I currently am using iphone and ipad (iOS 17) and MacOS High Sierra and Monterey.
On iOS, return adds a newline. A separate icon is used to send.
On Mac OS, Return sends the message. You can get a newline with option-return. shift-return acts as return.
Even the use of option-return is problematic. Many user interfaces (e.g. facebook, and reddit’s web interfaces) allow the use of shift-return to add a line break without sending. Both of those interfaces treat option-return as a return.
I would like the Mac behaviour to be like the iphone behaviour. I want to have to explicitly send the message.
Since I use messages, reddit and facebook a lot on all three devices, I’d like a solution that does ONE of the following:
- Defaults messages on Mac to use return as line break. Sending the message can be any key combination the developer desires. Command-Option-Shift-MetaCoffeecup-Down-arrow
- Alternative MacOS app that can use Apple’s Messages protocol.
- Changes Messages on Mac to treat shift-return as line break.
Research: This is a recurrent question on the Apple Help Community. There are several mentions of the Option-return workarouond, and some mention of shift-return.
On this site, it comes up in this thread. It’s only somewhat parallel as the problem is with a bluetooth keyboard on iPad.