Why can’t I see balloon/confetti animations in my Messages app?

If you have been receiving messages on your iPhone like the image posted above, then somebody has been trying to send you iMessage animations. Apple introduced the ability to send animated celebration effects through the Messages app in iOS 10. An iPhone users can send animated images of balloons, confetti, fireworks and more to other iPhone and iPad users running iOS 10 or later. If you do not see the animated messages then your device is probably running an earlier version of iOS, or your device does not support iOS 10. You can see a list of iOS 10 supported devices here, and learn how to update to iOS 10 here.