We finally have free anti-robocall tools that work

When I received a phone call from an unknown number this week, I didn’t have to pick up the phone to find out it was a robocaller impersonating a utility company with an offer to reduce my bill. A robot spoke on my behalf and told me what the caller had said.

I was testing a call-screening tool for iPhones that is included with Apple’s iOS 26 software system, which arrived last month. Since activating the feature a few weeks ago, I’ve hardly noticed when calls from unfamiliar digits come in. The new tool does its job without ringing my handset.

Call screening should come in handy for lots of smartphone users. Like millions of people across the country, I’ve been bombarded with an uncountable number of spam calls for the last decade. Past tools I’ve tested, such as apps that filtered out