iOS 26 and call screening: what's the real impact on B2B cold calling?

Since iOS 26's call screening came out in September 2025, many have announced the end of cold calling.

At Minari, we analyzed 467,082 outbound calls (made in November 2025) to measure the real impact of this feature on phone prospecting.

iOS 26: why call screening worries sales teams

As a reminder, iOS call screening is an Apple feature that lets iPhone users screen calls from unknown numbers, to cut down on spam and unsolicited calls.

Since B2B prospecting calls are unsolicited by default (but targeted), many sales teams feared it would hit pickup rates (15% on average) very hard, and that contacts would stop picking up altogether.

So many announced "the death of cold calling" and that it would be time to reinvent themselves.

Data analyzed: 467,082 outbound B2B calls

Since Minari was built for B2B phone prospecting, we analyzed the November 2025 numbers to understand the impact of this new feature.

The numbers:

• 467,082 outbound calls
• 13.80% average pickup rate
• 2.5% of calls were screened by the new iOS filter.

For a rep who makes 50 calls a day, that's 1 call.

To date, this new feature has no significant impact on pickup rates.

What iOS call screening really changes

iOS 26 call screening is off by default.

So the people affected are:

• iOS users only,
• who explicitly turned screening on,
• and who, in most cases, weren't very receptive to cold calling in the first place.

In other words: these aren't prospects "lost" because of iOS 26.
They're prospects who, statistically, already rarely or never picked up.

Impact of iOS 26 call screening on connect and conversation rates

Looking at the overall metrics:

• connect rate: no loss detected
• conversation volume: stable over the whole period
• call sequence performance: no impact from the new filter.

To date, there's no measurable correlation between iOS 26 and a drop in the pickup rate in B2B cold calling.

How Minari handles iOS call screening

Minari automatically detects screened numbers.

In practice:

• these numbers are excluded from parallel dialing
• they're called back 1-to-1, with a more traditional approach

Why?
Because the parallel dialer is built to maximize connection speed, not to keep pushing on profiles that are already unreceptive.

"Cold calling is dead": what the numbers really say

Yes, more and more people:

• screen their calls, but it's still marginal
• don't pick up unknown numbers,
• use call screening tools.

But that's exactly why you need to double down on:

• connection speed
• conversation volume
• execution

A good rep doesn't win because everyone picks up.
They win because they talk to the right people more often, faster.

The role of the parallel dialer in this context

A parallel dialer isn't there to "force" calls, it's there to:

• cut dead time,
• increase the number of real conversations,
• let sales teams focus on what creates value.

In short

• iOS 26 call screening exists, but few people turn it on
• Only 2.5% of calls are affected, out of more than 467,000 calls analyzed
• No measurable impact on overall connect rates
• The screened prospects were already unreceptive
• Parallel dialing remains a key lever for sales performance

At Minari, we look at the data, adapt the product, and keep helping sales teams have more useful conversations.

If the numbers change, we'll share them.

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