This is a minor annoyance, but I don’t think “Phone” should be categorized as an app under the “Apps” section in the settings. After all, it’s a phone. 
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You know better than to assert that what we are holding is—at its objective core—a phone, any longer. Answering and receiving calls is now just a function among many contained in these oblong oblique obelisks.
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Well, I for one still believe that actual human-to-human contact is of great worth and often far more effective and efficient than constant texting. It is, after all, called an iPhone. 
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I second that. But I’m at a loss internally, to grasp the fact that what I use my “phone” for most often is so unlike what I grew up using a phone for, if only for a while.
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It might take me weeks to notice if the phone “app” got deleted on my iPhone.
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I want to reach Phone from both Apps and Cellular. Apps > Phone has a breadcrumb back out to Cellular. But, Phone isn’t a button from Cellular, at least on mine.
I agree with you - in fact, just this morning I was thinking the same thing when I had to change a “Phone” setting. And there is no way that I can find to add it to Control Center.
This is a reply to the original post, by the way.
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I’d prefer a phone call too, from some people. But I only made or received 30 “phone” calls in 2024. (Not counting voice mail from the businesses that only have my Google Voice number)
Like it or not, most people text. Which accounts for the 18,986 messages I have in iMessage.
A lot of my “phone calls” have now migrated to FaceTime. So I think it makes sense for Phone and FaceTime to both be listed under Apps. I still make regular phone calls if I’m driving or walking down the street where I don’t want to be distracted by a video call.
For those of us in the EU, the default Phone app may soon be just an app, easily replaceable and removable.
I think we’re way past the time to stop calling the iPhone a phone.
It’s a handheld computer. Yes, it can make phone calls, but it can also do thousands of other things. If the name reflected the thing you use it for the most, mine may well be a Podcast and Music player (i.e. an iPod)
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The same should be true then for Music, Mail, Safari, and Maps…
After all:
January 9, 2007—Apple® today introduced iPhone, combining three products—a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod® with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps—into one small and lightweight handheld device.
If I had the ability to replace iMessage with another app wouldn’t have been out of touch when it refused to switch to SMS in rural southern Mexico.
Maybe this could help?
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It definitely looks like it might. Thanks.
I’m of the mind that a good one-to-one phone call has gone the way of one-on-one time with a good book.
It takes a special kind of person who can still set single-purpose time aside and devote their attention to one thing. I realized this after being confined to a corner of my home where the call reception draws best and I was reminded of a time where a phone call used to typically take place in the same 1-3 spots throughout a house and it’s all I was doing.
And in a way I think I’m catching the vertigo from being able to do anything from anywhere with anyone even in the most minute portion of the “experience”.
For Audio, yes. But that’s because video is so much better for reading visual cues.
As I advance in years, my hearing deteriorates and I have to use what I can see. I have regular calls with many colleagues. I couldn’t do that on audio calls any longer.
It can be the same for friends and family when I can’t see them face to face, Video is just friendlier.
WiFi and VOIP makes it so much easier to have good quality calls (both video and audio) and it’s a lot cheaper these days too.
This is an interesting take to consider.
The reception that video communication gets among my more mature colleagues and family members ranges from outright rejection to skepticism/apprehension (particularly among the elder womenfolk of my kin), so I’ve never thought of the accessibility advantages that others may find.
The “friendliness” factor is interesting to think about too. I reckon I may experience that more by ear.
A jarring experience I had over the phone was while speaking to someone who still has a landline. Their end of the call had a sort of “ambient” sound to it…sure the reception wasn’t what I was used to, but they felt more “present” somehow and silence was perceived less like a void of sound than just the space between words in a room and breathing time someone was sharing.
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