Assuming your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS, when you launch Messages and open a new or existing text conversation, you should have access to the expandable menu, or the “+” icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Ordinarily, when you tap it, you should see some of the apps commonly used in conjunction with a text message, including Apple features you ought to try out and use more like Stickers, Check In, and Memoji. If you want to send someone a photo or a video, you can launch the expandable menu and tap either Camera or Photos.
If you’re trying to do the latter, though, there’s a more efficient — and seemingly hidden — way of doing so. Rather than executing several taps to get to your camera roll, you can just long-press on the “+” icon. This gesture immediately brings up the images and videos you have in the Photos app. For a better view, swipe up so the Photos app takes up your entire iPhone screen and you can search or select which items you’d like to attach to a message and send.
Apart from scrolling through your entire camera roll, you can also use the Search bar to find specific photos, people, objects, or locations to attach. Alternatively, you can tap the Albums tab and filter your lookup by folder or media type. Based on testing, you have a limit of attaching 20 photos and videos per text message.
