Spammers who constantly call and claim to know us are a daily distraction for too many of us. Unwanted calls from telemarketers and people pretending to be government officials or bank agents are the top consumer complaint, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
But there is a recent free call screening tool that can help us reclaim our wasted time.
As part of Apple’s iOS 26 software update, released last month, there is a new call screening feature for unknown callers.
The primary advantage of enabling the “Ask Reason for Calling” setting is that it will prevent the time-consuming “Who is this?” back-and-forth conversations.
Once you activate the iOS call screener, Apple’s Siri will become your phone’s bouncer and in its robotic voice, it will ask your caller who is calling and the reason for the call. The transcribed conversation will appear as a message and you can direct Siri to ask more questions, pick up the phone or reject the call.
