The Messages app on the iPhone, like other apps, can provide you with a notification when you have a new message. Use the Notifications section of the Settings app to control what types of notifications you get, including, as we all know, a red badge on the app itself to show you the number of unread messages.
Sometimes my app shows me that I have a few unread messages. I suppose at some point over the years I may have had as many as a dozen or so unread messages, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than that.
My daughter recently spent about two weeks at summer camp. When we picked her up at camp (in another state), I brought her iPhone because I figured that she would be eager to catch up on text messages etc. in the car ride home. But what I did not expect to see was this:
How is it even possible to have 1,800 unread messages? I’m not sure that I have ever received that many messages in my entire life. My daughter informed me that most of it was from large group texts where there can be dozens of new texts every minute. When I told her that I cannot even imagine taking the time to catch up on that many messages, she told me that all she would need to do is a quick skim to get a sense of whether she missed anything important.
So anyway, my public service announcement for today is that—in case you were curious—yes, the Messages notifications badge does support numbers that are four digits long. I hope that I never have a reason to see that it can support five digits too.
Wow, this one really made me smile! I can barely handle a couple dozen unread texts, so the idea of 1,800 unread messages is mind-blowing. I mean, I don’t even think I’ve ever received that many total in my entire life! 😅
But you’re totally right—those big group chats can move at lightning speed. My own phone gets flooded anytime my friends sync up on planning something, and before you know it, it’s 50+ unread messages. And yet, a quick skim usually does the job—it’s all about spotting the important stuff without getting overwhelmed.
Also, that red badge supporting four digits? Who knew! I’m crossing my fingers that we never reach a point where we need five. Thanks for sharing such a funny and relatable moment. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who occasionally dreads that badge number.