Missed the entire present? No worries. We’ve rounded up essentially the most related highlights for advertising and marketing and buyer engagement groups from the occasion, and trimmed them all the way down to beneath 4 vital factors, in order that entrepreneurs like you possibly can catch up quick.
1. SMS filtering will get stricter to maintain spam and scams at bay
Apple’s newest iOS 26 replace places you in management because it solely permits the messages that actually matter to make it to your inbox. Each notification you see is related, invaluable, and tailor-made to you. On the floor, this replace might sound difficult for entrepreneurs, however its true objective is to boost person expertise, respect their time, and make their inbox clutter-free.
With the brand new Messages filtering system, any SMS from an unknown sender, which means one your buyer hasn’t saved, is quietly whisked away right into a separate folder, until it’s transactional.
For instance, messages like “Your desk is prepared” or “Your flight is boarding” nonetheless earn a front-row seat. However all the pieces else will get no ding and no eyeball. Listed here are a number of methods you possibly can undertake proper now to bypass this filter (ethically):
- Make your messages matter. Right here’s the factor: Apple isn’t utterly in opposition to model messages, however they need extra readability and relevance for patrons. While you respect your buyer’s alternative, you construct belief. Right here’s what you are able to do:
- Be crystal clear about what your clients will get from you. What sort of messages? How typically?
- Preserve your sender ID constant. Don’t confuse customers with random numbers or totally different names. Make it apparent that it’s you.
- Lastly, be sure that every SMS will get straight to the purpose. Your messages ought to really feel private, like they had been written only for the individual.
- Get within the contact record. Consider it like a VIP record. In case your model isn’t saved as a contact, you’re possible caught outdoors. Throughout onboarding—whether or not by way of SMS, e-mail, or in-app—give customers a fast nudge: “Save us to your contacts so that you by no means miss a message.” It’s a small ask that makes an enormous distinction in whether or not you land within the inbox or the no-man’s-land folder.
- Have a Plan B and C. The place SMS could not get by. However you’re not out of choices. Reinforce your messages by push, in-app, or e-mail—whichever channels your customers are more than likely to see. Map journeys throughout platforms so your communications aren’t siloed. The identical alert or provide ought to echo throughout your stack, creating continuity even when one message will get filtered.
- Watch your supply charges like a hawk. If open charges or hyperlink clicks abruptly dip post-iOS 26, it’s not a coincidence. Observe efficiency by OS model. If Apple’s filtering is clipping your attain, that’s your cue to regulate. Don’t look forward to a full marketing campaign to flop—act on the micro-signals.
- Sit up for RCS. RCS gained’t bypass Apple’s filters. Nevertheless it’s the place messaging is headed. Wealthy visuals, branded senders, recommended replies, and skim receipts aren’t simply nice-to-haves anymore—they’re changing into desk stakes. Ask your customers in the event that they’re open to receiving RCS. Their curiosity helps prioritize adoption and ensures your model stays forward of the curve.
2. Stay actions have formally outgrown the iPhone.
With iOS 26, Stay Actions are increasing to CarPlay and macOS, bringing real-time updates, like your pizza ETA or game-day rating, to the locations persons are already paying consideration: on the highway and at their desk.
Briefly, what used to reside in your telephone now lives in all places else. Apple’s baked real-time engagement into the material of its ecosystem. So what does that imply for you?
On CarPlay: CarPlay’s new Stay Actions are constructed for glanceability, not interplay. Meaning no buttons. No prompts. No fiddly UX. Simply daring, crystal-clear updates that land with out stealing focus.
Suppose:
– Order arriving in 2 minutes
– Gate modified: B14
– third Quarter: 76–71
Huge fonts. Brilliant visuals. Fast context delivered whereas somebody’s arms are on the wheel and mind’s in transit.
Picture: Apple
With CarPlay lighting up over 600 million occasions a day, you’ve received an actual probability to satisfy customers precisely the place they’re, with out ever asking them to look twice.
On macOS: Stay Actions on desktop are much less about urgency, extra about presence. They sit tucked contained in the Notification Heart—by no means pushy, at all times there. Excellent for moments that unfold slowly, like:
– A problem streak that wants another step
– A limited-time promo with hours left
– A ballot is ready in your group’s last vote
The perfect half is that they don’t disappear after 30 seconds. So you possibly can nudge, remind, and encourage with out interrupting stream. Simply be sure that the rhythm suits the macOS beat: refined, well timed, and quietly useful.
Learn extra in regards to the characteristic
3. A brand new, refreshed design throughout the OS
Apple’s main replace is its boldest visible redesign: Liquid Glass. It’s being launched throughout iOS, macOS, and past.
In line with Apple, the translucent buttons, layered textures, fluid movement, and interfaces that really feel virtually like actual life glass, therefore the identify. VisionOS impressed this design; this replace pulls the glassy, reactive look of spatial computing into on a regular basis screens—telephones, laptops, tablets.
On macOS Tahoe 26, you’ll see it within the Dock, Finder, widgets, and Highlight. On iOS 26, your Lock Display screen now whispers by layered transparencies, time and notifications float above your wallpaper, shape-shifting as you progress.
It looks as if adjustments from Liquid Glass will contact nearly each a part of the working system, together with apps, buttons, sliders, the Management Heart, and your homescreen.
Picture: Apple
Tab bars can even change due to Liquid Glass, shrinking and increasing as you scroll up and down.
Liquid Glass adjustments the way in which customers expertise each faucet, swipe, and scroll. It’s lovely. Typically, somewhat further. However undeniably expressive.
Apps that haven’t tailored would possibly look jarringly misplaced. Right here’s what it is advisable do:
- Audit your visuals. Test your onboarding screens, in-app messages, and permission prompts. In the event that they lean too heavy or opaque, they’ll conflict laborious with the brand new system’s mild, ethereal vibe.
- Lean into movement. Interactive parts now shimmer with fluid animations. Your app doesn’t want to bop, however refined motion can information consideration and make it really feel native to the brand new OS.
- Take a look at obsessively in mild and darkish mode. Transparency introduces an entire new layer of distinction concerns. That glossy overlay you’re keen on in mild mode? It’d utterly disappear at nighttime.
Apple’s even providing up to date APIs so builders can faucet into Liquid Glass straight, creating interfaces that refract mild and shift subtly with their setting.
4. Customized background and different thrilling options in group chats
Group chats have at all times been a bit like a potluck dinner: somebody brings the vibes, another person brings chaos, and also you’re left questioning why you agreed to this within the first place.
However Apple’s newest messaging improve will make you neglect these boring blue bubbles.
You get built-in designs, customized photograph uploads, and even AI-generated photos that match the vitality of your group. So your conversations really feel extra “that is so us.”
That’s not all. Another updates embody creating polls in group conversations.
Not each message deserves a parade. With iOS 26, Apple’s spam filters now quietly sweep unknown senders right into a facet folder. This offers individuals extra management. Allow them to floor what issues, mute what doesn’t, and resolve when (or if) they need to interact.
Picture: Verge
Wrapping Up
From smarter SMS filtering to real-time engagement in all places, and a design glow-up that’s begging your app to maintain up, there’s loads to chew on for each marketer and buyer engagement skilled.
However right here’s the factor: the world of buyer engagement and advertising and marketing doesn’t decelerate after WWDC. If you wish to maintain your finger on the heartbeat, with out wading by a sea of tech jargon, be sure you’re following Insider on LinkedIn for the freshest takes, and hit subscribe on our month-to-month e-newsletter.
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