Apple & Google’s 2025 Updates: 2026 Email & SMS Impact
▼ Summary
– Apple’s iOS 18.2 update reduced marketers’ control by introducing new inbox tabs, AI-generated previews that replace preheaders, and further clouding engagement data.
– Gmail’s “Manage subscriptions” feature highlights send frequency to users, making intelligent segmentation and aligning frequency to engagement levels critical to minimize unsubscribes.
– Apple’s iOS 26 update includes an “Unknown Sender” SMS filter, which could divert brand messages and disrupt engagement if user adoption increases.
– Key strategic adjustments include optimizing for engagement over opens, prioritizing live text over images in emails, and shifting SMS strategy from volume to personalized, high-value messages.
– Brands should implement these changes promptly, as more updates are expected, and quick adaptation will maintain a competitive advantage.
While the core channels of email and SMS marketing didn’t experience a complete overhaul in 2025, several pivotal updates from major platforms introduced subtle yet powerful shifts. These changes have directly influenced how messages reach audiences and how engagement is measured, demanding strategic adjustments from marketers aiming to maintain performance into 2026.
Three specific developments have redefined message delivery, display, and interaction:
Apple’s iOS 18.2 Rollout Although released in late 2024, the full implications of iOS 18.2 became apparent throughout 2025. The update introduced several key modifications. New inbox tabs reduced visibility in the Primary inbox, making placement more competitive. AI-generated previews expanded, with Apple’s summaries often replacing marketer-crafted preheaders, which limits control over that critical first impression. Furthermore, engagement signals became harder to interpret due to features like grouped emails, untrackable “See more” clicks, and the ongoing effects of Mail Privacy Protection. Finally, the update increased the importance of live text over images, as AI summaries generate more effectively from HTML text.
To navigate these changes, a shift in focus is essential. Marketers should optimize for deeper engagement metrics rather than relying on open rates. This involves a stronger emphasis on personalization, sophisticated segmentation, and journey-based messaging. Subject lines must work harder to communicate offers, urgency, and promotion duration to capture attention in tabbed views. Leveraging transactional emails from the same sending environment as marketing messages can help drive positive engagement signals. Design practices also need to evolve to prioritize live text over image-heavy designs to improve AI summary quality and ensure accessibility. Planning content calendars with inbox grouping in mind, considering send succession and visual differentiation, is another crucial tactic.
Gmail’s ‘Manage Subscriptions’ Feature Gmail’s feature provides users with a centralized dashboard to view all active subscriptions, simplifying the unsubscribe process, particularly for high-volume senders. The interface sorts subscriptions first by email volume, then alphabetically, highlighting a key reality: send frequency remains a primary driver of unsubscribe behavior, especially when it isn’t matched by subscriber engagement.
Adapting to this visibility requires refined list management. Aligning send frequency with engagement levels is paramount; reduce cadence for low-engagement segments while maintaining a higher pace for highly active subscribers. This minimizes a brand’s prominence in the Manage Subscriptions list for those most likely to churn. Intelligent segmentation becomes more critical than ever, creating distinct groups for users based on engagement and tailoring content and cadence accordingly, including pausing sends for inactive segments. It’s also important to view unsubscribes through this feature as a natural list hygiene signal rather than a campaign failure, as these users were likely already disengaged.
Apple’s ‘Unknown Sender’ SMS Filter With the iOS 26 update, Apple enhanced its “Unknown Sender” filter for messages, which can divert brand SMS campaigns out of the primary message view. While current user adoption is relatively low and Apple hasn’t aggressively promoted the feature, its potential impact is significant. For the users who have enabled it, broad, non-personalized SMS blasts are most vulnerable to filtering, as most consumers do not save brand numbers as contacts.
Proactive strategies can mitigate future risk. The approach should shift from high volume to high value, reducing broadcast frequency and prioritizing personalized, event-driven messages. Brands can prompt “known sender” actions, encouraging customers to save their number as a contact or mark messages as known, particularly during post-purchase or welcome communications. Building trust through high-utility messages like order confirmations, shipping updates, and back-in-stock alerts reinforces relevance. It’s also vital to keep SMS content distinct from email, concise, authentic, and timely, to avoid opt-outs and filtering. Aggressive monitoring and iteration of key performance indicators will be necessary as user behavior evolves.
The time to implement these strategic adjustments is now. As platform updates continue to roll out, brands that adapt swiftly will secure a measurable advantage, ensuring their messages not only reach the inbox but also resonate with their audience.
(Source: MarTech)
