iOS 26: What SMS Marketers Need to Know

Apple released their iOS 26 update in a public beta this July, with the final public release expected to occur in the fall. In anticipation of this release, there has been a great deal of speculation and concern about how this update will impact SMS marketing.  

Don’t get caught up in the alarmism. We’ve outlined what’s actually changing and what you should know as an SMS marketer.

It’s important to note that this update is in beta and some details will likely keep evolving until it is released in the fall. Unless you’re part of Tim Cook’s inner circle, we encourage a healthy dose of skepticism as an antidote to the typical rumor mill that often accompanies Apple release cycles (remember the Apple Car?). 

As members of Mobile Ecosystem Forum, CTIA, and the Ecommerce Innovation Alliance, Postscript is engaging with Apple to ensure that Apple continues to understand the importance of making it easy for consumers to access the text messages that they have requested to receive from brands they know and trust. And we will continue to share updates with you as they come, without adding to the rumor mill.

Now, onto the updates and what we know about them thus far!

“Screen Unknown Senders” is a feature in the Messages app that Apple has had since 2018, so it’s been around for a long time. It helps organize and manage your messages by separating messages from known versus unknown senders. If the feature is enabled, the inbox is filtered into the following categories:

• Messages (Known Senders)

• Unknown Senders

• Transactions

• Promotions

• Spam

• Recently Deleted

The most important detail is that this feature has been, and we believe will remain, one that requires a user to activate it themselves. It is not the default setting for Messages. Only once activated, will your inbox view default to Known Senders. Given how long this feature has already been available, at this point in time we have no reason to believe that materially more people will activate it after iOS 26 is made available publicly in the fall than already use it today.

• Asking subscribers to add your brand as a contact is the most direct way to get into the Known Senders inbox. With Postscript, you can send a contact card as part of an automation or campaign to encourage subscribers to save you in their contacts easily.

• Subscribers can also mark a thread as “known sender” for both SMS and RCS without having to add them as a contact

• Conversational threads also help to move you into known sender, which is just one more reason why investing in conversational SMS now sets you up for long term success. And luckily, Shopper allows you to have quality 1:1 conversations with an unlimited number of subscribers.

Onsite Opt-In is our patented opt-in method that uses a One-Time Passcode to complete the opt-in while keeping the customer on-site. Our testing with iOS 26 shows that messages containing One-Time Passcodes are treated as time sensitive messages that (1) still appear as notifications on the lock screen; and (2) temporarily appear in the main inbox because they are recognized as time sensitive messages. 

Apple’s auto pre-fill feature for one-time passcodes continues to work the same as before. So in short, Onsite Opt-In will continue to be the most effective way to maximize list growth, regardless if the subscriber is on iOS 26 or an earlier version.

With the release of iOS 26, a lot is changing for Apple users. And yet, very little is changing for SMS marketers. The purpose of Filter Unknown Sender is to keep messages that people don’t want to see out of their inbox. And remember, it’s not the default setting for all Apple users. So as long as you keep sending valuable, relevant, and personalized text messages to your subscribers, they will keep engaging with your texts, having conversations with your brand, and adding you to their known senders lists. That’s been our recommended strategy for years, and will continue to be the same post iOS 26 release.