format - bold, italics, underline - text in iOS

It may be the type of message. SMS messages do not support bold, underline, etc. I don't use iMessage so I'm not sure about them.

With the possible exception of Notes, none of the apps youve mentioned support styled text. If the apps don't support it, the option isn't going to appear.

Yes, you should see these options when composing an email in the Mail App.

Alex Machi wrote:

But not in other iOS apps that allow the user to compose text? Like Notes? Do they not permit formatted text?

Thanks for the reply.

Notes doesn't support formatted text. Of the apps I use, Evernote does support formatted text but it has a menu type bar for doing the formatting. For mail, I use the Gmail app and it does support tormatted text and it does use the BIU popup menu when you highlight the text -- same as the standard email app as you show in the picture.

Why don't you try the apps you are interested in?

For 3rd party apps from the app store it is entirely the choice of the app developer whether they offer rich text or not.

Alex Machi wrote:

Also curious about whether iPad apps are the same. Do iPad users have more apps (that is, more than just Apple's Mail) that allow formatting text? Is this the same throughout all iOS 7 devices?

I have the same apps on the iPad and they work the same way regarding formatted text.

Alex,

Think I figured this out. It's been driving me nuts for weeks now.

When you click or hold and the format block pops up, the right arrow doesn't do squat except exit the format block...

Try swiping the block to the left. For me it reveals the bold, italics & insert pic/vid.

Hope this helps. And hope they're fixing it with the next update!

This simply isn't true. I have the exact same situation as Alex Machi – I mean exact same situation. In Message, the b/i/u has come up a few times, but for no apparent reason. Then it doesn't come back again for a long time, and never when I actually need it.

This is clearly an option on my iPhone 6+, OS 8.4, but I had the same problem going back to when I got 4S, so it was clearly an option on that phone, and I would dare say any phones in between.

I get the same black bar that everyone else gets. And as such, there is never an arrow on the right side, so suggestions to click on the arrow is of no assistance, as there isn't an arrow.

Like Alex, I have YET to find any person who has accurately answered this question. Is there anyone who has found a solution or answer to this?

All you have to do is to put the text that you have to see as bold *inside asterisks* while typing, the phrase you need to italicise _between underscores_, and words you want to strike through ~between tildes~.

If you want to make a text appear in bold + italics, you can type the text _*between their respective symbols*_. Similarly, to combine all three you can type the text ~_*inside all three respective symbols*_~.

Hope this helped!

Yes, NOW, however at the time this thread was active - almost a year ago - that was not the case.