When I had it disabled, iMessage would turn on with every major update. This prevented me from receiving SMS from iMessage users when I would turn it back off.

Now that I am using iMessage, I can't view past media or use the search functionality (for either messages or contacts). I actually thought this was by design until someone told me otherwise.

The very worst thing was that I have two people in my life who harass me. Blocking them would mean I can't keep a copy of threats I receive, so I kept them unblocked with read receipts disabled. With the iOS 26 update, despite having read receipts disabled (for these chats and in the global setting), they apparently received read receipts from me.

This should never happen. It gives the impression that something is thoroughly dysfunctional within Apple.