iOS 26: 10+ Features Coming to the Phone App

[MacRumors]

The Phone app doesn't often get a lot of attention with iOS updates, but that's changing in iOS 26. There are multiple new features to prevent unwanted calls and to save you time.

Unified Design

The Phone app has a new unified design, but there is an option to use the original iOS 18 layout as well. The unified design puts recent calls, missed calls, and voicemails on a single screen.

Favorite contacts remain at the top of the interface, and there's still a tab for swapping over to contacts and the keypad. You can turn the unified view on or off by tapping on the icon with three lines in the upper right corner of the display.

Call Screening

Apple has expanded call screening functionality in iOS 26. There is an option to ask unknown callers (aka people who you don't have saved in your Contacts list) for their name and reason for calling. When enabled, this is an automated process.

The iPhone intercepts an incoming call, and requests the person's name and a short reason for calling. The information is transcribed to text and relayed to you, and you can decide whether to ask for more information, accept the call, or decline the call.

The person on the other end of the call receives an automated response similar to a voicemail asking for more information, and they are placed on hold while you make a decision on accepting or declining the call.

To use this feature, toggle on "Ask Reason for Calling" in the Phone section of the Settings app.

Silence Unknown Callers

Rather than asking for more information from unknown callers, there is still a silence unknown caller option that can be turned on instead. As in iOS 18, toggling this on silences calls from unsaved numbers, sending them to voicemail automatically. Calls that are silenced will show up on the Recents list, and you will also see the voicemail for information about why someone was calling.

If you don't want to use silence unknown callers or the ask reason for calling feature, you can set the Screen Unknown Callers option to "Never." With this setting, calls from unsaved numbers ring as normal, and missed calls are shown on the Recents list.

Call Filtering

In addition to improved call screening, iOS 26 has new call filtering features. There is an option to move missed calls and voicemails from unsaved numbers to a dedicated Unknown Callers list, hiding them from the main view.

There's also a toggle to automatically silence calls that are marked as spam by a carrier. If you have Verizon, for example, Verizon automatically marks some numbers as spam, and the iPhone can automatically send those calls to voicemail and move the calls to the Spam list. This setting will vary by carrier.

With these options turned on, you can tap on the icon in the upper right of the phone app to see calls that have been moved to the Unknown Caller section or marked as spam.

Spam Voicemails

When you tap into a voicemail from an unknown number, there's now a "Report Spam" button. Tapping on it sends the voicemail to Apple, and you can either report the message as spam and keep it, or report it and delete it. Deleting a voicemail from an unknown number also brings up the option to report it as spam, and there is an option to report spam right when listening to an incoming voicemail as well.

Reporting a voicemail as spam does not block the caller, and that needs to be done with a separate step. Tap on the "i" button, scroll down on the contact card, and tap on Block Contact to block a spammer.

Hold Assist

If you make a call and are placed on hold, there's a feature in iOS 26 that will wait for you so you can do other things. It listens for hold music playing, and then alerts you when a person comes on the line so you can pick up the call.

You can turn on Hold Assist on any call by placing the call, then tapping on the "..." button once the call has connected. Your phone will ring and you will be alerted to pick up when a person is on the line. If the iPhone detects hold music, it may also automatically prompt you to turn on Hold Assist.

Since the feature works by detecting hold music, it can be imperfect when a number has a voice-based automation reminding you to stay on the line, or if there's music with distinct lyrics. You will see a transcript of any spoken words, so you can determine when a person is actually on the line.
Live Translation

Live Translation is a feature that can translate incoming phone calls from one language to another. When a call is in progress, tap on the "..." button and then tap on Live Translation to use the feature.

You can then select the language that you want to translate from (the language spoken by the person you're talking to) and the language that you want to translate to (your language). As of now, Live Translation for the Phone app supports English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.

When a translation is in progress, you'll see a small notice at the bottom of the phone app that says "Translating [Language]" and there will be a live transcript of the call. An AI voiceover will audibly translate what's said from one language to another, with a slight delay while this is happening.

Live Translation works on the iPhone to translate what you're hearing and what you're saying, so the person on the other end does not need to have an iPhone or even a smartphone at all.

