Silence Unknown Calls + Calls on other devices = no silenced calls?

[HQuest]

I decided to begin making more usage of the Silence unknown calls from my iPhone and it is a blessing in disguise - the amount of random calls I get every day is out of control, regardless of my number being added into the US Do Not Call service (which honestly feels like they sent my number to every single entity out there to prove this is a valid number from a real customer...).

I also do have the Answer calls on other devices, which seamlessly makes my iPad or my macOS devices to ring when my phone is down. Which is very convenient.

... except when the calls are not silenced as expected! While my phone doesn't ring, or it briefly displays a "missed call" notification, the other iCloud signed devices will ring until I click to reject the call, which is very counter-intuitive! Why the primary device that receives the call (aka the phone) silences the call but decides to route a silenced call to another device?

Any option I can turn on (or off) on my other Apple devices to get rid of these? I could put my devices into DnD mode, but then I'll lose real notifications, so that's a bummer and not exactly the right approach.

 

[BrianBaughn]

It's a half-baked feature that people have been making the same complaint about for almost a year.

 

[noanker]

I would think that Apple would've implemented a fix for this by now. That they haven't reflects poorly on their overall QA. One would imagine that they not only listen to user feedback on their site but also comb forums such as this, to learn of user satisfaction and how to improve their product. The perception is that Apple implemented this feature but never bothered to mature the functionality or cross-check its efficacy when other devices are selected to receive calls.

This along with the fact that I cannot have a separate schedule for do not disturb (e.g. weekdays vs weekends) and that too, is a simple fix yet one feature that Android has had for a while.

But no, the fan boyz will bay and howl with abandon when Tuesday's event rolls around and more memoji and rainbow flags are released.

 

[C DM]

I would think that Apple would've implemented a fix for this by now. That they haven't reflects poorly on their overall QA. One would imagine that they not only listen to user feedback on their site but also comb forums such as this, to learn of user satisfaction and how to improve their product. The perception is that Apple implemented this feature but never bothered to mature the functionality or cross-check its efficacy when other devices are selected to receive calls.

This along with the fact that I cannot have a separate schedule for do not disturb (e.g. weekdays vs weekends) and that too, is a simple fix yet one feature that Android has had for a while.

But no, the fan boyz will bay and howl with abandon when Tuesday's event rolls around and more memoji and rainbow flags are released.

To be fair there's a difference between a feature not working or not working properly and a feature lacking some additional options.

 

[involuntarheely]

To be fair there's a difference between a feature not working or not working properly and a feature lacking some additional options.

well, an unknown caller is unknown regardless of which device receives the call. the contact list is shared.

 

[noanker]

To be fair there's a difference between a feature not working or not working properly and a feature lacking some additional options.

When the feature silences a call on one device, but not the another that it is synchronized with to receive calls, then it is not working properly, whilst the do not disturb is a one-dimensional feature that can be improved upon.

With regards to the silence unknown calls, had the feature been tested thoroughly prior to release, we wouldn't have this issue. Someone at Apple dropped the ball during QA for this feature.

As for the limited functionality of the do not disturb feature, they implemented it without further asking "how can we improve this?" and promptly forgot about it. Frankly, I expect more from Apple, given their innovative history.

 

[C DM]

When the feature silences a call on one device, but not the another that it is synchronized with to receive calls, then it is not working properly, whilst the do not disturb is a one-dimensional feature that can be improved upon.

With regards to the silence unknown calls, had the feature been tested thoroughly prior to release, we wouldn't have this issue. Someone at Apple dropped the ball during QA for this feature.

As for the limited functionality of the do not disturb feature, they implemented it without further asking "how can we improve this?" and promptly forgot about it. Frankly, I expect more from Apple, given their innovative history.

The assumptions there are that things were missed or not considered, which don't account for those things being known and just not acted upon. The difference to the consumer might ultimately not really matter, but since potential background stories are being discussed, there are certainly other possibilities.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I would appreciate it if Apple would allow the watch to be silent for unknown callers as well. Very annoying to have my watch ring when my phone remains silent as it should.

 

[C DM]

I would appreciate it if Apple would allow the watch to be silent for unknown callers as well. Very annoying to have my watch ring when my phone remains silent as it should.

There are definitely some odd inconsistencies with some of these type of features. The expanded filter for unknown senders in Messages in iOS 14 is a good thing to have, but while it filters such messages it seems you are still notified about them, which defeats one large part of what makes a feature like that actually useful.