is a reviewer with 10 years of experience writing about consumer tech. She has a special interest in mobile photography and telecom. Previously, she worked at DPReview.
Apple announcing Android features years after Google shipped them is a tale as old as time, but that doesn’t make it any less fun to point out whenever it happens. This year’s WWDC felt especially Android-y — not helped by Siri essentially sitting this year’s announcements out while Apple put its new Liquid Glass design language front and center.
The imitation goes both ways: Android is launching its version of iOS’ Live Activities and is following Apple’s lead by adding more customization options to quick settings tiles. Still, I couldn’t help noticing a string of new features from Apple’s the keynote that I’ve definitely seen somewhere before. Not that Apple would ever admit to borrowing them.
Call Screening and Hold Assist
Screen Call dates back to Android 12, and Pixel phones have offered a version of the feature even longer. Earlier versions required you to manually invoke the feature, but on the Pixel 7 and newer you can have it automatically answer and screen incoming calls likely to be spam. Apple’s version launching with iOS 26 picks up automatically.
Screen Call is something I certainly miss when I move from Android to iOS, so as long as it works reasonably well, I think it’s going to be a welcome feature on the iPhone.
Screen Call is such a godsend. Image: Barbara Krasnoff / The Verge
Hold assist is another familiar phone feature. Google’s version debuted in 2020 on Pixel phones and then started trickling out to the rest of the ecosystem last year. The feature works much the same way as it will on iOS 26: instead of having to stay on the line and listen to hold music, you can put your phone down and you’ll get an alert when a human is ready to talk to you.
It’s super handy! I find myself being pushed to work my problems out with web-based customer service chatbots more than on the phone lately, but in the rare times when I need to hold it’s usually for an unreasonable amount of time. I’ll take it.
Translations! At the phone app
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