How to copy a specific part of a message on iPhone

Learn how to copy a specific part of a message on your iPhone in Apple Messages and third-party chat apps like WhatsApp and Telegram instead of the whole text.

Apple’s built-in Messages app on iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 recently joined third-party apps like WhatsApp and Telegram in offering a partial text selection feature.

The process is virtually similar across all apps: Hold the message bubble to reveal the option to select a portion of the message instead of copying the whole thing. We’ll walk you through the process, so follow the steps below.

Apple Messages

Be sure to update your iPhone and iPad to iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 (currently in beta) before following the steps below.

1. Launch the built-in Messages app and open any conversation.
2. Hold a chat bubble and choose Select in the menu.
3. Drag grab points to define the section of the text you’d like to use and select Copy in the floating menu.

WhatsApp

Follow these steps to select a specific portion of a message on WhatsApp.

1. Open a conversation in WhatsApp for iPhone, then hold a sent or received message. The chat bubble will lift, with the chat background blurred.
2. Hold the desired word in the chat bubble to select it. To select more, drag the grab points accordingly.
3. Choose Copy in the floating menu to copy the selected portion to the clipboard.

Telegram

Telegram was among the first messaging apps to offer selective copying using a process similar to WhatsApp, and here are the steps.

1. In Telegram for iPhone, open any conversation.
2. Hold a message until it pops out, blurring the background.
3. Hold a word or use drag handles to select a specific message part, then choose Copy in the menu.

Live Text will copy any text

Some messaging apps like Signal don’t support copying specific message parts message. What you can do instead is take a screenshot on your iPhone, open it in the Photos app, and select any text portion directly on the screenshot using the Live Text feature.

iOS 26 improves the Messages app

iOS 26 brings several noteworthy enhancements to the built-in Messages app. For example, you can use live translation in Messages to have all incoming and outgoing messages automatically translated, as they’re being typed.

In group iMessage chats, you can use polls to gather everyone’s opinion on a topic. And to spice up your messaging game, the Messages app lets you set an image as your chat background, like WhatsApp.

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/07/14/how-to-copy-part-message-iphone/