Messages is the iPhone’s most complete app but iOS 26 has made it even better — here's how

Maybe you have your favorite iPhone app, the one you turn to at every opportunity. I've become partial to the Fitness app in recent years myself, and Maps is always one of my go-to applications for looking up locations, plotting out trips and, yes, even getting directions. I'm sure you can rattle off your favorites, too.

But whatever apps each of us appreciate, there's no debate as to which built-in app people use on the iPhone the most. That would be Messages, the built-in texting option, which Apple has told me is the most popular of its stable of iPhone apps. And considering it's the primary way most of us communicate with one another — unless you're an oldster like me, you're far more likely to message someone than send them an email or give them a call — I'm willing to take Apple's word for it.

There's reason I know Message is Apple's most popular app: every iOS update brings a variety of new capabilities, as Apple looks to keep iPhone users happily texting one another. That's certainly been the case with the just-released iOS 26 update, in which Messages clearly gets the most additions and enhancements of any existing app.

It's not just the quantity of changes, though. iOS 26 Messages gains some really important improvements, several of which really extend the app's capabilities. It's an update that even manages to impress a casual texter like myself.

Messages becomes less intrusive

My texting style can best be described as "taciturn." Monosyllabic replies, rigid punctuation, not the hint of an emoji. My teenager, who would communicate entirely by text if society allowed it, regularly roasts me for this, and she has every right to. So while I amy not be the best arbiter of what is and isn't a good texting app, I think it says something about Apple's effort that I appreciate the tools the iOS 26 version of Messages puts at my disposal.

I've previously said that my favorite iOS 26 addition overall has been the new call screening tool in the Phone app, and while that certainly remains the case, screening texts from unknown senders is a close runner-up. That's because the two iOS 26 features have the same goal in mind — stop weirdos and randos from bothering me with unwanted phone calls and texts.

All I've had to do is tap a filter control in the upper right corner of the main Messages screen and I now had different views to toggle between — one showing texts from known senders and message groups I was a part of, and the other a filtered view of unknown senders making unsolicited job offers, passing along dubious sales pitches and trying to push phishing attempts inexpertly cloaked as harmless conversations.

The handful of genuine texts that got caught in the filter have been easy enough to mark as coming from known senders. The rest get deleted and the offending senders blocked. It's a very handy system.

My one concern with screening messages from unknown senders is that the filter would also catch texts related to two-factor authentication or alerts fro restaurants that my table was ready. But I've been using iOS 26 Messages since the first developers beta launched over the summer, and the software is now exclusively installed on all my test devices since the full version's release this month — I haven't run into any problems.

What has happened instead is that spammy texts no longer intrude on my daily phone use. A whole series of texts pushing some sort of dubious TikTok purchase had filed up in my filter, and I had no idea they were there until I recently gave that part of Messages a look-see.

In praise of polls

There's more to iOS 26 Messages than keeping out unwanted texting. Apple has also added tools that enhance the texting you actually do with other people. And one tool in particular stands out, even to a person like me who texts only when he has to.

If there's one thing about texting dynamics that puts me off, it's trying to reach consensus on a topic, whether it's where to meet up, what to watch or what everyone wants to eat. Queries like that can trigger a seemingly endless back-and-forth, causing my poor iPhone to ping like a World War II submarine as everyone weighs in with their arguments and counterarguments.

iOS 26's Polls feature should put an end to that — or at least, it will help everyone make their choice in a much more orderly fashion. Tap the Plus button on the lower left corner of the conversation screen — this is the same button you to tap to add photos to your chats — and select polls. You can then ask a question and fill in possible choices, publish your poll and watch as the votes come in.

There's a neat little touch to Messages' polls — the avatar of the person appears next to the choice they make. They can also add choices of their own if they feel the scope of your original pool is too limited.

I thought that polls would be a gimmick, but there are times it truly comes in handy like when I'm trying to plan a movie night with my family or settle on the evening's take-out menu. It definitely makes Messages in iOS 26 a better experience.

Nice-to-have features

There are other additions to Messages in iOS 26 that I consider solid if not essential enhancements. They're not going to make or break the app for anyone, at least not in my opinion, but I'm still glad they're there.

There are a couple of group chat-specific additions, like typing indicators and the ability to send Apple Cash just like you can in individual chats. I can't say I've had an occasion to benefit from either addition, but they both make group texting a more complete experience.

Likewise, I don't text with a lot of people who speak a different language than me — or at least, they don't feel the need to text me in a language other than English. But if they did, I could get an on-the-fly translation, assuming I've got an Apple Intelligence-capable phone — and, just as crucially, that I've downloaded that language dictionary onto my device.

The best nice-to-have is the ability to change backgrounds for your different chats, group chats or otherwise, with Apple providing a whole range of different backgrounds to choose from. You can also pick your own photos, which I confess that I've done in some of my group chats.

Again, I got along very well with plain vanilla backgrounds for my chats, but it's kind of fun to pick a design that fits the mood of the discussion. (And it's also fun to see if other iOS 26 upgraders in your group chats have uploaded their own backgrounds.) It really fits in with Apple's recent push to let you make more elements of its iPhone software customizable from the layout of your lock screen to the position of app icons on your home screen.

Beyond Messages

The updates in Messages are so polished, in fact, that I wish Apple was able to extend that kind of care to some of the other iOS mainstays. I mentioned my affection for Maps, and while the Visited Places feature introduced in iOS 26 is promising, it's very much in need of some fine-tuning. (I just spent the past week in Hawaii, and Visited Places recorded none of the locations I went to; it has, however, recorded each and every time I stop by the apartment complex where my mom lives.)

Photos, too, is an app that a lot of us use, and while the iOS 26 version did get some improvements, Apple's biggest effort there has been centered on undoing some of the changes it made with the iOS 18 overhaul. I wouldn't mind a Messages-like focus on adding useful new tools to that app, either.

But let's accentuate the positive here. Messages is already a great app, and iOS 26 makes it better. It should be the inspiration for how Apple approaches other iPhone apps in future iOS upgrades.

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