- iOS 26 presents a new feature called call screening
- It helps filter spam calls and unimportant calls
- I found it useful – so I have a lot of other users
Spam calls can be a huge problem for many of us, and I receive my just part of the random calls for marketing specialists and crooks during the day – not ideal when you try to be productive. With the screening of calls in iOS 26, I think I finally found the fix.
As you can guess from the name, calls for calls puts an automated voice between you and the unknown appellants: the person (or the robot) on the other end of the line their requests to say their business, and their response is then presented as a text transcription for you. You can then decide whether or not to take the call.
It will not be taken into action for known contacts, and you can activate or deactivate the functionality when you wish. Personally, I will continue to light – it will save me a lot of time talking in unnecessary conversations.
How to activate calls for calls in iOS 26
Any phone that supports iOS 26 also supports calls: you don’t need additional Apple Intelligence or something like that. You can download and install the mobile operating system update on phones launched in September 2019 – the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max – and all that is more recent than that.
After installing iOS 26, you could see an prompt to allow calls to screen when the first unknown call enters. Applications> Telephone.
Under the screen of unknown appellants, you have three options: Never (Calls from unknown numbers are treated as usual), Ask the reason to call (which is the screening of the calls), and Silence (Calls from unknown numbers are silenced and sent directly to voicemail). Select Ask the reason to call And you are ready to leave.
How calling for calls works in iOS 26
With the screening of activated calls, you will get a silent alert when a call is managed, then a ping if a message is left. You can press the notification to see the message, then you have a few seconds to accept or reject the call according to the transcription of the text on the screen. It is a bit like a slightly improved live version of voicemail.
For the appellant, they receive an automated message requesting their name and their reason to call. After leaving the message, they are told to hold the line for a few seconds while your digital assistant checks if you are available. If you do not answer in time or do not reject the call, the appellant has the possibility of leaving another message. Again, it’s very messaging.
And it is not only I who is a fan of functionality. The first online responses were mainly positive, although there are occasional problems with people who lack important calls. The improvements requested – which I second – include more obvious alerts for the appellants and receivers who are active, but it already works very well.
