Apple’s Best New iOS 26 Feature Has Been on Pixel Phones for Years Leave a comment

Ever since I was a toddler, I’ve despised answering the telephone when an unknown quantity calls. Who could possibly be on the opposite finish? Actually anybody: an acquaintance, a telemarketer, a serial killer who’s menacingly respiration into the mouthpiece.

Whereas Apple’s upcoming Liquid Glass refresh in iOS 26 is prone to be probably the most instantly noticeable side of the software program replace because it begins rolling out to the general public on September 15, I imagine a smaller addition in iOS 26 may also have a larger affect on how iPhone homeowners use their units.

The iPhone is lastly getting name screening. Hallelujah. At launch, the characteristic will help calls coming in from 9 languages, together with English, Spanish, and Japanese.

As soon as your iPhone updates to iOS 26, you may choose in and have the software program mechanically display calls that come from unknown numbers. On this case, an unknown quantity is any telephone quantity you haven’t interacted with earlier than.

When your telephone mechanically picks up the decision, a robotic voice asks the caller for his or her title in addition to why they need to get in touch with you. Solely after that data is collected, the iPhone will ring and present you these particulars in a notification bubble so you may determine whether or not to reply.

I used to be ecstatic to see this new choice as I experimented with a beta model of iOS 26. I’m always getting calls from so many unknown numbers that I’ve fully given up answering the telephone for anybody not saved in my contacts record.

With the approaching launch of iOS 26, I could make knowledgeable choices to disregard or reply these calls. And whereas many of the calls will nonetheless be ignored, I not have to attend till the caller begins leaving a voicemail and the reside transcription seems on the display to decide.

Name screening can be new for iPhones homeowners this fall, however customers of some Android smartphones, like Google’s Pixel, have had a model of this device, named Name Display screen, out there to them for years. Lyubov Farafonova, a product supervisor at Google, says in a press release emailed to WIRED that hundreds of thousands of Pixel customers are utilizing the characteristic within the US alone. “It’s certainly one of our fan favourite options,” she says.

Since its launch of name screening in 2018, Google has labored to make the artificial voice sound extra pure for incoming callers. It’s additionally began exhibiting related replies as tappable choices whereas the screening is in progress so customers can simply talk with unknown callers with out truly answering the telephone. Additional leaning into this characteristic, Google plans to roll out name screening to further markets this fall.

“Pixel 10 homeowners in India can begin experimenting with the beta model of handbook Name Display screen. This characteristic can be initially working in English and Hindi, with extra languages and dialects on the best way,” Farafonova says. “It is going to have a performance to not solely transcribe but in addition translate what the caller says to the Name Display screen bot, to make life simpler for individuals who don’t converse the identical language because the caller.” Choices for name screenings, handbook or automated, are coming quickly to Pixel homeowners in Australia, Canada, Eire, and the UK as properly.