iOS 26 adds a new opt-in filtering system to the Messages app that tucks away messages from “Unknown Senders” into a separate tab.
Punchbowl News (via Daring Fireball and Political Wire) reports that Republicans in Washington, D.C. are already freaking out about the fundraising implications of this new feature, warning that it “could cost them $25 million in fundraising revenue.”
iOS 26 has political fundraisers on edge
The memo was sent by the NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) last week, coinciding with the release of the iOS 26 public beta. John Gruber at Daring Fireball got his hands on a full copy of the memo, in which the NRSC says the changes in iOS 26 feature “has profound implications for our ability to fundraise, mobilize voters, and run digital campaigns.”
We covered this iOS 26 feature earlier this month. After updating, the Messages app automatically sorts messages from unknown senders into a separate inbox, accessible via the filtering button in the upper-right corner. These messages also bypass notifications.
From the NRSC letter:
Apple’s iOS 26 update introduces aggressive message filtering. Political texts — even from verified and compliant senders — will be treated as spam by default, silently sent to an “Unknown” inbox with no alerts or notifications. That change has profound implications for our ability to fundraise, mobilize voters, and run digital campaigns.
It’s important to understand: Apple isn’t just targeting cold outreach or spammy actors. Every political message — shortcode, long code, doesn’t matter — gets pushed into the dark. The only workaround-getting a voter to reply — is increasingly rare and entirely at the mercy of Apple’s unclear rules. How will a voter reply if they never get the message?
As Gruber points out, iOS 26 won’t classify these political fundraising texts as “spam.” It will simply sort those messages into the “Unknown Senders” category, because that’s exactly what they are. “Spam” texts are filtered into a separate inbox view altogether.
The NRSC continues:
Estimated prospecting losses: NRSC alone could see a $25M+ revenue hit. Since 70% of small-dollar donations come via text, and iPhones make up 60% of US mobile devices, the macro effect could be over $500M in lost GOP revenue.
But this isn’t just about money—it’s also about the impact on voter contact. GOTV messages, voter persuasion texts, rapid-response messaging, election day reminders — these are time-sensitive, critical communications. iOS 26 breaks all of that.
“If we’re going to push back, it has to be now. We have a very narrow window to fix this,” the NRSC concludes.
9to5Mac’s Take
This is one of the most practical and useful features in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26. The fact that it’s already freaking out political fundraisers is icing on the cake.
And to be clear: the impact of this change will absolutely be felt by political fundraising groups on both sides of the aisle. The feature will also impact marketing and promotional texts from brands. Those brands and fundraisers will have to get more creative and innovative with how they reach people.
Update 8:07 p.m. ET: An earlier version of this story said the new “Unknown Senders” filtering feature is enabled by default in iOS 26. That is not correct. It is only enabled by default if the user (like me) had enabled Apple’s other version of filtering in the Messages app.
The feature being opt-in rather than opt-out will undoubtedly help reduce the impact on fundraisers and marketers. That said, I still expect this to be a popular feature once iOS 26 is released to everyone in September.
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