My favorite iOS 26 feature has banished spam callers

Call Screening puts up a brick wall between spammers and your iPhone, ending nuisance calls forever. It's easily one of the best features in the iOS 26 update.

- BY ALEX BLAKE

There are few more frustrating iPhone experiences than receiving a spam call.

Whether it's interrupting your work or play, it doesn't take much for a junk call to take you out of the moment.

The problem is that they're seemingly extremely difficult to stop, and no matter what you try, a few still seem to make it through the net. At least, that was the case before iOS 26's Call Screening feature came along. Since I installed iOS 26, it's stopped unwanted calls in their tracks, leaving me in spam-free bliss all day long.

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 describe 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 again need to pick up the phone when an unknown number appears.

A WIN-WIN SITUATION

I've found that Call Screening works superbly, and it’s absolutely slashed the number of times I get disturbed by frustrating calls throughout my day.

Interestingly, calls from unknown numbers tend to go one of two ways. Either the caller immediately hangs up when they realize they need to identify themselves, or they out themselves as a spammer, letting me to quickly decline the call.