iPhone Call Screening blocks weekly spam calls, user reports

Apple’s Call Screening feature for the iPhone Phone app is filtering spam and scam calls, according to the author’s experience. Apple introduced it in iOS 26, but the author enabled it only earlier this year.

Before that, the author was receiving at least one call a week from people claiming to represent a mobile carrier, along with a growing number of job-scam calls.

Automated screening for unknown callers

The author selected the Ask Reason for Calling option. After enabling the feature, none of those scam calls got through: most callers hung up immediately after hearing the automated response, while others gave a stated reason that made the call easy to reject.

Some callers claimed to be from the author’s mobile carrier. The author believes some may have been third-party resellers trying to persuade him to switch networks, while others may have sought payment details or other personal information. He did not continue those calls far enough to verify their specific intentions.

Genuine calls remain answerable

The feature also screened some legitimate calls. The author said those callers explained who they were and why they were calling, allowing him to answer. He saw no indication that a genuine caller had been unable to reach him.

The author linked the increase in unwanted calls to earlier this year. His number has remained the same for decades, making it likely to have reached marketing lists; some companies also use automated systems to dial random numbers.

He tries to avoid sharing his number when possible and noted that the UK telecoms regulator provides 1,000 unallocated mobile numbers for forms that require a phone number.

To enable the feature, open Settings, go to the App section, select Phone and scroll to Screen Unknown Callers.