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watchOS 26 — Dismissing a message does not mark it "read"

PotentPeas

PotentPeas

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 25, 2023
304
469
I don't know how many people actually do this, but I use it all of the time.

When a message notification comes in (iMessage or SMS), if I swipe DOWN when the notification is open on my watch, a little "Dismiss" arrow pops up at the top. If I dismiss the message in this manner (rather than just pressing the digital crown or letting it expire), the message is marked "read". There won't be any little unread bubbles for that message on my phone or Mac.

Well, that is how it used to work. With watchOS 26, I can still dismiss the message in this manner, but it does not get marked read. It is still showing as unread on my other devices... and on my watch as well. I have to actually "open" the message thread to get it to be marked read.

Anyone else? Wanting to see if this is "just me" before I go whine to Apple.

[Edit]
Realized a couple of months later that scrolling down and hitting the "Dismiss" button that pops up does mark the message read. Not as convenient, but better than nothing...
 
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I have noticed the same thing through out the beta and now with the release. It is annoying, because I am used to dismissing them and they being marked as read.
 
Thanks for the confirmation.

I reported as well. I don't know if it will do any good but I will continue to report after every update if this is not fixed.

(I have reported some other specific reproducible bugs in watchOS in the past that did end up getting fixed. Here's hoping!)

Sigh. I knew I should have waited for 26.1 or 26.2. But I really wanted to play with that call screening feature...
 
What’s worse is even if you tap the notification and read the text in the messages app, it still doesn’t mark it as read. You have to go out, then go back in and read it again.
 
Testing iOS + watchOS 26.1 beta 2. This issue is still present.

[Edit]
Likewise with 26.1 beta 3.
 
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Not fixed in watchOS 26.1 (final). Haven't tried 26.2 beta. Really hoping that this fix lands in 26.2...
 
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DesertSilver said:
At this point Apple may consider this a feature not a bug…
Click to expand...
I agree. All of the other watchOS bugs I was encountering were fixed in 26.1. I'm certain they have no intention to fix this at this point. I'll keep reporting it so it shows up in the stats and they know there are people out there still annoyed about it. But chances are this was an intentional change and we're going to have to learn to live with it.

Personally, I'm furious because it really takes away a convenience factor for me on Apple Watch, and I see no way that it provides any benefit. I'll never read a message notification and want to dismiss it, but not also clear the badge/read status.

It's just annoying that they do this, changing expected behavior after 10 years, don't list it in the change log so there's no clue as to whether it's a bug or not, and provide no explanation of why. Nobody asked for this. I have not seen a single post online where somebody preferred the new behavior. It's just user-hostile the way they handle this kind of stuff.
 
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I just installed 26.2b3 but have not received a message yet to see if it is still leaving it unread. I can see where they might be coming from with changing its behavior if that is what they are trying to achieve. I also like just swiping down and it being read.
 
DesertSilver said:
At this point Apple may consider this a feature not a bug…
Click to expand...

Looking at the documentation for watchOS 26.

Read messages on Apple Watch

Use Messages on Apple Watch to read incoming text messages, then dictate or scribble a reply, choose a smart reply, or switch to your iPhone to type a response.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

If the message arrived a while ago, touch and hold the top of the screen, swipe down on the display to see the message notification, then tap it. To mark the message as read, scroll down, then tap Dismiss. To dismiss the notification without marking the message as read, press the Digital Crown.

Hmm. I haven't been trying scrolling down to the "Dismiss" button. I'll try that. If it doesn't work, then the functionality is counter to the documentation, so definitely an issue with one or the other.

[Edit]
Dismiss button does mark the message read.
 
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PotentPeas said:
Looking at the documentation for watchOS 26.

Read messages on Apple Watch

Use Messages on Apple Watch to read incoming text messages, then dictate or scribble a reply, choose a smart reply, or switch to your iPhone to type a response.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

If the message arrived a while ago, touch and hold the top of the screen, swipe down on the display to see the message notification, then tap it. To mark the message as read, scroll down, then tap Dismiss. To dismiss the notification without marking the message as read, press the Digital Crown.

Hmm. I haven't been trying scrolling down to the "Dismiss" button. I'll try that.
Click to expand...
The Dismiss button works. But it's still inconsistent, as swiping down on the notification shows the text "dismiss" during the gesture as well.
 
xpxp2002 said:
The Dismiss button works. But it's still inconsistent, as swiping down on the notification shows the text "dismiss" during the gesture as well.
Click to expand...
Agreed, it's "confusing" from the wording that they throw out (being the same)... Plus, I would much rather be able to just swipe down, it's so much easier...
 
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