Phone for iPhone

Apple’s integrated phone-calling app

Phone is a free built-in app to make and receive calls with the Camera, Messages, and the like. It enables users to contact their loved ones and answer incoming calls from anyone. It comes packaged with voicemail, external audio support, call forwarding, dial assist, five-person conference calling, and many more neat features. 

This Phone app is also integrated with Siri, allowing Apple’s digital assistant to perform vicarious actions in your stead, such as voicemail checking and call answering. However, the app’s 5G capabilities are limited to the newer iterations of mobile devices, starting with the iPhone 12.

Callback reminder and voicemail features

This Phone app’s Contacts include your family and friends’ phone numbers, email addresses, and birthdays. With the ability to assign a ringtone and vibration to a contact, you can easily identify your caller without having to check your device. If you’re not available for a call at the moment, you can write a custom response or use the app’s pre-made text responses. 

Additionally, this application includes a Remind Me Later functionality that you can utilize in case you overlook returning a missed call. True to its name, it reminds you to call back a recipient, so you’re less likely to miss urgent calls. Although Live Voicemail and Visual Voicemail are only supported in a number of mobile carriers and territories, it’s worth noting that these features help up your communication game. 

Live Voicemail transcribes voicemails in real time, whereas Visual Voicemail provides a list of all your received voicemails that can be transcribed into text and shared via Airdrop or Mail. Although the app supports Wi-Fi calling, this functionality does not work as intended despite disabling airplane mode or connecting to a stable network. It’s also prone to robocalls, and unfortunately, the Silence Unknown Callers can only do so much.

Level up your calling experience

Overall, the Phone app blends traditional phone calling with more advanced communication capabilities, such as live voicemail transcription and a callback reminder. Though fun, the ringtone and vibration customization offer practical usage as it help you identify the caller from the sound and vibration alone. However, the buggy Wi-Fi calling and the prevalence of robocalls are some of the users' complaints about this app.