Let Your iPhone Wait on Hold for You

Apple added another important feature to the Phone app in iOS 26, which is called Hold Assist. Imagine that you call a company for help, and you get immediately placed on hold. Instead of sitting there and listening to elevator music and reminders about how “important your call is,” your iPhone will detect when you’re placed on hold and offer to monitor it for you. Once a human comes on the line, your iPhone will tell them that you’ll be back shortly, and alert you that they’re waiting.

Hold Assist should be turned on by default; however, you can manually enable it if needed. Here’s how:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and go to Apps.
3. Scroll down again and open Phone.
4. Scroll down just one more time, and turn on Hold Assist Detection.