Hate the New Phone App on iOS 26 for iPhone? Get the Old Phone Layout Back Again
While the most significant visual change in iOS 26 is the Liquid Glass interface, you’ll also find some pretty notable design overhauls of commonly used iPhone apps. The Phone app is one such example, with the new Phone app design in iOS 26 being wildly different from the prior versions, featuring a new cluttered design that tries to stuff everything relating to the Phone app into a single page that requires scrolling just to look at your call log, the voicemail section has been relegated to a submenu that many users don’t see, and missed calls are also stuffed somewhere many iPhone users are having trouble finding, and tapping on a caller or name now opens the contact card instead of just calling the person directly like it used to.
If you’re unhappy with the new Phone app design in iOS 26, you can restore the old classic Phone layout onto iPhone with iOS 26 again. With the classic layout returned, you will no longer have the cluttered unified Phone interface, and you’ll instead have easy access to your familiar tabs for Favorites, Recents, Contacts, Keypad, and Voicemail again.
How to Restore Old Phone App Layout on iPhone with iOS 26
If you prefer the classic Phone app design with easily accessed tabs for favorites, recents, contacts, keypad, and voicemail, and the super easy to use interface that had existed on Phone app since the first iPhone, here’s how you can restore that look:
- Open the Phone app on iPhone
- Look in the top right corner for the three lines atop each other, and tap on that
- Tap on “Classic” to return to the familiar Phone app layout design on iPhone
The change is immediate and you’ll instantly see your familiar Phone app interface again.
Many iPhone users prefer the Classic layout and original Phone app design, because it made it so easy to see calls, contacts, voicemails, and other obvious information.
The new Unified layout has led a fair number of iPhone users to think the Phone app is broken in various ways, or their voicemail is no longer accessible, or that voicemail is missing or gone in iOS 26, or they can’t find how to access or use voicemail, amongst many other complaints about the new look.
You can switch the Phone app back to the new Unified design at any time if you want to, just by returning to the triple line menu in Phone app and choosing “Unified”.
What do you think of the new Phone app design for iPhone with iOS 26? Do you like it or dislike it? Do you prefer the old classic layout? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
