank you so much!! great help :-)

  41. Dan Hartke says

    May 18, 2017 at 5:46 pm

    Your instructions were great and easy-to-follow! Just what I needed.

  42. Sue Parrott says

    April 25, 2017 at 4:39 pm

    Perfect, thank you!

  43. Gina Vandervelden says

    March 30, 2017 at 8:09 am

    Thank you for your time. This is very helpful! Thanks again!

  44. Seasong says

    March 26, 2017 at 1:36 pm

    Thanks for a solution in plain and detailed English. I’m a devoted Samsung used who’s been given an iPhone. Needed the help, and will be back for more.

  45. Fred Wood says

    March 1, 2017 at 11:34 am

    New to iPhone always had android but even though this 1 extra step it worked great thanks

  46. Darnelle says

    February 4, 2017 at 7:35 pm

    Thank you, wonderful again thank you

  47. Dean says

    February 1, 2017 at 9:37 am

    This seems to work only if you actually type it. If you use Siri to say a text, and say your shortcut, it does’t work. Am I right?

  48. Donna says

    January 26, 2017 at 11:00 am

    Thank you! I’ve spent countless hours trying to figure out how to do this.

  49. Ann OFarrell says

    January 11, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    Thank you, Thank you, this was extremely helpful. Awesome stuff Kat Armstrong

  50. Beverly Lofton says

    December 15, 2016 at 4:27 pm

    UGH!!! You have to remember to do type in the shortcut after every text — which I don’t most of the time. Not a great system.

  51. Abel O. Zubia says

    November 22, 2016 at 12:57 pm

    That works Great, Thanks for the help.

  52. Marian Olive says

    November 17, 2016 at 11:07 am

    mine says spaces are not allowed. this is problematic for what I am trying to achieve. Any work arounds for that?

  53. Mema says

    November 15, 2016 at 8:28 am

    This works Great and is very easy to do! Thank you!!

  54. Hoa says

    November 6, 2016 at 4:38 pm

    This is amazing! Thank you for sharing. So cleaver!

  55. John W. Shear says

    October 31, 2016 at 8:59 am

    Thanks for your great tips

  56. Lisa S says

    October 14, 2016 at 11:29 am

    Very helpful, thanks so much.

  57. Karla says

    September 15, 2016 at 3:34 pm

    Perfect!!! Thanks!

  58. Linda says

    September 7, 2016 at 9:20 am

    Works beautifully! Thank you.

  59. JG says

    September 7, 2016 at 8:04 am

    Love it! Thanks so much.

  60. Sher says

    August 12, 2016 at 4:25 pm

    Thank you.

  61. Bob says

    August 12, 2016 at 8:15 am

    Awesome hack! Thanks!

  62. SS says

    July 16, 2016 at 1:41 am

    Real Savior!! Great to use.

  63. Carla says

    July 8, 2016 at 8:19 am

    Thanks for helping me out. Very easy instructions.

  64. Melin says

    May 22, 2016 at 11:00 am

    Love it and if it’s free it’s for me! Thank you!!

  65. Mark says

    April 27, 2016 at 9:02 pm

    Works on iPhone – but does not work when texting from my Macbook Air…?

  66. Annette says

    April 17, 2016 at 3:21 pm

    Thank you! Works beautifully!

  67. lah says

    April 14, 2016 at 4:02 pm

    Thanks, I need this as I use my Txt msgs in business and sometimes people don’t recognize the cell number as compared to the business line

  68. john postlewait says

    April 12, 2016 at 11:47 pm

    I found this because my wife was trying to do the same thing. I’ll let her know about this fix. Although I’m not sure I understand why people need signitures on a txt message. They know who it’s from when u txt them. Unless all these people have a habit of texting random people who they don’t know.

  69. Marcia says

    April 11, 2016 at 5:08 pm

    Thank you!!!! Great solution!!!

  70. Rick Alder says

    April 5, 2016 at 12:18 pm

    thank you! great time saver

  71. David McDonald says

    April 4, 2016 at 11:23 am

    Fantastic, Thank you

  72. Charise Dixson says

    March 29, 2016 at 8:04 am

    Thank You! Blessings to you

  73. SBuenning says

    March 8, 2016 at 8:24 am

    Thank you, great idea!!
    Love it!!

  74. Wilma says

    February 29, 2016 at 4:37 pm

    THANK YOU!!! It helps a lot. I also agree with others about why apple will not signature option…

  75. Eli Ristine says

    February 28, 2016 at 5:38 pm

    Wow you are wonderful for sharing this step by step. This was driving me coocoo.Thank you.

  76. Sally L Jacobson says

    February 26, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    Thank you so much for the exact steps for adding a signature at the end of my texts!!!! Way to be kind and share information!

  77. Helen says

    February 17, 2016 at 12:11 pm

    Thank you!!!! I have been looking for this answer for sometime. I’m not sure why Apple would not add this to their functions, but this will do just fine until they do! Thanks again!

  78. Franca Chang says

    February 13, 2016 at 2:45 pm

    Very helpful, I finally have a signature for my texts! Thank you

  79. Ginger says

    January 30, 2016 at 11:15 am

    Thanks so much! I’ve been trying to find the answer to do this for awhile now! You made life easier!

  80. Viki Perry says

    January 23, 2016 at 12:41 pm

    Love it love it….I have searched and searched you final made it simple. Don’t understand why iphone does not have simple needs. Mostly I love iPhone (just switched) but the simplest needs are not available.

