How to use the new Phone app (or get the old one back)

For the first time in 18 years, Apple has redesigned the often-overlooked Phone app. The redesign in iOS 26 simplifies the layout of the Phone app by putting your favorites, call history, and voicemails on a single tab and providing easier access to search.

Its sleek liquid glass-inspired layout goes hand-in-hand with excellent call filtering features in the Phone app.

Here’s how to learn to love a new design—and how to ditch it if you don’t like it.

How to use the new Apple Phone app (or get the old one back)

After much confusion over the revamped Photos app in iOS 18, Apple is being more cautious with the new Phone app. You can choose the layout you want: the same design you’ve used since the first iPhone in 2007, or a modern approach.

Personally, I like the new, simplified design of the Phone app in iOS 26. But a lot of people just want what they’re used to. Fortunately, switching to the old Phone app for a more familiar user interface is easy—and I’ll show you how.

Contents: How to use the new Apple Phone app

1. Update to iOS 26
2. Switch to the new Phone app or stick with the old one
3. New unified screen Calls
4. Add or edit your favorites
5. View your filtered calls
6. Contacts and keyboard
7. Search for a contact
8. Additional phone features

Update to iOS 26

First, you need to update your iPhone to iOS 26. It is currently available as a software update v Settings > General > Software Update. iOS 26 runs on iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2 and later (end support for iPhone XS and XR).

Switch to the new Phone app or stick with the old one

After updating to iOS 26, when you launch the Phone app, a tip appears at the top of the screen asking if you want to switch to the new design.

If you switch by mistake, don’t worry – it’s very easy to go back to the old user interface. To do so, tap on Filter in the upper right corner, and then tap Classical. In classic mode, you’ll see the traditional five tabs at the bottom: Favorites, Recents, Contacts, Keyboard, and Voicemail.

You can tap on Filter and switch between classic and new unified mode whenever you want. I personally like the new design of the Phone app. It just takes a little learning. Here’s how it works.

The new Phone app unified the Calls screen

In a unified design, Apple merged the Favorites, Recents, and Voicemail tabs into one: calls. The general idea is that your favorites appear as large tabs at the top, while your call history and voicemails are listed below, grouped into one list. You don’t have to switch between so many tabs.

Add or edit your favorites

In the new Phone app, you can tap on Edit button at the top and tap on Edit favorites switch some contacts to speed dial.

Tap + in the upper right corner you can add a new favorite from your contacts. Choose a name, then choose how you want to contact them – via text, phone call, FaceTime or email. You can add the same contact multiple times to connect in different ways.

Tap − next to a favorite, remove them and tap Done (check mark) in the upper left corner to save changes.

View your filtered calls in the new Phone app for iPhone

You may notice that the new Calls screen looks really cool and clean. This is probably because the hundreds or thousands of junk phone calls that usually populate the list are missing. They were shoved into the digital junk drawer.

If you want to see them, tap on Filter button in the upper right corner and tap on Unknown caller. A complete list of calls from unknown numbers and potential spam will be displayed. You can tap Mark as known if one of them is really important, or Delete if you want it’s gone

If you want to take out the trash, there is a trick to delete it all. Go to the very bottom of the list. Swipe up with two fingers to start selecting some items. Hold those fingers down and tap the clock in the top left corner of the screen with your other hand to go to the top of the list. You will instantly have everything in the list selected. Now tap Delete.

If you from that want your unknown calls to be filtered out, tap on Filter button in the upper right corner and tap on Manage filtering. This will take you to a page in Settings where you can change this. IN Call filtering section, uncheck it Unknown caller or Spam.

To be clear, you can leave this setting on and still receive phone calls from people outside of your contacts. Just choose whether missed calls from people outside of your contacts show up in the Recents list in the Phone app.

To change whether you receive calls from unknown numbers, scroll up a bit and choose what you want from Unknown Caller screen section.

Search for a contact

The benefit of the unified design in Apple’s new Phone app is an advantage Search bottom right button. You can enter a contact’s name (or any of their contact information) to see filtered results.

A little annoyingly, when you type in a contact’s name, you’ll see their call history at the top of the list. This means that their contact card is tucked under the keyboard, which you have to pull out first.

However, the ubiquitous Search button at the bottom is a convenient feature of iOS 26’s modern design.

More features for iPhone

After you learn how to use the new Phone app, check out these other incredible features:

• Set up a contact poster create a beautiful custom call screen for your contact.
• Record a phone call and overwrite it in the Notes app.
• Live voicemail lets you see a transcript of their voice message as it’s being recorded – and you can pick up the call at any time if it turns out to be important.
• Dialing T9 lets you look up a contact from the keyboard by entering the letters associated with each number – like it’s 2004 all over again.

This article about the new Phone app was originally published on September 4, 2025. We updated it with the latest information on February 20, 2026.