Call Screening in iOS 26 has banished spam callers once and for all!
The way Call Screening works is extremely simple. When you get a call from an unknown number, the caller will first be put through to an automated voice that asks them to identify themselves and the reason for their call.
Once they’ve done that, your phone will ring and show a transcript of the caller’s answer. At that point, you can decide if you want to answer the call or not. If you don’t, the caller is disconnected. You’re not disturbed while the other party is talking to your robo-screener, other than a short alert you get saying someone is on the line. You’re then buzzed again once the identification is complete. It’s short, simple, and extremely effective – and you never need to pick up the phone when an unknown number appears.
How to enable and use Call Screening
To get started with Call Screening, you’ll need to have a compatible iPhone that’s running iOS 26. That includes anything from the iPhone 11 range (released in September 2019) onwards.
Once iOS 26 is installed on your iPhone, you don’t need to install anything else to get Call Screening up and running, and it doesn’t depend on enabling Apple Intelligence, for example. When you first get a call from an unknown number, you might see a prompt to enable Call Screening. Otherwise, you can adjust the feature’s settings manually. To do so, open the Settings app and go to Apps > Phone. From there, scroll down to the Screen Unknown Callers section. You’ll now have three choices: “Never,” “Ask Reason for Calling,” and “Silence.”
Selecting “Never” will disable Call Screening, allowing any unknown number to get through to you in the normal way. “Ask Reason for Calling” means that unknown callers will need to provide more information before reaching you. “Silence” simply means that calls from unknown numbers are silenced, sent straight to voicemail, and will show up in your Recents list.
Select “Ask Reason for Calling” and Call Screening will be enabled, giving you an extra layer of protection against the scourge of spam calls.
Of course, sometimes a call from an unknown number is from a person you might want to hear from. But in cases like that, there’s no longer an issue, as Call Screening doesn’t block them. In fact, it helps them get through quicker. Once they’ve identified themselves, you can decide whether to answer or not.
In other words, Call Screening stops the bad guys and lets in the people you actually want to hear from. I’d call that a win-win situation.
If you haven’t already, I’d encourage you to give Call Screening a go. You might find it brings a little peace and quiet to your day – and shuts out the spammers for good!