iOS 26: See Your Full Call History With Any iPhone Contact

[MacRumors]

Buried within iOS 26 is a hidden history that lets you see every call you've ever exchanged with a specific contact, potentially going back years. You might not know it, but you can access this detailed call history on your iPhone in seconds.

Viewing the new extended history screen can come in handy when you need to recall when you last spoke with someone. It's also pretty useful when you want to verify a call duration for whatever reason. Here's how to get there.

Access Extended Call History

1. Open the Phone app on your iPhone.
2. In the Unified view, find the contact in the "Recents" section whose call history you want to view.
3. Tap the contact's name (if you're using the Classic interface, tap the circled "i" icon next to their name.
4. Scroll down and tap Call History.

• iOS 26: How to Switch Back to the Classic Phone App Layout

You'll now see a complete chronological record of every incoming, outgoing, and missed call with that contact, including the date, time, and duration of each conversation. This view can stretch back in time for months or years, depending on how long you've been in touch and how much call history data is stored on your phone.

Article Link: iOS 26: See Your Full Call History With Any iPhone Contact

 

[Nom4d]

I really don’t see who would need this or a demand for this feature.

 

[kOoLiNuS]

I really don’t see who would need this or a demand for this feature.

This is part of the track everything policy actively developed by 99% of software manifacturers these days. Since they know everything, this is a free bonus for them to give us.

I bet the same (or worse) is done by Meta. Just look how fast their "maybe you can know" suggested list expandes and changes over time.

 

[twintin]

I really don’t see who would need this or a demand for this feature.

How abut the law enforcement ? 😀

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

I really don’t see who would need this or a demand for this feature.

You don’t need, but government need

 

[kurtfoster]

I see none. Is that because I delete my call history after I talk to somebody?

 

[londonlaw]

If you need to go back into your extended call history, but the contact does not appear in your recent call log, how do you do this? I'm using iOS26. THanks

 

[Nom4d]

You don’t need, but government need

Haha yes it’s probably a government request.

 

[pward]

Call history seems to be limited to the last 2.5 years; checked a few long-term contacts and there's no history prior to April 2023.

 

[arc of the universe]

its noteworthy that the call record is only accessible through the Phone app.
you need to access the call record in the way that the Macrumors article outlines.
if you just go to Contacts, you will not see the call history for that person.

apple may have arranged it this way so that you can in fact easily delete your entire call history all in one place and very easily (ie, in the Phone app and not needing to go to each Contact person individually).

 

[Sputman99]

Excellent header image showing how difficult the new UI has made it to read anything

 

[rbbloom99]

Now we can see what the NSA has been seeing for years

 

[TwoBytes]

Mine only goes back 3 months!?

 

[CouldBeWorse]

You don’t need, but government need

The government can already get this from your cell carrier. There’s no need for them to have Apple add call history to iPhones.

 

[darthbane2k]

Buried within iOS 26 is a hidden history that lets you see every call you've ever exchanged with a specific contact, potentially going back years. You might not know it, but you can access this detailed call history on your iPhone in seconds.

Viewing the new extended history screen can come in handy when you need to recall when you last spoke with someone. It's also pretty useful when you want to verify a call duration for whatever reason. Here's how to get there.

Access Extended Call History

1. Open the Phone app on your iPhone.
2. In the Unified view, find the contact in the "Recents" section whose call history you want to view.
3. Tap the contact's name (if you're using the Classic interface, tap the circled "i" icon next to their name.
4. Scroll down and tap Call History.

• iOS 26: How to Switch Back to the Classic Phone App Layout

You'll now see a complete chronological record of every incoming, outgoing, and missed call with that contact, including the date, time, and duration of each conversation. This view can stretch back in time for months or years, depending on how long you've been in touch and how much call history data is stored on your phone.

Article Link: iOS 26: See Your Full Call History With Any iPhone Contact

EDIT: I can see it now.

 

[Steve Without-A-Job]

How great it is... I can finally see how many times in total I used to phone my ex ....

 

[ifxf]

Yet they automatically delete your clipboard history after eight hours.

 

[Nom4d]

Mine only goes back 3 months!?

How many months do you want the government to see?

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

The government can already get this from your cell carrier. There’s no need for them to have Apple add call history to iPhones.

All in one place, think about it)

 

[Selena Agna]

And cops can now just have you unlock your phone with FaceID and then can go through your call history without needing to do paperwork requesting information from the carrier.

 

[abrooks]

Good luck seeing the name of the person the call log is for though.

 

[NightFox]

To the tin-foil hatters, if this was introduced for government/law enforcement purposes or whatever, why do you think Apple would have built a consumer-focussed UX around it? If the data's on the phone and Apple want to give anyone access to it, they ain't going to go through the iOS interface. If the police want to know your call history, they don't just go into Phone>Recent and leave it at that.

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

To the tin-foil hatters, if this was introduced for government/law enforcement purposes or whatever, why do you think Apple would have built a consumer-focussed UX around it? If the data's on the phone and Apple want to give anyone access to it, they ain't going to go through the iOS interface. If the police want to know your call history, they don't just go into Phone>Recent and leave it at that.

In other words government can just a request a log file from Apple…

We are living in the world we everything is controlled and it will be even worse later with AI

 

[Séamus Boyle]

Anytime I tap the contact in unified, it auto calls the person instead of going to their contact page.

 

[stephanjp]

Anytime I tap the contact in unified, it auto calls the person instead of going to their contact page.

You can turn this behavior off in settings