If Apple redesigns the Phone App in iOS 26, I might just hang up lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff) | usagoldmines.com

If you’ve ever read Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson, you know the moral of the business parable is that change is inevitable and we should embrace it. If you’re unfamiliar with it, I suggest you pick up your iPhone and phone a friend for a quick chat. Doing so might remind you how little the Phone app on iOS has changed in almost two decades. It’s a comfort that, according to fresh rumors, might soon evaporate, leaving you crying out, “Who moved my cheese?!”

We’re just a few days away from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2025), and the internet is abuzz with rumors about numerous changes coming to virtually every major Apple platform.

iOS is naturally chief among them and, thus far, the prevailing rumors have dealt with the look, which may lean toward floating frosted glass objects (yes, like visionOS on the Vision Pro). None of these changes gives me real pause, but Mark Gurman’s (Bloomberg) latest prognostication is perhaps a bridge too far: a redesigned Phone app.

Gurman is scant on details, but he describes “a new view that combines favorites, contacts, recent calls, and voice mails” in a single view. He does not address the keypad, but I think it’s safe to assume that if Apple is touching the other four Phone app elements, it’s unlikely they’ll leave the Keypad alone.

While iPhone call and communication functionality has seen numerous changes over the years, like call hand-off across ecosystem devices, FaceTime, Name Drop for contact sharing, and, most recently, Satellite support, the Phone App itself has barely changed at all.

This is a good thing.

No dial tone

Each year, no matter the scale of change for any given version of iOS, the chief complaint I get is, “Why did they change it?”

Most people I’ve spoken to are not thrilled with recent design and organizational updates to the Photos app or Mail. Sometimes Apple’s efforts to streamline apps or make them easier to use result in hidden features or at least moved elements that no average consumer can find (at least those I know).

I’m not saying Apple will do away with the keypad, but a change in how the digits are presented, which has more to do with classic analog phones than any digital communication device, is possible. That would be the kind of change that would send iPhone users over the edge.

The rumored changes to the app, which appear to revolve around losing the distinct Contacts, Recents, Favorites, and Voicemail elements in favor of a long window of stacked elements, are unlikely to draw many cheers at WWDC and even less enthusiasm when it reaches consumers on new iPhone 17 handsets later this year.

There is some good news. Gurman claims the changes will be optional. I wonder, though, if they will be the default. If there’s one thing consumers hate more than change, it’s having to hunt around to figure out how to reverse it.

So, sure, Apple, spruce up iOS and maybe even give the Phone app a polish, but if you have big changes in store, just make sure they’re not the default. If not, don’t call me, maybe.

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