Apple has been committing "severe injustices" against us over the years, and it's time for someone to stand up and speak out what everyone has wanted to say but hasn't been able to. That brave person is me.

The problem is that the emoji responses from iMessage – for example, when someone uses a like emoji to like a text message – keep playing back in my AirPods. I think there should be a way to turn this off.

Here's what happens. If you're wearing headphones and receive a message with the code iMessage, your phone will announce: "From [Name]: Message content." That's really useful and considerate! I think this feature is fantastic.

However, when I’m wearing the AirPods, I usually don’t stare at my phone all the time. I might be walking, washing dishes while listening to a podcast, or at the gym. During those times, I do want to know if I’ve received any new messages. For example, if I’m at the grocery store and my husband sends a message saying we still need to buy eggs. Great! Just let it go! I love it so much!!!

But what I don't need to know is that someone in the group chat put a heart emoji on a certain message.

The emoji responses from iMessage are actually great and very efficient: sometimes you just want to give a like to let the other person know you've seen the message; or a heart to show you like that baby photo, and so on. Apple, I pay my respects to you: this is indeed a great feature. You really did a good job this time.

However, the system doesn't have the ability to turn off notifications for these emoji responses alone; you can only turn off all the announcements in your headphones, but then you won't be able to hear the text message that says, "Hey, by the way, could you also buy me some eggs?"

The issue with the emoji broadcast of AirPods is very similar to another problem that has existed for a long time with iMessage. If there are people in the group who are not iPhone users, these emoji responses will appear as separate messages. As long as there is one Android user in the group, along with the green bubbles, the chat will completely become chaotic.

I have a very active group chat where a bunch of friends love to use emojis to respond to each other. However, one of my friends uses an Android phone, which meant that using emojis in the group chat was a nightmare for her – so much so that she would mute the group chat and only check it occasionally. Fortunately, in 2024, Apple solved this problem by adopting a messaging protocol called Rich Communications Services. As a result, emojis can now be used normally in green text messages within this group chat as well. You see, progress is indeed possible!

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John Ternus, if you really want to make a big splash as Apple CEO, I have a suggestion: fix this issue. Please add a toggle switch in the notification settings of the "Information" app so that users can turn off emoji responses during broadcasts.

I have already contacted Apple to ask if they are considering adding this feature. If there is a response, I will let you all know!