Can AI Wait on Hold for Me? Yes, Here Are Your Options (2026)

• iPhone Hold Assist and Pixel Hold for Me. Built into the phone. They wait on hold during calls you make yourself and alert you when someone comes back; then you take the call.
• Gemini Call for Me. An early test on Pixel 11 phones in the US that needs a paid Google AI subscription. It calls a business from your own number, gets through phone menus and waits on hold. US numbers only, English only, rolling out gradually.
• Calling services. ClawCall, Selectic, Pally, Callio and Pine say they wait on hold, and Duckbill's human operators do it for you.
• UIRIX personal agent. Calls from its own number when you ask in Claude or ChatGPT, gets through the phone menu, waits on hold up to your limit, does the task with the person who picks up and reports back. Numbers from 27 countries, 17 languages.

If you are happy to dial and talk once someone answers, the built-in phone features are the simplest choice. If you want the call made for you, you need a calling assistant. Every option is compared in AI that makes phone calls, compared.

When a line answers with a menu, your assistant:

1. Listens to the whole menu before it presses anything.
2. Presses only the option that leads to the goal of your task, such as appointments, the pharmacy or order status.
3. Keys in digits only when your task gave them, such as a member number or an order number. It does not guess.

If the same menu comes back, it tries again more slowly. The second time, it tries the operator option. If it still cannot get through, it ends the call and reports back what happened. Never put passwords, PINs or verification codes in a task: a menu that asks for a spoken password or a verification it was not given ends the call.

In the queue, your assistant waits for up to 3 minutes by default. You can ask for anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes: add "you can wait on hold up to 10 minutes" to your request.

• Billed like talk time. Time on hold is billed like talk time, by the AI voice usage it takes.
• When a person picks up, it starts right away with the first sentence of your task.
• When the queue runs longer than your limit, the call ends and you get the report. The call is not dialed again automatically.

More detail, with a comparison table, on the page AI that waits on hold and gets through phone menus.

Type requests like these in Claude or ChatGPT:

• "Call the pharmacy and ask if my refill is ready. It's under Dan Cohen. You can wait on hold up to 10 minutes."
• "Call my dentist's main number and book a cleaning next week, any morning."
• "Call the furniture store's customer service and ask for the new delivery date of order 58213."
• "Call my insurance and ask if physical therapy is covered on my plan. My member number is 8812 4471. Wait up to 10 minutes."
• "Call the dealership's service line and ask if my car is ready. It's under Cohen."

Give the number, the goal, the digits a menu may ask for, and a hold limit if 3 minutes is too short. More ideas: what to ask your AI phone assistant.

Every call you ask for in Claude or ChatGPT starts from a task card. Before it dials, your assistant checks it. If something essential is missing, such as who to ask for or what to ask, it asks you first, and nothing is dialed or billed.

Then your chat app is instructed to repeat the number, the task and the timing and to get your yes, and the UIRIX connector refuses a call that is not marked as approved. When it calls a business for you, it says it is your AI assistant calling on your behalf, and it is instructed to say it is an AI whenever someone asks. If voicemail answers, it leaves a short message only when your task allows it; otherwise it hangs up. Either way it reports back.

1. Create a Personal AI Agent. Sign up at UIRIX. In the dashboard choose Create agent, then Personal AI Agent. It needs no website and is ready in seconds.
2. Give it a phone number. On the agent page choose Get Number. The Personal plan includes a number in the country you choose, and a saved payment card is required. In the US, Canada, Israel and Puerto Rico the number is ready at once; in 23 more countries, such as the UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Brazil and Mexico, the telephony provider first reviews your details and documents, usually in 1 to 3 business days.
3. Add UIRIX to Claude or ChatGPT. In Claude, open Customize, then Connectors, choose Add custom connector and paste https://dashboard.uirix.com/api/ext/v1/mcp. In ChatGPT on the web, open chatgpt.com/plugins, select the + button, then Add custom MCP server, and paste the same URL.
4. Sign in and switch on Outbound calls. On the UIRIX permission screen, switch on Outbound calls: it is off by default, and without it your assistant cannot place calls.
5. Ask. Type "uirix", choose your personal agent and say what you need.

Step-by-step guides for each app: Can Claude make phone calls? and Can ChatGPT make phone calls? Building on the UIRIX Public API instead? There, menu handling is an opt-in on each call, and campaigns do not use it.

As of October 2026:

• Queues longer than your limit. It waits up to 10 minutes at most; a longer queue ends the call with a report.
• Passwords and verification. A menu that asks for a spoken password or a verification it was not given ends the call.
• Spoken menus. It gets through menus by pressing keys. Do not count on it with a menu that only takes spoken answers.
• Lines that never reach a person. If the menu or the queue never leads to a person, the call ends with a report.
• No hand-off to you. When a person picks up, your assistant handles the call itself. It puts through only a person you named, after that person agrees.
• No questions mid-call. It cannot stop the call to ask you, so put your limits in the task.
• Not for emergencies. Call emergency services yourself.

Each call is billed by the AI voice usage it takes, plus a short summary, and time on hold is billed like talk time. Start with a free trial: $10 of credit for 30 days, with no credit card. From the trial account you can choose the Personal plan: $9.99 a month in the US, Canada, the UK and most of Europe, and the price includes a phone number in the country you choose (Israel $20.49). It includes about 60 short calls a month, about 100 in the first month, because your first purchase adds a $10 gift to your wallet. Calls beyond the included amount are paid from your prepaid wallet. See pricing for the price in your country.