Cannot collapse long text message on iPhone 15

I don’t have anything productive to add other than I noticed that the feature to collapse messages used to exist and now has been replaced by the plus. It’s super inconvenient to not be able to collapse a long message to reference what was said before. Apple, is there really no fix??

As far as I can tell this is an issue with iOS 17, so applicable on any iOS device, although it disproportionately impacts those with smaller screens.

The only solution I've discovered so far is to select the text in the field and temporarily cut it to your clipboard, then paste it back in once you are done viewing your conversation history. Be careful not to erase your message or overwrite the clipboard while doing so.

Since tapping in the text field now seems to prioritize iOS 17's predictive typing over the editing menu, even this workaround is more cumbersome than before. It certainly feels like a regressive development.

Hello Lite-Brite,

There isn't a way to collapse an individual text from someone whether in a single contact thread or group thread. You can submit an idea like that to the official Apple feedback form, which we would encourage you to do.

Here's where to provide that suggestion: Product Feedback - Apple

All the best.

You’re not understanding what they’re saying. They’re saying while you’re typing a message, as the message gets longer it takes up more and more of the screen until it completely blocks the previous messages with no way to see them.

However, it didn’t use to do that. The text box would only get so long until it stopped growing and just made you scroll up and down. It’s very annoying and must be a bug