What does the fake iMessage screenshot look like?
The canvas is an iPhone screen, 390 by 844 points, and every piece of it is yours to set.
The thread. A contact name sits at the top, above a circular avatar that shows that contact's initials. Under the header you can print a time label, the stamp iOS puts above the first message of a session.
The bubbles. Every message is either sent or received. Sent bubbles are iOS blue with a tail, aligned right. Received bubbles are gray, aligned left. You add messages, delete the ones that do not work, and reorder them until the conversation reads the way you want.
The receipt. Under the last sent message you can show nothing, Delivered, or Read. That one word carries a lot. A blue bubble marked Read with no reply under it is a whole story by itself.
The status bar. Set the clock, the battery percentage and the signal bars. A 4% battery at 3:48 AM says something your message text no longer has to.
The extras. Switch on a typing indicator when the thread should end on someone about to answer. Switch on the keyboard when the shot should look like a live screen instead of a scroll-back.
Light mode and dark mode both render. Dark mode reads as late at night, which is why most of the threads that travel use it.