Latest news with #PhoneApp
Android Authority
19 hours ago
- Android Authority
Google Phone's Material 3 Expressive revamp and new call gestures are starting to roll out
Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority TL;DR Google has started rolling out the Phone app's Material 3 Expressive redesign on the beta channel. The updated interface brings visual changes to the in-call screen and Recent tab. It also introduces two new incoming call gesture options for the incoming call screen. Google has started rolling out the Material 3 Expressive redesign of its Phone app to some users, which we first spotted in a teardown late last month. It includes visual changes for the app's Recent tab and in-call screen, along with two new interfaces for the incoming call screen. Google Phone's Expressive makeover appears to be rolling out via a server-side update on the latest beta release (version 180.0.771769344). As shown previously, the updated in-call screen features larger UI elements, including bigger pill-shaped buttons, contact names, and caller photos. The Recent tab has also received a minor change, and the recent calls list now has a contrasting background with rounded edges. Google has also rolled out the new 'Incoming call gesture' setting to the Phone app, which lets you choose one of two new incoming call screen interfaces. If you pick the 'Single tap' gesture, the incoming call interface features 'Answer' and 'Decline' buttons that you can tap to receive or end an incoming call. The 'Horizontal swipe' gesture, on the other hand, adds a pill-shaped slider to the incoming call screen. It has a phone button in the middle and options to answer or decline the call on either side. On this interface, you can swipe the phone button to the right to receive a call or to the left to decline it. These Google Phone app changes aren't widely available, but we expect Google to roll them out soon. We'll update this post when the Phone app's Material 3 Expressive makeover hits the stable channel. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Phone Arena
12-06-2025
- Phone Arena
iOS 26 takes the fight to voicemail spam – one report at a time
iOS 26 brings some useful updates to its Phone app, including two notable features, Hold Assist and Call Screening. Alongside the new design, there are plenty of little updates here and there that Apple didn't talk about during the WWDC 2025 keynote. One of those is a new feature to the Phone app which allows you to flag spam voicemails. There's a new "Report Spam" button when you tap into a voicemail from an unknown number in iOS 26 . If it was a spam call, you can report it from there. When you tap this option, the voicemail is sent to Apple, and you can either report the message as spam and keep it or report it and delete it. It is not clear what Apple does with the spam voicemails once they've been reported. However, the company has a similar reporting process for spam messages, and it's been around for quite some time now. It's possible that these reported spam messages are used for building the spam filtering functionality that iOS 26 adds. Just like with iMessage, if you report a voicemail as spam, the sender doesn't automatically get blocked. You need to block them separately if you wish to do that. The new report spam for voicemails. | Image Credit – MacRumors Apple has been putting effort into making features that cut out spammers from your life as much as possible. The new Call Screening feature in iOS 26 works on calls that are not coming from your contact and then asks the caller for more information before forwarding the call to you. Meanwhile, the Messages app also has refined spam reporting capabilities with the new OS update. The messages detected as spam are sent to a specific Spam folder, which is now different from the Unknown Senders folder. Now, messages from people who aren't in your contact list (including two-factor authentication messages) go to Unknown Senders, and scam messages go to the spam folder. Understandably, if you see a spam message that didn't get categorized properly, you can tap on the "Report Spam" option. Both these categories (spam messages and messages from unknown senders) are silenced, so they won't bother you with a notification. You'll only see a badge at the top of the Messages app. These features can be disabled from Settings, then Messages, if you wish to do so, but I'd recommend you leave them on. For now, there's no automatic filtering of spam voicemails thought. But by how things are looking, Apple could use the reported voicemails for such a filtering option in the future. iOS 26 is now in developer beta and will launch officially in the fall. If you wish to try it out beforehand, you can do so when the public beta launches in July as well. I find these new anti-spam features very useful. There are periods when my iPhone receives a lot of scammy and spammy messages, so the filtering is great and needed. Although I don't get a lot of spam voicemails (thankfully), I'm still glad we'll be able to report those as well.
CNET
09-06-2025
- CNET
Apple Is Finally Bringing the Phone App to Mac. Here's What That Means for You
For the first time ever, you'll be able to make and take phone calls directly on your Mac computer. No iPhone pickup required. During its WWDC 2025 keynote, Apple announced that the Phone app is officially coming to Mac as part of a broader push to deepen Continuity between its devices. The new desktop version of the Phone app will debut alongside iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe later this year, giving Mac users full access to calling features previously limited to the iPhone. With the new Phone app for Mac, users will be able to make and receive calls, access their iPhone contacts and even take advantage of new iOS 26 features, including Hold Assist (which waits on hold for you) and Live Translations (which provides real-time subtitles during a conversation). Read also: iPhone's Phone App Is Getting a Major Upgrade, Including a Smarter Way to Wait on Hold Incoming calls will appear right on your Mac screen, complete with full-size contact photos, so you'll know exactly who's reaching out. This addition is part of Apple's larger goal to make the boundaries between devices feel invisible. The Phone app on Mac strengthens the Continuity experience, which already lets users hand off emails, messages and browsing between Apple devices. Now, the phone in your pocket becomes accessible on your desktop. And the integration doesn't stop there. Apple is also adding support for Live Activities on Mac. If you start something like a food delivery or ride-share on your iPhone, you'll now be able to track it from your Mac's menu bar, too. Click to expand, and your entire iPhone screen can be mirrored and controlled from the desktop. Altogether, these updates underscore Apple's ambition to unify its ecosystem even further and make the Mac a more powerful companion to the iPhone than ever before.
