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iOS 26 might finally keep your iPhone from getting spam calls and texts

iOS 26 is the next major iPhone software update, and alongside its Liquid Glass redesign and various feature upgrades, there are also new tools coming to finally stop spam calls and texts.

New spam prevention tools coming to Phone and Messages apps in iOS 26

Apple has announced brand new features in iOS 26 built for a very important purpose.

That purpose? To put an end to the spam calls and texts that so many of us get every day.

Here are some of the new features coming to iOS 26’s Phone and Messages apps, per Apple’s website:

Manage unwanted calls

Call Screening automatically answers unknown callers without interrupting you. Once the caller shares their name and the reason for their call, your phone rings and you can decide if you want to pick up.

Screen new senders

Approve unknown numbers with new screening tools that detect spam and give you control over who appears in your conversations in Messages, and your recent calls in Phone and FaceTime.

If iOS 26 can truly put an end to spam, it will prove a huge hit with users.

Another great Phone feature coming: you can let the Phone app wait on hold for you. “Hold Assist keeps your spot in line while you wait for a live agent and notifies you when they’re ready.”

We’ll have to wait and see how well these features work when they ship publicly this fall in iOS 26, but hopefully your Phone and Messages apps will soon be filled only with incoming communication that you actually want.

For all the latest from WWDC, check out our dedicated WWDC 2025 news hub.

What do you think of these new iOS 26 features to stop spam? Let us know in the comments.

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Avatar for Ryan Christoffel Ryan Christoffel

Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.