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

Ever since I used to be a toddler, I’ve despised answering the cellphone 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 respiratory into the mouthpiece.Whereas Apple’s upcoming Liquid Glass refresh in iOS 26 is more likely 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 consider a smaller addition in iOS 26 may also have a greater impression on how iPhone house owners use their units.The iPhone is lastly getting name screening. Hallelujah. At launch, the function will help calls coming in from 9 languages, together with English, Spanish, and Japanese.As soon as your iPhone updates to iOS 26, you’ll be able to choose in and have the software program robotically display screen calls that come from unknown numbers. On this case, an unknown quantity is any cellphone quantity you haven’t interacted with earlier than.When your cellphone robotically picks up the decision, a robotic voice asks the caller for his or her title in addition to why they need to get involved with you. Solely after that info is collected, the iPhone will ring and present you these particulars in a notification bubble so you’ll be able to 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 utterly given up answering the cellphone for anybody not saved in my contacts checklist.With the approaching launch of iOS 26, I could make knowledgeable selections to disregard or reply these calls. And whereas a lot of the calls will nonetheless be ignored, I not have to attend till the caller begins leaving a voicemail and the stay transcription seems on the display screen to decide.Name screening might be new for iPhones house owners this fall, however customers of some Android smartphones, like Google’s Pixel, have had a model of this software, named Name Display, obtainable to them for years. Lyubov Farafonova, a product supervisor at Google, says in a press release emailed to WIRED that thousands and thousands of Pixel customers are utilizing the function within the US alone. “It’s one in all 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 displaying related replies as tappable choices whereas the screening is in progress so customers can simply talk with unknown callers with out really answering the cellphone. Additional leaning into this function, Google plans to roll out name screening to further markets this fall.“Pixel 10 house owners in India can begin experimenting with the beta model of handbook Name Display. This function might be initially working in English and Hindi, with extra languages and dialects on the way in which,” Farafonova says. “It’ll have a performance to not solely transcribe but additionally translate what the caller says to the Name Display bot, to make life simpler for individuals who don’t communicate the identical language because the caller.” Choices for name screenings, handbook or automated, are coming quickly to Pixel house owners in Australia, Canada, Eire, and the UK as nicely.