In this podcast, Thomas Domville walks through the redesigned Phone app in iOS 26. The episode explains the difference between the new Unified view and the legacy Classic view, shows how to switch between them, and highlights where previously familiar items—like Voicemail—now live. Throughout, Thomas shares VoiceOver-friendly steps and tips to make navigation faster and less confusing.
Key Points
- iOS 26 introduces a Unified layout for the Phone app; Classic is still available.
- You can switch views anytime via the Filter button (top-right).
- In Unified, Calls/Missed/Voicemail/Unknown Callers/Spam are grouped as options rather than bottom tabs.
- VoiceOver gestures used: one-finger double-tap, swipe right/left, four-finger tap to jump to top.
What You’ll Learn
- How to quickly toggle between Unified and Classic layouts.
- Where to find Voicemail and other categories in Unified.
- How the Calls screen combines Favorites and Recents in one layout.
- Why Unknown Callers and Spam are easier to separate from Missed.
Step-by-Step: Switch Between Unified and Classic
- Open Phone.
VoiceOver: one-finger double-tap on “Phone.”
- Open Filter.
Navigate to the top-right and double-tap “Filter.”
- Choose a View.
Classic: returns the familiar tabbed layout.
Unified: uses a single screen with options like Calls/Missed/Voicemail/Unknown Callers/Spam.
- Confirm You Switched.
In Classic, bottom tabs (e.g., Calls) appear.
- In Unified, you’ll see category buttons (Calls, Missed, Voicemail, etc.) in the main view.
Step-by-Step: Find Voicemail in Unified
- From the Unified Phone screen, swipe right through options.
- Stop on “Voicemail” and double-tap to open.
- Use standard VoiceOver gestures to review messages.
Quick Navigation Tips (VoiceOver)
- Four-finger tap (top half): Jump to the top of the screen (handy to reach Filter quickly).
- One-finger double-tap: Activate selected items (Filter, Voicemail, Calls, etc.).
- Swipe right/left: Move through available options like Calls, Missed, Voicemail, Unknown Callers, Spam.
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI Note Taker – VoicePen, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.
Thomas: Hello and welcome. My name is Thomas Domville, also known as AnonyMouse. Now, starting in iOS 26, there is one little thing that might kind of drive you batty, and that is the phone app. You will notice in iOS 26 that they revamped the interface for the phone app. Yes. So for those like myself and don't like changes all that much, and maybe I don't like the feature, or maybe I do, I don't know. But they've done away with the classic view, and now comes the unified view. Now, in saying that, you are able to re-go back and reactivate the classic view if that's something that you like. So let me show you how to do this and how you can go back and forth from the unified view or the classic view. And then I'll give you some pointers all along the way. So let's go over to the phone app itself.
VoiceOver: Do a one-finger double tap to open up the phone app. Phone, edit, button.
Thomas: Now, you're going to notice everything has changed around. The tabs are different. The views are different. And it's something you can get used to. I kind of like it for the most part. There's just some things that are kind of annoying. But the point is, how do you make it go back to the classic view? Good question. Now, at the very top right-hand corner of the phone app is the filter button. Double-tap on the filter button.
VoiceOver: Filter, classic, button.
Thomas: Haha, there's your classic. If you double tap that with one finger, that will return you back to the old classic view that you've come to love. If you swipe to the right, this is how you go back to the unified view. Now, as a bonus, I want to show you something else. If you are in a unified area, where did all my other areas like my voicemail go? Because in the classic view, you just went to the bottom right-hand corner to get to your voicemail. Not in the unified version. So you swipe to the right.
VoiceOver: Selected. Calls. Button.
Thomas: You have the following options. Calls is the default one, which shows you your favors and your recent calls in one nice layout.
VoiceOver: Missed. Button.
Thomas: This is where you can evaluate to see what you missed.
VoiceOver: Voicemail. Button.
Thomas: There's your voicemail. Double tap that and it'll take you to the voicemail. So, yeah, it takes a little more hunting and finding things. But in a way, I kind of like it because it's kind of tucked away. It makes things a little more simplified for myself. But, again, other things you can view.
VoiceOver: Unknown callers. Nine. Button.
Thomas: Sweet. So there's nine unknown callers that is no longer in my missed area. So that's kind of a cool thing. So I can separate the two.
VoiceOver: Spam. Button.
Thomas: And lastly, you have your spam. Now let me go back to classic here. And I'm going to show you how you can go back to the unified view if you want to go back to the unified view. So let's go to the top here with four fingers. Tap top half. Double tap classic. Now we're in classic view. And to prove that, we'll go back to the bottom left. Where you had your favors. And the unified will say just calls. Go to the right here.
VoiceOver: Selected. Calls. Tab. 2 of 6.
Thomas: There's your call. Do a one-finger double-tap on calls.
VoiceOver: Selected. Calls. Tab. 2 of 6.
Thomas: Now from here, top right-hand corner.
VoiceOver: Filter. Button.
Thomas: Is your filter button. One-finger double-tap that.
VoiceOver: Selected. Classic. Button.
Thomas: And as you recall, let's go to the right one more.
VoiceOver: Unified. Button.
Thomas: Double-tap unified.
VoiceOver: Edit button.
Thomas: Now we're back to the unified, which is the new format you will find in iOS 26. So that is how you get from unified to classic view and back. That's if something that you want to experiment and see which one you'd like better. And I get it. I really get it. Sometimes I don't like the new changes, so I just want to go back to classic. Thankfully, Apple has given us the ability to do that. So now you know how to do that on your own. Well, that's going to do for me. My name is Thomas Domville, also known as AnonyMouse. Until next time.