  81. Debbie Hanna says

    January 21, 2016 at 3:46 pm

    Very helpful. Solved a problem I have had for years. Thanks so much.

  82. Marlene Thompson says

    January 20, 2016 at 2:57 pm

    thank you! I am keeping your site on my favorites!

  83. John says

    January 18, 2016 at 6:52 pm

    Great thanks so much. Works great!

  84. Kelly says

    January 18, 2016 at 4:52 pm

    YOU’RE WONDERFUL!!! Thank you sooo much! So lucky to have people like you helping people like me…and ….your directions were spot on!

  85. Liz says

    January 16, 2016 at 6:35 pm

    This is BRILLIANT – thank you so much!

  86. Jenny K says

    January 11, 2016 at 9:31 pm

    Super tip, thank you!

  87. Lavakumar says

    January 11, 2016 at 4:11 am

    It worked for me. Very well explained. Thank you genius !!

  88. Ann says

    January 6, 2016 at 7:38 pm

    It worked for me on my new iPhone 6S. I have had it a week and needed two different siggies. Thanks very much for the info.

  89. Tony says

    December 30, 2015 at 9:27 am

    Wow.? Makes me long for my android device. When I wanted an automatic phrase (Message Signature) with my old android, it was a permanent setting that “automatically” populated with every outgoing message. This also does not work when “speaking” a text into the iphone either. Not a time saver.

  90. Sharyn C says

    December 26, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    WOW!!! Thank you so much!!! I love that I can add my website with the shortcut.

  91. Andrea says

    December 12, 2015 at 9:22 pm

    This works on iphone 5c, too.

  92. Rita White says

    December 11, 2015 at 7:59 am

    What a great tip – Thank You!

  93. Vonda Laffey says

    December 7, 2015 at 2:58 pm

    This is great – just what I needed. You rock!

  94. Cat lu says

    December 2, 2015 at 5:42 am

    Amazing!!! Very well explained and very helpful. Thank you!

  95. Pj says

    November 18, 2015 at 1:57 am

    This is the best thxs to the genius who created this !!!

  96. Jaybeebee says

    November 6, 2015 at 11:54 pm

    Excellent, just what I needed/hoped for.

  97. Mike says

    October 29, 2015 at 7:20 pm

    To Amy
    I just figured it out in IOS 9 go to settings/general/keyboard /text replacement Its all there !!!!

  98. Mike says

    October 29, 2015 at 5:21 pm

    I cannot get this to work either on an iPhone 6.
    There is already a shortcut (I did not create) about double tapping the space bar . There seems to be no way to “add new shortcut”
    Help ? Any ideas ?

  99. amy ammen says

    October 28, 2015 at 12:51 pm

    I can’t get this to work on the iPhone 6s. Has it changed since el Capitain update? I’m probably not following directions, but I’ve exhausted my resources. Can you help? thank you!!

  100. Sandi says

    October 21, 2015 at 10:41 am

    THANK YOU!!!

  101. Anita U. says

    September 17, 2015 at 12:47 pm

    Thank you for the tip! I was just about to buy an app! This is so much better!

  102. Linda says

    September 9, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    OMG this helped me so much. Awesome. Thank you!

  103. gloria says

    August 31, 2015 at 11:35 am

    Thank you so much!!!!

  104. Glenn says

    August 26, 2015 at 3:32 am

    Top notch ?

  105. Barbara W says

    August 25, 2015 at 7:16 am

    This was so helpful after looking at other sites first that were not so simple – Thanks!!

  106. EJ says

    August 19, 2015 at 5:36 pm

    Very helpful. Thanks so much

  107. DD Cortez says

    August 13, 2015 at 9:07 am

    Thank you all your information has been very helpful.

  108. Mark O'D says

    July 23, 2015 at 10:53 pm

    Thanks mate, greatly appreciated and so well explained!!!

  109. Francisco says

    July 9, 2015 at 5:53 pm

    You are a super star. I send business texts all day long. Thanks!!

  110. Karen Rice says

    July 7, 2015 at 6:23 pm

    This is great! I only wanted to add a signature, but I can use this for all kinds of messages. Thank you.

  111. Laura says

    June 23, 2015 at 6:37 am

    Thank you so much for this. Brilliant! just transferred back from Android so it was irritating without the signature! plus EVERYONE didn’t recognise me (apparently messages transmit on iCloud).

    Highly recommend this!!!!

    x

  112. JoJo says

    June 22, 2015 at 9:55 am

    You are clever! Thank you so much!

  113. Carolyn Jackson says

    June 4, 2015 at 6:32 am

    Your tip was very helpful.
    Thank you very much!

  114. Debbie Zollo says

    May 21, 2015 at 3:58 pm

    You RoCk thanks Deb

  115. Alex de R says

    May 14, 2015 at 10:32 am

    Top one tks !

  116. Diane says

    May 7, 2015 at 12:23 pm

    Thank you so much! This is a great idea b/c I don’t need a signature on every text message.

  117. Sylvia says

    May 6, 2015 at 8:35 pm

    Awesome … Thanks!!

  118. kris says

    April 26, 2015 at 1:22 am

    thank you so much

  119. Knyvett says

    April 22, 2015 at 5:17 am

    Thanks so much this is a huge help!! Use it all the time.

  120. Sharon says

    April 18, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    Thanks so much!

  121. Vanessa says

    April 13, 2015 at 9:45 am

    Thanks for the great tip, I am so bummed iphone doesnt have the signature feature on a message!

    VANESSA

  122. Crystal C says

    April 6, 2015 at 10:03 pm

    You are a life saver doll!! :)

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