CNET
09-06-2025
- CNET
iPhone's Phone App Is Getting a Major Upgrade, Including a Smarter Way to Wait on Hold
Apple's Phone app is finally getting a major glow-up. If you've ever been stuck on hold with customer service, you'll appreciate one of the biggest changes coming with iOS 26. At its WWDC 2025 keynote event, Apple unveiled a sweeping redesign of the Phone app aimed at making one of the iPhone's most-used features feel more intelligent, streamlined and helpful. The centerpiece is a new Hold Assist feature that uses on-device intelligence to recognize when you're stuck listening to hold music and offers to wait in line for you. In essence, you will no need to keep the phone to your ear while the minutes tick by. When the call finally reaches a real human, you'll get an alert letting you know it's time to pick up. Hold Assist is just the beginning, though. The refreshed Phone app also brings a unified design that folds together your recent calls, voicemails and favorites into a single scrollable view, reducing the need to bounce between tabs. The Phone app will now be a unified hub that keeps your favorites pinned at the top, while recents and voicemails fold into one scroll. Apple/Screenshot by Joe Maldonado/CNET Apple is also introducing Call Screening, a feature that leverages Siri and Apple Intelligence to silently answer unknown calls on your behalf. Instead of sending suspicious numbers straight to voicemail, the system will answer quietly in the background, gather information and display a summary so you can decide if the call's worth taking. Essentially, it's a smarter evolution of call filtering, with no extra apps or silencing tricks needed. Voicemails are also getting a glow-up thanks to Apple Intelligence. The Phone app will now offer AI-generated summaries of both voicemails and voice notes, so you can quickly catch up on missed calls without having to listen to every second of the recording. The Phone app redesign marks one of the biggest updates to the iPhone's Phone app in years. It's also a clear sign that Apple is continuing to doubledown on integrating AI across its core apps in ways that attempt to solve everyday annoyances. The new Phone app experience will roll out with iOS 19 later this year.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google Phone app is getting a visual makeover with Android 16's Material 3 Expressive
Material 3 Expressive design, for Android 16, has been spotted on the Phone by Google app. Google's Phone app gets larger elements, new buttons, and more. In-call "More" controls now appear as a pop-up menu. Android 16 is a big release, not just in terms of new features but also because of the overhaul of the operating system's Material Design language. Google is calling it Material 3 Expressive, and the company is already working on introducing the design language to some of its popular apps, including Calendar, Photos, Files, and Meet. It's safe to assume that the Mountain View tech giant will introduce Material 3 Expressive to all its Android apps to ensure design consistency in the operating system. While we're all excited to see how Material 3 Expressive transforms each of the Google apps on Android, we just got a solid look at what the Phone by Google app will look like with Android 16's design, courtesy of Android Authority's APK teardown of the app's version 177.0.763181107-publicbeta-pixel2024. The design makeover was spotted on the incoming call screen and in-call menu. The incoming call screen shows the rounded call button, which still supports the vertical swipe gesture for answering or declining calls. This could be seen as a major hint that the company has no plans to replace the vertical swipe with a horizontal swipe and simple tap-to-answer/decline buttons. Image source: Android Authority The in-call screen also shows a new animation for the profile picture of the caller. However, the animation disappears when you receive the call, with the screen showing the name, phone number, profile picture, buttons, and menu, all of which appear bigger than the current ones. The in-call screen is much more than changes in size. The shape of the in-call buttons also changed from round to oval. These buttons change shape to a rounded square upon pressing. We don't see any new buttons, but there is a noteworthy change in how the "More" menu appears. Currently, the "More" button reveals additional control options, including "Add call," Video call," and "Hold," all of which appear in the same container as the other buttons. But with Material 3 Expressive, the additional controls now appear in a pop-up style menu, appearing just above those buttons. Another major change we can spot is the redesigned reject call button, which is now pill-shaped and not rounded. Again, all these changes are currently going through the internal testing phase and are not available to general users. As much as we'd love to see them on the Phone app, there is no clarity about when they will be available. We expect the redesign to be available before Material 3 Expressive is rolled out to Pixel phones via a Feature drop later in the year. Phone by Google Google LLC TOOLS Price: Free 4.5 Download
