That tool bar at the bottom of the Messages app

[Rod]

Users of iOS 11 will have no doubt noticed the little tool bar at the bottom of the Messages app. It gives you access to stickers, maps, the App Store for iMessages and more. I wanted to hide it so I read a couple of articles all of which suggested tapping the App Store icon to the left of the message dialogue box but despite tapping and tap an drag nothing seemed to work. Then I had an idea. Because the Telcomsel network here doesn't really support it I keep iMessages turned off. I went to Settings, switched it on and low and behold I was able to hide or show the bar. It now remains to seen if this iOS will switch to SMS when iMessage is unavailable unlike the previous versions. This may have been because I did not use Mobile Data in the past, I suppose I will find out.

 

[Slydude]

It seems to switch for me when I send a message to friends who are on Android devices. If I'm understanding you correctly the answer is yes it switches automatically.