iPhone on iOS 26 has a new Hold Assist feature that can wait on hold for you on customer care calls or other phone calls. When the waiting is over and a live agent connects, your iPhone will alert you to pick up the call.
How Hold Assist works
- When you’re on a phone call, and your iPhone senses that you’re waiting on hold, it will ask if you’d like your phone to wait on hold for you. Alternatively, you can also activate Hold Assist manually.
- Then, you can step away from your iPhone or do other things on it, including listening to music or watching videos.
- When iPhone detects that a human is speaking (meaning your call is no longer on hold and a representative has joined), it will alert you to pick up the call. It will play the regular ringtone, as if you’re getting a new call.
- Additionally, what the person speaks will appear on the iPhone call screen or Dynamic Island. This way, you can read what’s said and then decide to pick up the call or continue having your iPhone wait on hold.
Supported devices
Hold Assist is available on iPhone 12, iPhone SE (3rd generation), and newer models running iOS 26.
Note that even though iPhone 11 supports iOS 26 and there is a Hold Assist Detection option in its Phone app settings, the feature actually doesn’t work on this device (screenshots below).
Secondly, Hold Assist is also available on Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac, running the latest version of watchOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26, respectively. We’ll use an iPhone for the steps below.
Supported languages
The Hold Assist feature in the Apple Phone app only works with these languages:
- English (Australia)
- English (Canada)
- English (India)
- English (Singapore)
- English (United Kingdom)
- English (United States)
- French (France)
- German (Germany)
- Japanese (Japan)
- Mandarin Chinese (mainland China)
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Spanish (Mexico)
- Spanish (Spain)
- Spanish (US)
Activate Hold Assist when on a phone call
Follow these steps to turn on Hold Assist and then receive a notification when you’re no longer on hold.
1) Make a call and wait for the other side to accept it or pick up an incoming call.
2) If you’re put on hold and the usual hold music plays, a suggestion should appear on your call screen or as a slide-down alert from the top Dynamic Island, asking if you’d like your iPhone to hold this call for you. Tap Hold here.
If you don’t get this alert, tap the three dots menu icon on the call screen and select Hold Assist.
3) Now, set your iPhone aside or do something else on it. Your iPhone will wait on the call for you, and you don’t have to listen to the (irritating) hold music. Important: To ensure you don’t miss the alert when a live agent joins your call, make sure your iPhone isn’t in silent, Do Not Disturb, or Focus mode.
4) When an actual customer care person connects, your iPhone will ask you to pick up the call. It will also play the usual ringtone, as if you’re getting a call.
- If you’re out of the full call screen, the Dynamic Island will pop out, showing a small part of what the person on the other side is saying. You can pick up the call by tapping the green button, or tap the Dynamic Island card to get to the full call interface and read everything that’s said
- If you’re already on the full call screen, you’ll see the person’s words transcribed on your big iPhone screen. You can read it and then pick up the call or continue holding.
Important: Tapping the X button on these screens will end the call.
Does it work for all calls, and how accurate is this
First off, Hold Assist automatic detection won’t always appear. To fix this, go to iOS 26 Settings > Apps > Phone and turn on Hold Assist Detection. Now your iPhone should alert you to activate Hold Assist when needed. But if you don’t get the ‘Hold This Call’ suggestion, you can activate it manually using the three dots menu button (already explained above).
Secondly, Hold Assist listens to hold music that most companies usually play when they keep you waiting. If a company plays a song with lyrics or something vocal, Hold Assist may not work as reliably. But even then, if it falsely asks you to pick up the call, you can read the transcription on the screen, and then decide to continue waiting or pick up.
Turn off Hold Assist
You can’t fully disable this new feature. But if you don’t find it useful, turn off Hold Assist Detection from iOS 26 Settings > Apps > Phone. After this, your iPhone won’t show an alert to use Hold Assist. And you can ignore its existence behind the three dots menu icon.
What do you think of Hold Assist? Will you be using it often?
Also, check out: 18 settings to change and new features to try in iOS 26