The good new iPhone Messages options

With the rollout of iOS 26, iPhones again so far as the iPhone 11 are getting a collection of recent upgrades and options. A few of these upgrades will affect the Apple Messages app.

All of those additions and tweaks are helpful ones, and there’s little doubt Messages is now higher than ever. Options like customized backgrounds and polls (lengthy out there in different messaging apps) have now arrived.

Right here we’ll get you in control on the whole lot that’s new in iOS 26 for Messages.

Add customized backgrounds

It’s now potential so as to add a little bit of character to your chats with customized backgrounds. You may have completely different backdrops for the household group chat and the work group chat, for instance, in order that they every have their very own vibe.

Faucet on the header on the prime of any dialog, then select Backgrounds to make adjustments. You may decide from any of the recommendations right here to use the backdrop, which is able to embody strong colours and pure scenes. Faucet Picture to choose a picture out of your digicam roll.

In case your iPhone helps Apple Intelligence, you may get some assist from AI along with your backgrounds: Select Playground to launch the AI picture generator, then describe what you need the image to appear to be utilizing the immediate field.

Create polls

Can’t resolve on a vacation spot for the household trip? Struggling to discover a date when your group of associates are all out there? You’re now in a position so as to add polls inside conversations in Messages.

From inside a chat, faucet the + (plus) button down within the decrease left hand nook, then decide Polls. You may add as much as 12 completely different selections for everybody to vote between, and there’s the choice so as to add a remark to the ballot earlier than you ship it.

Every participant within the chat can vote for as lots of the selections as they like—simply faucet on an entry within the checklist to pick or unselect it—and anybody can add new choices to the ballot as nicely, by tapping on the Add Alternative hyperlink beneath it.

Translate textual content in messages

iOS 26 introduces Stay Translation throughout numerous completely different apps and gadgets—you possibly can have translated audio spoken into your AirPods, for instance—and one of many locations the function is out there is within the Messages app.

Faucet on the header of any dialog, then scroll right down to Robotically Translate and switch the toggle change on. Messages will try and detect the language the chat is in, however you possibly can specify a unique language if that you must.

With that executed, the messages within the chat must be translated from and to the languages you’ve specified—you’ll see a Translating… label on the backside of the dialog, which you’ll faucet to see the unique message textual content once more.

And extra…

There are some smaller tweaks and enhancements to learn about too. Group chats have typing indicators, so you already know when somebody is busy composing a message, and Apple Money is now supported in group chats too.

iOS 26 now makes it potential to truly copy elements of a message, moderately than the whole message—a primary function that Apple ought to actually have launched a lot sooner. Lengthy press on a message and decide Choose to make your choice.

Lastly, there’s a brand new filter to maintain unknown senders and spam out of your major messages checklist: You’ll see it up within the prime proper nook while you’re viewing your chats, and you may faucet it to see messages that the app has robotically filtered out.

 

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