Call History

There is an extended call history available for each of your contacts in iOS 26. In the Phone app, tap on the "i" next to any name or number, and then tap on the "Call History" option. From there, you can see every time you've spoken with that person, dating years back... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: iOS 26: 10+ Features Coming to the Phone App

 

[Justin Cymbal]

You can turn the unified view on or off by tapping on the icon with three lines in the upper right corner of the display

I’m glad that Apple is giving users the option of either enabling or disabling this new feature

Hopefully, Apple gives users more options on settings like this in the future

 

[alexandr]

Call screening is great, unless you opt in for a call back — need to disable it then.
Hold assist is great, but so far it failed on several calls during the "all of our representatives are ass"

Great features nonetheless, but need some fine-tuning and getting used to.

 

[jz0309]

good improvements and Thanks again MR for putting this together

 

[centauratlas]

I am tempted for some of the features but may end up waiting for another beta or two

 

[Rafagon]

What if I want to ask the reason for calling even if they are on my contacts list? I like this feature and the potential benefits like using it to discourage people from calling me and force them to text me instead.

 

[bmark]

I hope they have the call screening option to send the call to act like it's a disconnected phone number. These stupid robo calls are so annoying.

 

[nuff_said]

What if I want to ask the reason for calling even if they are on my contacts list? I like this feature and the potential benefits like using it to discourage people from calling me and force them to text me instead.

Check under Settings > Phone > Respond With Text.

Would that meet your needs? It should be available iOS right now.

 

[svish]

Call screening and hold assist will be very useful. Would like to see live translation support more languages in the future.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Soon, with the help of an AI approximation of Steve Jobs, we might actually be able to make and receive phone calls on iPhones.

 

[venom600]

Will it be able to screen calls based on the ID of the caller? I recently got a new number and whoever had it before has account services calling constantly. Same Caller ID, different number every time.

 

[Justin Cymbal]

A feature that Apple could add to a future iOS would be the ability to customize the ‘sleep/do not disturb’ feature to instead of having all unknown callers (that are not in the phones contacts) go straight to voicemail, specific area codes could be added to a list (within settings) that WOULD be allowed to bypass the sleep/do not disturb focus

If you are expecting an important call from someone (i.e. doctor/work etc) but only have an idea of what their area could be - that would allow THAT call to go through (as well as other spam calls from that area code) but has the potential to prevent important calls from being missed - especially if telemarketers/spam calls don’t use that same area code (but use other area codes in your area)

 

[EM2013]

I wish there was a way to prevent spam calls from leaving a voicemail. Annoying to get constant notifications about voicemails from spam

 

[Boeingfan]

What if I want to ask the reason for calling even if they are on my contacts list? I like this feature and the potential benefits like using it to discourage people from calling me and force them to text me instead.

Haha yes there’s nothing like pissing people off by taking five times longer to do something by text instead of using the phone. The same also works in reverse when you talk to companies who only have chat representatives who are dealing with 3 conversations at a time. What could be discussed in 7 minutes takes 70 minutes, but it’s cheap so it wins.

 

[BGPL]

Those are some awesome calling/filtering features. Can't wait to see what features requires us to buy the 17. They can't really use AI requirements this year because there is no Apple AI.

 

[transpo1]

"...recent calls, missed calls, and voicemails on a single screen."

That sounds HORRENDOUS. I won't judge it entirely until I try it, but...yikes. Sounds almost as bad as last year's Photos app revision.

At least I hear they're giving us a way to turn both of these things off.

 

[Skyscraperfan]

It seems Americans have less problems with talking to a machine. Even robo calls are legal in the US. The idea that I call someone and then have to talk to a machine really annoys me.

 

[JohnRckr]

The fact that live translation works with only like 5 languages makes it pretty much useless for 99% percent of the world, so how is that a feature anyway?
Once again, even here Apple is far behind competition.

 

[Kylo83]

Not one feature I would actually use, we need split screen multi tasking or ways to use our phone better, really iOS 26 is just a new skin and fresh coat of paint. We need a new keyboard, better multi tasking

 

[MilaM]

We need a new keyboard

I'm ok with the keyboard. But quick type suggestions need to improve a lot. Where is the "Apple Intelligence" when you need it?

 

[Just_Kevin]

Those are some awesome calling/filtering features. Can't wait to see what features requires us to buy the 17. They can't really use AI requirements this year because there is no Apple AI.

It would be nice if MR would include that information in all of these types of articles. That is always my question.

According to ChatGPT, at least the call screening feature requires an AI capable device.

 

[chelsel]

The way favorites is displayed on the new layout is terrible in my opinion... pictures of contacts are even smaller on a gray background, on another gray background... really bad use of space. Hopefully that improves.