iOS 26 won’t actually cost political fundraisers half a billion dollars

Political fundraisers recently went into a panic over an upcoming feature improvement coming to the iPhone. Apple has since clarified how the feature works, making the pearl-clutching much ado about nothing.

The $500 million problem…

The issue arose in July, when the National Republican Senatorial Committee began strategizing over how to combat iOS 26. Their concern was over an update to how text messages from unknown senders are handled, saying it “has profound implications for our ability to fundraise, mobilize voters, and run digital campaigns.”

The NRSC went so far as to estimate that more than half a billion dollars could be lost over iOS 26:

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.

…isn’t actually a problem

As our coverage later noted, however, nothing about how iOS 26 handles text messages from unknown senders actually changes by default. Fast Company ran a new piece today that includes Apple emphasizing that message as well.

The iPhone has long been capable of filtering text messages from unknown senders out of the main view. However, the feature has always been off by default. Apple correctly requires the user to enable filtering messages from unknown senders. Otherwise, how would the user know to check a separate inbox?

iOS 26 changes a few things. For starters, the unknown sender inbox moves from a more buried list at the bottom of the hierarchy to a more accessible location. Messages from unknown senders, when enabled, can be accessed from a filter button at the top right corner of the main list of messages. Previous versions of iOS required navigating away from the main list.

It may help, not hurt, fundraisers

Apple also separates messages that it infers are spam and not simply from senders with whom you’ve never communicated. This aspect actually helps political fundraisers since people who do opt in to using message filtering can view legitimate messages without actual spam messages getting in the way.

The bottom line is that the feature is only automatically enabled in iOS 26 if you upgrade from iOS 18 and already used message filtering. In other words, it’s not automatically enabled. Furthermore, those who do opt in to the upgraded version of the feature are actually more likely to see text messages from political fundraisers since junk messages like phishing attempts are filtered separately.

Learn more about how iOS 26 handles message filtering here.

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