The Phone app doesn’t get updated often, but with iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence, it’s getting a major overhaul, which includes one of the best new features in the “iOS 18” software.
This guide highlights all the new features in the Phone app.
Record telephone conversations
After you make or answer a call on an iPhone running iOS 18.1, you can start a recording that gives you an audio copy of the call.
- Open the Phone app.
- Make a call.
- Tap the record button in the top left corner to start recording.
When you tap the record button, an audible message will play to notify each person on the call that the call is being recorded. The message will repeat for each person who is recording, so if two iPhone users are on the phone and both are recording, the message will play twice.
There is no confirmation dialog when recording a call. If someone does not want to be recorded, they must hang up as there is no option to opt out.
During the call, audio is recorded and saved in the Notes app for later access. When you open the Notes app, you’ll see a call recording with the date and time, and the option to tap Play to replay the call or tap the note for more information.
Transcribe and summarize telephone conversations
Calls saved in the Notes app are automatically transcribed so you can see a full transcription of the conversation content. You can access a transcription by tapping a call recording note.
As you listen to the call, the transcript will update so you can hear what is being said.
Transcriptions have a Summary button that gives you a quick summary of the conversation content. There is also a search option for finding keywords and phrases. Note that the summary feature requires an Apple Intelligence compatible device, but recording and transcribing are general features available to anyone.
Transcripts can be added or copied to another note and the audio can be saved or shared in the Files app.
Search call history
In iOS 18, Apple added a search feature to the Recents tab, meaning you can now search through all your incoming and outgoing calls and voicemails.
- Open the Phone app.
- Tap the Recent tab.
- Use the search bar at the top of the interface to find the person or number you want.
You can enter phone numbers or names to view calls made, received, or missed, as well as contacts who have the name or phone number you are looking for.
In addition to the name or phone number, you can also search by the date of a call or the type of call (e.g. FaceTime), or use multiple search parameters. For example, if you want to see all of Eric’s calls in June, you can type “Eric,” tap the name when it appears to set the parameter, and then type “June” in the search bar.
When performing a search, there is an option to “Show all calls and voicemails” to display more results.
Swap SIM cards
If you have two SIM cards on your iPhone, for example for personal and work use, you can switch between them using a switch in Control Center. In previous versions of iOS, you had to change the numbers using the Settings app.
To exchange numbers, open Control Center, navigate to Connectivity controls, and long press Cellular Data.
In iOS 18, when you type a number using the keyboard, a contact list appears so you can quickly get to the person you want to call.
Enter the first one or two digits of a number, then tap the More icon to see all of your options. From there, you can tap one to dial.
T9 dialing
Related to the contact suggestion feature, you can actually search for names instead of numbers using T9 characters. If you have a contact in your phone under “Eric”, you can enter 3 for E, 7 for R, 4 for I and 2 for C and the contact card for Eric will appear.
T9 dialing dates back to the days before touchscreens and allowed smartphone users to type using predictive text that linked numbers to letters. The iPhone does not currently support T9 dialing.
Information about the release of the phone app
Call recording and transcription are features of iOS 18 that will be available to everyone, but the functionality will not be added to iOS devices until iOS 18.1. Transcript summarization is an Apple Intelligence feature that will be limited to devices compatible with Apple Intelligence, including the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or iPhone 16, as well as iPads and M-series Macs.
Read more
For more information about new features Apple added in iOS 18, check out our iOS 18 roundup.
