Add Custom Backgrounds to Messages in iOS 26

[lkrupp]

Is it confirmed that this changes the look of the chat on all participant's devices? If so, this sounds like something I'm going to hate. Please let there be an option to turn it off locally.

Maybe there should be a “TURN EVERYTHING OFF” switch for a certain crowd?

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Great for the kids. Where are the real advances in technology. Hope it is not just a “new look”!

Hopefully this can be turned off!

You have to turn it on. Look at the article it features the required steps to use a background.

 

[GrassShark]

Maybe there should be a “TURN EVERYTHING OFF” switch for a certain crowd?

Elaborate on what you mean by “a certain crowd”.

 

[GreenPixel]

Elaborate on what you mean by “a certain crowd”.

People who don’t want other people to control the look and feel of their personal iPhone.

 

[adrianlondon]

In Settings / Apps / Messages there's a toggle to turn off backgrounds.

That will stop other people from affecting your chat background, but of course means you can't set your own either. This may get improved during the betas.

 

[Diopter]

I’d love if it worked like LINE, where you can set different backgrounds for yourself without forcing them on the other person. I use that feature a lot to differentiate the different chats.

Ideally they could have a toggle when choosing a background that makes it shared or not, so that if it’s shared it shows it to the other person, but either side could then turn the shared background off for themselves and have their own background locally. The best of both worlds! The existing option in Settings could still be there to turn it off completely across all chats.

 

[miamialley]

Is it confirmed that this changes the look of the chat on all participant's devices? If so, this sounds like something I'm going to hate. Please let there be an option to turn it off locally.

In Settings / Apps / Messages there's a toggle to turn off backgrounds.

That will stop other people from affecting your chat background, but of course means you can't set your own either. This may get improved during the betas.

I’d love if it worked like LINE, where you can set different backgrounds for yourself without forcing them on the other person. I use that feature a lot to differentiate the different chats.

Ideally they could have a toggle when choosing a background that makes it shared or not, so that if it’s shared it shows it to the other person, but either side could then turn the shared background off for themselves and have their own background locally. The best of both worlds! The existing option in Settings could still be there to turn it off completely across all chats.

Forcing both users to have the same background makes absolutely no sense. Apple really is dumbfounding at this point. And if someone chooses a background I hate, then what? It just is a mess. Other apps figured out backgrounds a decade ago and here comes Apple.