Phone calls with VoiceOver

The Phone app

The phone function of your iPhone is just one of the many apps on your iPhone.  It just happens to be the app that lets you make and receive phone calls. You may not need to use the app explicitly very often, though, because Siri lets you make phone calls with spoken commands and accepting incoming calls and ending calls needs only a simple VoiceOver gesture. 

Making phone calls with Siri

Siri may have problems helping you make phone calls if your Contacts aren't set up as intended. You may have transferred contacts from an old phone which had a rudimentary contacts system which forced you to be a bit creative in the way you set up contacts. You may have added extra information inside fields like first name or last name. Contacts on your iPhone and iPad have lots of fields for all sorts of information and it's worthwhile considering cleaning up your contacts if you initially have difficulty using Siri for phone calls. Please take a look at my advice on setting up contacts.

Siri can be instructed to make phone calls with commands like:

"call John Smith" or

"call 0800 0480754"

"call Sainsburys" - you don't need to have most businesses in your contacts since Siri will look up the number for nearby Sainsburys stores and ask you which you want. 

You'll find more about phone calls and Siri in Siri Essentials.

Accepting or rejecting a phone call using VoiceOver

When your iPhone rings, VoiceOver will announce the caller and you can accept the call with a two finger double tap anywhere on the screen. If it's not convenient to take the call, it can be dismissed with two short presses of the side button. This also applies to incoming FaceTime and WhatsApp calls.

Ending a phone call using VoiceOver

When you want to end a phone call, use the same gesture as you would use to answer an incoming call; double tap with two fingers anywhere on the screen. You may then hear a tone to indicate that the call is ended. This technique also applies to FaceTime and WhatsApp calls. Be aware that if the person at the other end of the call ends the call before you then your double tap with two fingers may resume playing media you were playing on your phone. No problem, just double tap again with two fingers to pause the media. The two finger double tap gesture is called the magic tap because it does different jobs in different contexts. If you frequently have problems with unintentional resumption of your podcasts, audiobooks etc. it is possible to disable the magic tap's Media Playback function at Settings / Accessibility / VoiceOver / Commands / Magic Tap.

Responding to phone systems that require you to select options from a numeric menu using VoiceOver

When you make a call and the call is established, a numeric keypad will be displayed on the screen so that you can enter numbers to respond to automated call-handling systems. Slide your finger or swipe to find the keypad numbers and double tap as usual to type the number.

Using the Phone app

For full access to all the phone features on your iPhone use the Phone app, which is probably in the dock, the  bottom row of icons on your iPhone screen.

iOS 26 introduced significant changes to the Phone app but if you don't like the changes, it is simple to revert to the previous "Classic" interface. I think that the new Unified interface will be offered when you first use the Phone app after updating to iOS 26.

The new Unified Phone interface in iOS 26

There are four tabs at the bottom of the screen - Calls, Contacts, Keypad and Search. Contacts and Keypad operate as they did in Classic View as described below. The Calls tab offers 3 different screens which can be selected using the filter button at top right of its screens. The choices are Calls, Missed and VoiceMail. Calls displays your favourite contacts followed by the list of recent calls. Missed shows only missed calls and Voicemail shows the Voicemail screen described below in the Classic View. The Search tab searches simultaneously for calls and for contacts. The filter button which is at the top right of all screens displayed by the Calls tab offers a choice between Unified and Classic views and also offers a Manage Filtering button which takes you to Settings to manage the Phone app's features for screening and filtering calls. 

In the Unified interface if you wish to call back someone in your Recents or Missed calls list swipe down with one finger and you should hear "call"; double tap to make the call. This is different from the Classic interface behaviour described below.

The Classic Phone interface

If you select Classic using the filter button then the Phone app will revert to its iOS 18 interface with the following tabs at the bottom of the screen - Favourites, Recents, Contacts, Keypad and Voicemail. 

Favourites, Recents, Contacts and Keypad all allow you to make calls. Favourites is a list of contacts you have nominated as favourites using the add button on the Favourites screen. Recents is a list of recently called, answered and missed calls. You can select items from these lists and double tap to make a call. Keypad is a conventional telephone keypad. Contacts is your full set of contacts. There are several ways of finding a contact. The section index is probably best for a long list of contacts. Swipe right from the top of the screen until you hear "section index, adjustable" and then swipe down with one finger until you reach the letter you want in your contact list.  Next swipe right until you reach the desired contact or left if you have already passed the desired contact. Double tap to open the contact page. Swipe right until you hear "call, button" and double tap to make the call. If you have more than one phone number for that contact you will be presented with a choice to swipe through before the final double tap. Contacts can be organised either by first or last name, depending on a setting in Settings / Apps / Contacts.

The way in which the Voicemail tab operates will depend on your mobile service provider and you will need to explore the screen to determine the options available. There may be a button to call network provider voicemail and this will take you to traditional numeric keypad operated voicemail. Some network providers will offer Apple's visual Voicemail which will provide you with a list of VoiceMail messages on screen and allow you to listen to them in any order you choose.

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