"Block Caller" option is missing in iOS 26.0.1 on my iPhone SE

Scrolling down two or three times without hitting the home button is working for me and is faster and less of a hassle since I would normally have to scroll down to begin with to get to the block option.

PhoenixHologram wrote:

OK yes this works, well done for working that out, I was really worried and this is amazing that you worked it out and took the time to list the steps, but your explanation assumes people know what terminology you are using and it is not clear that you are effectively asking people to exit from the phone app itself to the home screen, and then going back in again from scratch.... having trained people in IT use, I would say the following:

1.starting from your "home" screen, select the phone app in order to see your list of "recent" phone calls.

2.click the ( i ) on the right of the phone number you want to block to open it.

3Then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the screen where the "block caller" option used to be....

4.You find that it's not there - don't panic, but the next steps are crucial.

5.click your home button once firmly - this is the primary round phone button at the bottom of the screen - as if you are going to exit from the phone app itself.

6.This will bring you back to the "home" screen where you have all the apps laid out.

7.Now start again and click the Phone app as if you were going to open the phone app for the first time.

8.Now you should come back directly to the number you were last looking at and if you scroll down then all the functions that used to be there will have returned.

9.If they are not there don't panic - just repeat from step 4. You may have to go round this loop from step 4 to step 8 at least twice, before the iphone software presents the list.

10.Then you should see block caller option as before and you can block them.

I live in the UK - at least 1 call a day is a scam marketing call and so I have to do this every day, sometimes three times.

( I have IOS26.2 on an SE 2024, but it has no orange button for block if I swipe left, only the delete option.)

I am also in UK. As an experiment instead if blocking, I added each spam number to a contact I named Spamspam. It never ever showed up, indicating they never used the same number twice, ie no point in blocking them.

Being retired I know which calls to expect and double click the side button on unknowns out of my home town.

Ok. Here is my solution. I tried everything mentioned here and it didn’t work or it only worked intermittently. So I randomly tried this. I have an SE by the way. So I pressed the i by the number and most often got just the number and call history. So I pushed the home button and held it down. Sometimes I would get the screen populated and the unblock would show. Sometimes it would only be partial and I would long press the home button a second time and then the rest would show. So with the i button pressed try long pressing the home button once or twice and see what you get.

I've discovered that if I repeat the pressing of the Home button and re-open the Phone app a second time, the Block Caller is there!

Swiping left and the block is now there in the form of a hand in an orange circle? Wow! So much easier! The methods offered below worked on the first update but not after. Hope this helps more people frustrated like I was!

I have an older SE model and the suggestion about swiping left, going back to the home screen and trying that long list of 8 steps and the other methods that work on other phone models don’t work on mine. After I press the “i” next to the number I want to block, I just long press the home button until more fields show up. Usually I get the block option the first time. But, if I scroll down and the block option still isn’t there I long press a second time and then it is always there. I am glad this is only a single very easy step for my phone anyway.

After applying the latest iOS 26.4 update on my iPhone 16 PRO, I tried to block a call and again hit the same issue again.

Solution for me this time was to press the top right hand ground symbol in the Recents page. Here you can select the classic view and all options are available again when trying to block a phone number on this page.

The root cause for this is issue is the Unified view. Once this is selected, blocking a phone number in this page is a challenge as I have already indicated.

I have two iphones on ios 26.1, one has block caller, one does not.

The difference? Cell providers.

UK

LD150 wrote:

If I scroll on my SE3 with Lebara provider, yes you're right. It's there.

If I scroll on my SE3 with Spusu provider, there is nothing after the Call History and Add Name lines.

The annoying thing is I have no idea if the situation is new to 26, I really didn't take notice in 18.

That is so weird. It's very much not something I would have thought was controlled by the carrier.

I only have one phone on one carrier, so I can't check anything else.

da klein wrote:

I have a SE2 that I use with Verizon that HAD the "Block Caller" option located from the Recents page. This was prior to Apple's iOS update to 26 et al, I might add. If I follow LD150's suggestion of Dec. 4, 2025 post and click "Details" all I get is a gray screen all the way to the bottom of the screen. Here again I am able to do the long version by going to Settings; Apps; Phone; Call Blocking & ID block calls blah, blah, blah, but that's inconvenient as one should be able to Block directly from the individual "Call Info" page. I've made two feedback posts over as many months. Plus, since the iOS 26 update my battery life has decreased even though I have all the bells and whistles turned off.

And yet the option exists for me, with Verizon on my iPhone 17 Pro. Weird.

Have you talked to Verizon about this?

Sorry to hear that, da klein. You're updated to iOS 26.1 - correct?

(I was never on 26.0 - I updated my phone from the previous version of iOS, prior to 26x)

If you are on 26.1, maybe a complete full shutdown of your phone and a restart might help (??)

Wonder if it's a Carrier issue? I'm using Verizon.

I'm also noticing that if I was the one who made the call to a number that isn't in my Contacts, or if the number is in my Contacts and I now want to block it, the "Block" icon isn't visible in Phone app "Recents", using the swipe left option. Can only see the "Reminder" and "Trash" icons.

Also, if I want to unblock a number, I just saw that I have to do manually it thru an iOS Setting. Can't do it in the Phone app:

"Privacy & Security" > "Blocked Contacts", then manually delete the number.