On September 9, 2025, Apple released its new operating system iOS26. One of the headline features is Call Screening, designed to give consumers more control over incoming calls by showing who’s calling and why before they decide to pick up.
At Hiya, we see this as an important step toward making transparency in voice communication the norm — something we've been working on for years. Call Screening itself isn’t new: Google introduced it on Pixel in 2018, and Hiya launched a similar capability in our own app more than eight years ago. But Apple’s rollout will bring this functionality to millions more people, and with it, changes for businesses: how calls are received, displayed, and ultimately answered on iPhones will look different.
In this post, we’ll walk through what Call Screening is, the impact it could have on branded calls and performance metrics, and how you can prepare for the rollout.
How Call Screening works
Once users update to iOS26, they first need to explicitly enable Call Screening. Then, when you get a call from a number that isn’t saved in your contacts:
- Your iPhone will answer on your behalf.
- The caller will be asked to say their name and why they’re calling.
- Their response will appear on your screen in real time so you can decide whether to pick up.
It’s important to note what this is not: Call Screening is not spam protection. It doesn’t block or evaluate spam or scam calls. It simply provides more information to the recipient.
What this means for branded calls
Branded calls are designed to build trust. They show your company name, logo, and reason for calling, making your business recognizable and clearly different from spam.
While branded calls do not bypass Call Screening in iOS26, your brand’s identity will still appear to recipients during screening and in call history. This visibility reinforces trust and makes it clear the call came from a legitimate business.
What this means for spam protection
Because Call Screening doesn’t block or label spam, it doesn’t replace services like Hiya Protect. Spam detection and labeling remain critical to protect people from unwanted and fraudulent calls.
What to expect next + how to prepare
Since this is a brand-new feature, it’s too early to know exactly how it will shape consumer behavior or how it will affect call performance analytics over time.
One clear takeaway is that answer rate metrics may not look the same. As consumers adopt
Call Screening, they may choose to answer fewer calls. At the same time, Apple may log an interaction with the screener — such as the caller providing their name and reason — as an “answer,” even if the recipient never picks up. This combination could make answer rates appear inflated or harder to interpret.
Hiya’s reporting will not be impacted. Our performance data already filters out iOS devices, so Hiya answer rate reporting will remain consistent and reliable. Customers can continue to rely on historical trends for an accurate picture of branded call effectiveness.
To get ahead of these changes, consider the following steps:
- Educate live agents: Train outbound agents on how Call Screening works and how to clearly state your company name and reason for calling.
- Check Voice AI readiness: Make sure any AI or IVR agents can handle the Call Screening prompt and respond appropriately.
- Encourage saved contacts: Remind your customers to save your number in their contacts, which allows branded calls to bypass Call Screening altogether.