One of Apple’s biggest phone upgrades this fall isn’t flashy hardware—it’s peace and quiet.
In iOS 26, the Phone app adds more ways to stop annoying spam calls through Call Screening, deeper call identification, and new Unknown/Spam filters so you can keep the scammers at arm’s length without missing out on contact from real people.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to getting the most out of Apple’s new call screening features in iOS 26.
Step 1: Turn on caller ID
iOS 26 can identify incoming callers using Apple’s Business Connect data, your carrier, and any supported third-party ID apps you’ve installed (Hiya, Truecaller, etc.).
1. Open Settings on iPhone.
2. Tap Apps → Phone → Call Blocking & Identification.
3. Enable Business Call Identification and any Call Identification apps you trust. This improves the on-screen info you see before you decide to pick up.
Step 2: Screen unknown numbers (the new iOS 26 trick)
Call Screening puts a virtual assistant between you and unknown callers. It silently answers your iPhone in the background, asks the caller to state their name and reason for calling, then shows you the response so you can decide to accept, ignore, or send to voicemail.
1. Settings → Apps → Phone → Screen Unknown Callers.
2. Choose one of:
- Never – no screening; your iPhone rings as usual.
- Ask Reason for Calling – Call Screening on.
- Silence – unknown numbers are sent straight to voicemail and listed in Recents.
Apple’s guide notes Siri speaks in your iPhone’s default language while screening; if you need to adjust language/region, change it in Settings → General → Language & Region.
Troubleshooting tip: A few early upgraders report Ask Reason for Calling behaves inconsistently when Low Power Mode is on; turning it off restored screening for them. (Anecdotal, but worth a try.)
Step 3: Auto-filter Unknown and Spam calls
iOS 26 adds clear Unknown and Spam buckets to keep junk out of your main call list.
1. Settings → Apps → Phone.
2. Toggle Unknown Callers (moves unfamiliar numbers out of Recents) and Spam (silences suspected spam/fraud to voicemail and files it under Spam).
When something legitimate gets caught: open Phone, tap the Filter button, choose Unknown Callers, then Mark as Known to whitelist it for next time. You can also revert a number to Unknown later from Contacts → Other Known → Mark as Unknown.
Step 4: Block (and unblock) specific numbers and report voicemail spam
To block a specific contact outright: open Phone → Contacts → [contact] → Block Contact. To unblock later: Settings → Apps → Phone → Blocked Contacts → Edit → Unblock.
Apple has also added the ability in iOS 26 to report voicemails as spam. To do this using the Unified Phone layout: Phone → Calls → Tap a Voicemail → Report Spam.
Step 5: Where to find filtered calls
Using the Unified Phone layout, tap Calls (or Recents in Classic), then tap the Filter button and choose Unknown Callers or Spam to review and take action.
