NRSC: Apple Update Could Cost Republicans Millions of Dollars

The GOP’s Senate campaign arm is warning that a coming update to Apple’s iOS could cost the committee more than $25 million in lost fundraising.

In a July 24 memo, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sounded the alarm over new spam filters for text messages that Apple is slated to roll out later this year as part of iOS 26. Those filters will send messages from numbers that are not in a users’ contacts to a separate folder for unknown senders. iPhone users will then have the chance to mark the number as known, reply to the message or delete it altogether.

That creates a headache for political fundraisers, according to the NRSC’s memo, because iPhone users aren’t likely to check their unknown senders folder. Consequently, it argues, a large swath of political outreach, including GOTV messages to fundraising texts, will go unnoticed. 

“It’s important to understand: Apple isn’t just targeting cold outreach or spammy actors. Every political message – shortcode, long code, doesn’t matter – gets pushed into the dark,” the memo, which was first obtained by Punchbowl News, reads. “The only workaround – getting a voter to reply – is increasingly rare and entirely at the mercy of Apple’s unclear rules. How will a voter reply if they never get the message?”

Digital consultants have fretted for weeks over the iOS 26 updates, which are expected to be pushed out to users in September, seeing it as a major roadblock to reaching the millions upon millions of voters – and small-dollar donors – who use iPhones. 

A Multi-Million Dollar Price Tag

In addition to the text filters, the new software is expected to introduce other features like call screening, which will field phone calls from numbers not in a users’ contacts by collecting the caller’s name and the reason for the call. The iPhone user will then be able to choose whether to take the call or decline it.

According to the NRSC’s memo, about 70 percent of small-dollar donations come from text messages. At the same time, iPhones account for 60 percent of mobile devices in the U.S. That could cost the committee alone more than $25 million in revenue, while the broader Republican ecosystem could see a financial impact of more than $500 million, the NRSC warned.

The effects of the new spam filters go beyond fundraising, the NRSC memo argues. Vital communications from political committees, campaigns and causes are also at risk of being sent to users’ spam folders. 

“[T]his isn’t just about money – it’s also about the impact on voter contact,” the memo reads. “GOTV messages, voter persuasion texts, rapid-response messaging, election day reminders – these are time-sensitive, critical communications. iOS 26 breaks all of that.

In a statement to C&E, NRSC Spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said that Apple should postpone the release of iOS 26 until the tech giant can find a workaround for the spam filters.

“Unilaterally blocking campaigns and political parties from being able to contact voters with get-out-the-vote or persuasive messaging is voter disenfranchisement,” Rodriguez said. “It’s critical Apple delay their rollout of this feature until these concerns have been addressed.”