Simplify Copying Recently Called Numbers in Samsung's Phone App

[adrianyepremyan]

Dear Samsung Team,

I’d like to bring up a long-standing usability concern with the Phone app on Samsung devices, particularly around copying recently called numbers. This topic has been raised multiple times in forums, and I’ll include links to some of those discussions below.

Currently, the process to copy a number from the Recents tab involves multiple non-intuitive steps:

1. Tap on the number.
2. Tap the hamburger menu in the top right corner.
3. Long-press the phone number displayed at the top left (beside the Back button).
4. Select Copy.

I didn’t discover these steps by myself—I had to search online for guidance. This alone felt unnecessary, and based on community feedback, I’m not alone in finding this process frustrating.

The phone number’s location next to the Back button makes it appear more like a header than an actionable element. To better understand the issue, I tested this with 13 colleagues and friends (a mix of iOS and non-Samsung Android users). None of them managed to copy a recent number within a minute or more. Nearly all were surprised when I explained the steps, with responses like, “Wait, you’re supposed to long-press that header?”

In contrast, Google’s Phone app allows users to long-press directly on a number to access options like Copy. While I understand Samsung uses this action for multi-select functionality, an alternative could be implemented.

Suggestion:
When viewing a number in detail (after tapping it), long-pressing the number could bring up a simple Copy button instead of triggering the same multi-select action used in the list view. This would reduce the process to three steps instead of four. It’s not perfect, but it aligns better with existing functionality and improves the user experience.

As a loyal Samsung user who prefers your Phone app for its unique features, I’m sharing this feedback on behalf of many users who face the same frustration. Reducing the steps needed for such a frequent task would greatly enhance the app's usability.

I’m currently using:

• Device: Galaxy S24 Ultra (US version)
• One UI: 6.1
• Android: 14
• Phone App Version: 15.3.54

Thank you for considering this request. I appreciate the hard work of your R&D and UX teams, and I hope this feedback helps in further refining an already great product!

Here are some related posts for reference:

• Copy a no. in the Phone app
• Impossible to copy a number in Phone app
• Add option to copy number in Phone app
• Copy-paste recent numbers
• Feature request: Copy number in Recents

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

[realaud]

I don't understand why you would need to copy a number from the call list.  If you want to call it again, just tap it and hit the call button.  If you want to add it to your contacts, just hit the add to contacts option.  If you want to copy it to add it to a text or note, just tap on the info bubble and then tap the number on the info screen.

[adrianyepremyan]

"If you want to copy it to add it to a text or note, just tap on the info bubble and then tap the number on the info screen."

@realaud Exactly. THAT's the problem. This process is unnecessarily convoluted. Did you even read my post? Let me break it down for you:

1. The current method is NOT intuitive, as you said yourself: "just tap this, then tap that." It’s more steps than necessary for such a basic function.

2. It takes FOUR steps just to copy a number from the recents tab. Do you really think that’s okay? Because I, and plenty of others, do not. That’s the whole reason I even created this post - to propose something better, simpler, and faster, and ideally to GET something better, simpler and faster.

Your reply feels dismissive and misses the entire point of this discussion. In my post I already described the steps you just wrote, so no need to write it again and use word `JUST` like that's elementary and how it's supposed to be.

Please, take a moment to actually understand the problem before replying.

[realaud]

I don't find a need to copy numbers, but it was very intuitive for me to figure it out. It really isnt a hassle to take a couple of extra steps for an occasional need. Yes, I did read your post.

[adrianyepremyan]

For me it's exactly the scenario you described - copy the number either to send it to someone else via message or some messenger app, or to copy it to later paste in the Keypad tab to edit it before making a call.

I just keep seeing people having this same frustration as me, maybe if you use the functionality more and use some other App (like Google's) for some time, you'll see what I mean.

[realaud]

In my entire considerable adult lifespan, I have never seen any complaint, other than yours, of people clamoring for an easy way to copy and paste a number from the call list. If there are previous posts on the subject, you should not have added yet another post, but gone to one of the posts and "liked" it.  The number of likes determines if there's enough interest in the feature.

If your aim is to get the number to the dial pad to edit (for some reason) before dialing, all you have to do is tap the number, tap the call icon and the number appears on the call screen.  The number, once in the number field, is easily editable. No call is made until you actually hit the call icon *on the dial pad*, just like if you entered the number manually.  If you want to send a text to that number, instead of tapping the call icon, you would tap the text icon, which will open your messaging app and start a chat, no need to copy and paste.  For you, it would probably be easier to just type out the number on your note, if you need to copy it, then go through the extraordinary hassle of taking 4 steps to copy (5 to paste).

[Oxford]

Do you copy phone numbers and paste them in other places hundreds of times a day? I believe I have only copied and pasted a phone number to another app or program one time in the last 20 years. I think you need to do a little more research before you pick which mountain to try to climb.

[adrianyepremyan]

@Oxford usages of functionalities can differ you know, and you're saying now that the ONLY case when some functionality should be considered for improvement is if you use it 100s of times a day? Or maybe if there's a good app that already does pretty much everything quite well - it can start working on improving small stuff like this?

Maybe you should think a bit more before replying? Don't think about yourself only, it's not me only after all that Googled this stuff...

What I'm trying to do is to signal the right people in Samsung that there are a number of people awaiting some kind of improvement in this area, especially when I'm not trying to request something mind-blowing, but an improvement to something pretty basic. After all one of the community guys that answered to one of the posts I attached in mine said that themselves - that the improvement will be considered only once Samsung notices more people wanting an improvement in that area. So this should serve as another signal.