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Here's What's New in Messages on iOS 26: Polls, Backgrounds, and More
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Not a single trace or mention of anything RCS related in this update. Probably coming in a point release at the end of the year (or 2026).
That is already in for years? When composing a new message, it shows which line to send from. Additionally you can open a conversation sheet and swap out the used line in there.
Sorry I should have clarified, I wanted that ability on macOS, where it has been missing, not iOS.
I won
I wonder will this be implemented in a later beta drop of iOS 26. RCS Universal Profile 3.0 was just only finalized in March 2026 and I'm not sure if Google Messages from the current and upcoming versions of Android support this (not Google's own proprietary version).
Apple today announced several new features coming to the Messages app with iOS 26, which is available in beta starting today and will be released later this year.
iOS 26 allows users to set custom backgrounds in conversations, and it introduces the ability to create polls for voting.
In the Messages app, users can now screen messages from unknown senders. Apple says messages from unknown senders will appear in a dedicated folder, where users can mark the phone number as known, ask for more information, or delete it. These messages will remain silenced until a user accepts them.
In group chats, users can now see typing indicators, plus send and receive Apple Cash.
A new Live Translation feature in the Messages app, powered by Apple Intelligence, can translate text and audio on the fly.
Read our overall iOS 26 announcement post to learn more about the update.
Article Link: Here's What's New in Messages on iOS 26: Polls, Backgrounds, and More
I’m on the beta but don’t see option to select custom backgrounds in Messages?
Apple said "future software update", so it can also happen with iOS 27 next year. Slim chance it drops in a later beta (as it just wasn‘t ready yet), which is unlikely considering UP 3.0 has many user facing changes that could‘ve been trickled in (like proper reaction support or editing messages). Chances are okayish for this to hit in a point release down the line I guess.
This! Custom backgrounds did such a great job for something called MySpace back in the day!
I don't get how so many people need to have the value of a feature explained to them like they are 6 year olds.
HERE is what that feature is useful for. Plenty of people are in the situation where
- they mostly text with one person (wife, daughter, whatever)
- they OCCASIONALLY text with someone else
In this situation it's very easy to write a text to the wrong person (generally the last "someone else" you texted) because you're so used to just opening messages and texting, and the default text stream is for the common person.
Backgrounds help substantially with this because they make it a *lot* more clear that you're in the wrong text stream...
YEah that's why I said it is an amazing feature. I love the new wallpaper too. AND...AND here me out now...you can combine two genmoji together!!!!! Like imagine you take one genmoji and a second genmoji and you can make one genmoji out of those two genmojis. Isn't that brilliant? Like instead of sending one emoji and second emoji, you can send one emoji made out of those to so you save a lot of space and space is important. And if you don't like siri or you are sad that you will have to wait another two years for any siri update, you can easily disable it completly but...you can't disable emoji. So ofc I fully understand that they wanted to update emoji first bc if they are with us all the time, and there is no disable button...all hands on board and let's start with most important tasks like genmoji or backgrounds oh and those nice new icons. Like I was so tired of finder icon already and now it is new and only the rest of the system is old so if I feel my macos is ulgy I can just stare at this beautiful new finder icon and be happy.
and why? bc of the icons! The icons are responsible for everything. If your wife uses an icon of a dog and your dog an icon of a football ball and your daughter an icon with an octopus...it is so easy to write to your dog instead of your wife or even by mistake write to a real octopus for example, look at those yt videos of people diving for sunken iphones, so many iphones are left out ther in the sea, it is just the matter of time and the octopuses will learn to use them and keep in mind most of the ai data centers are under the sea...accident? nooo I don't think so. I think the icons should be unchangable and be somehow added to our ids, like you have an address, photo and an icon like an octopus but if you take an icon of an octopus noone else can take it anymore like with phone numbers but with icons. So you always know if yo uare writing to your octopus wife or to your dog or whoever else. Ofc backgroud partly helps here but what if somone clever on the other side changes the background of your conversation with your wife to the same background as your messages with your doggo, you think why there is this whole incest movement...you write to your wife that you want to spend night together but the backgrounds are same so your dog answers and huge mess is quickly incoming.
YEah actually who carea about ai or siri when we have such a huge unsolved icon drama here. as sang by wu tang clan you : iCons Rules Everything Around Me ta da da dad da dada. method man yo!! inspektah deck!!! da da dada
All joking aside, I certainly hope we can disable "Backgrounds". I know we have to pay hell to turn off Contact Posters. I'm not interested in having messages hijacked by super busy UI elements on my own phone at the behest of third party persons.
backgrounds work only for a iphone for both sides so hopefully a lot of your friends will switch to an android phone
