For most people, traditional phone calls make up only a small percentage of their typical communication.
Many people, including myself, rely on third-party services such as WhatsApp far more than the stock ‘Phone’ app. But splitting calls between multiple apps leads to a fragmented and often frustrating experience.
Fortunately, with Samsung’s upcoming One UI 9, that could soon be a thing of the past.
Call consolidation, finally!
A public beta of One UI 9, Samsung’s Android 17-based skin, is available to Galaxy S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra owners now.
And, as SamMobile has spotted, it includes a very useful update to the dialler. For the first time, you’ll be able to view call history from third-party apps, directly within the stock Phone app.
The feature appears to be compatible with both WhatsApp and Google Meet, with full details displayed like any other call. As someone who often relies on WhatsApp for calling, this is music to my ears.
Asif Iqbal Shaik / SamMobile (edited)
What’s more, SamMobile’s screenshot (see above) shows a very prominent Google Meet icon below the call information. Does this mean you’ll be able to start a Meet or WhatsApp call with a single tap? If so, it’d be a game-changer.
The feature will supposedly be enabled by default, but you can tap the three-dot button in the top-right corner and head to Settings > Other call settings > Other calling apps to customise or disable this.
Key apps are still missing
If you’ve read this far, you probably already know what the feature’s key limitation will be. While WhatsApp and Google Meet have a huge combined user base, plenty of other popular video calling platforms are excluded.
That includes Meta’s own Messenger (formerly Facebook Messenger), plus rivals such as Telegram and Signal. Discord, Zoom and Microsoft Teams are regularly used on phones, too.
John Brandon / Foundry
For me, Messenger is the big miss so far, and means the Phone app will still provide an incomplete picture of my call history. Hopefully, this is just the beginning, and more of these platforms get on board soon.
While the One UI 9 beta is exclusive to Galaxy S26 phones for now, it’s likely to be available on other Samsung Galaxy handsets soon. The full version is expected to debut on Samsung’s next-gen foldables in July – namely, the Galaxy Z Flip 8 series, Z Fold 8 and brand-new Z Fold Wide.
