How to Upgrade Your Smartphone's Features Without Spending a Dime

Calls from unknown numbers are automatically answered silently in the background. Your phone rings only after a caller shares a name or the call’s purpose, Apple says.

You can then view the response via the existing Live Voicemail feature to determine whether to pick up the call or ignore it. The feature sounds similar to a Call Screen feature that’s been on Google’s Pixel for several years now.

In the Messages app, texts and other messages from unknown senders will be screened and sent to a dedicated area where you can mark the number as known or, if from a spam sender, delete it. Messages from unknown senders will be silenced, and you won’t receive notifications.

But Apple has important exceptions: You’ll still receive time-sensitive notifications, such as multifactor authentication codes or messages like “your table is ready.”

Waiting on hold for you. Apple will add another potentially useful feature for those frustrating times when you’re endlessly on hold trying to connect to a live customer service representative. When hold music is detected, a Hold Assist feature in the Phone app can assume your spot in line.

If you tap Hold, the music stops but the call stays connected, and you can use the device for other purposes or even put it aside. The phone will ring once a live agent comes on the line.

You have a moment to get back on the call. The agent will be informed that you’ll be there shortly.

Group chat polls. If you’re trying to decide something in a group chat inside Messages — where to eat, where to go on vacation, for example — Apple’s Apple Intelligence AI technology may suggest an on-the-spot poll.

You can watch a tally of votes in real time, which is potentially easier than having everyone navigate a flurry of text responses. You can create your own polls on the fly.

Apple is also adding the ability settle a dinner bill or concert tickets inside the group chat via Apple Cash. Typing indicators are also being added to group chats so you’ll know which friend is about to chime in.

Live translation. Another Apple Intelligence feature, Live Translation, can help you communicate with people who don’t speak your language on the fly. The feature is integrated into the Phone app, FaceTime and Messages.

In Messages, each person’s texts will be instantly translated into the other person’s native language. The same is true in FaceTime, where you can see translated live captions even while still hearing the person speak a foreign language.

During phone calls, translations are spoken out loud a moment after you hear the person speaking. Apple says the feature works even if you call someone without an iPhone.

Some of Apple’s translation features are already available on rival devices from Google and Samsung.

Learning preferred routes. If you’re using the Apple Maps app, the iPhone can learn your regular routes to work or home, including preferred stops along the way, and serve up information about your commute before you leave. You’ll receive notifications of major delays, with alternate route options even if you didn’t ask for directions.

With your permission, iPhone can also store places you’ve visited previously in a Maps library. Apple says your privacy is protected via end-to-end encryption.

Visual Intelligence. Apple says it is improving the Visual Intelligence feature, which helps you learn about objects and places the iPhone’s camera sees, similar to Google’s Lens feature. If you take a screenshot on the iPhone of, say, clothing you’d like to buy or learn more about, you can tap an image search button to find similar images on Google or other apps you frequently use.

You’ll also be able to ask ChatGPT questions about what you’re seeing on-screen. One example Apple highlighted: Asking about the rock songs in which a pictured musical instrument is played, without the need to jump between apps.

If the image is a poster promoting a concert, Visual Intelligence can extract the date, time and location of the event and add it to your Calendar app.

One thing Apple hasn't delivered on yet is a more personalized AI-fueled Siri announced a year earlier. Apple conceded more time is needed with a likely release pushed to 2026.

What’s new in Android 16

Expressive design. Android is getting a facelift. Through what it calls Material You Expressive, Google aims to make Android devices more personal and easier to navigate with some subtle interactions.

You may experience what Google describes as “springy” animations, as well as a soft vibration when you snap away a notification. If you dismiss an app on-screen, others huddle a bit closer with a cascading droplet effect when you let go.

New color themes add to the aesthetic. And the home screen grid has been refined with a blurred background to provide a sense of depth

Live notifications. You’ll be able to track a food delivery, or glance at the progress of a Lyft, Uber or other ride-hailing service you’re waiting on, through Live Updates. Such time-sensitive, streamlined notifications are similar to Live Activities on iPhone and will be found on the phone’s lock screen and home pages.

Better clarity in hearing aids. With compatible Bluetooth LE Audio hearing aids, which employ less power than other types, you’ll be able to take advantage of the microphone on an Android phone for clearer calls in noisy environments, Google says. You’ll also be able to use the phone to change the volume on a hearing aid.

Improved security. In March, Google launched an AI scam detection feature to detect “suspicious patterns” during conversations in calls and texts you may have with suspected scammers. You may receive a real-time warning during that conversation before you fall for a potentially costly scam.

The feature is included in Android 16 under Advanced Protection as part of a suite of tools to help prevent harmful apps, insecure network connections, leaky data, online attacks and other security problems.

For example, a theft detection lock feature can automatically lock a phone that may have been stolen. Another feature permits downloads only from preloaded app stores. And you’ll receive warnings in Google Messages about links sent from unknown users.