But what happened if you get a legitimate call from your area (assuming these are your local area codes)?
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iPhone The iOS 12 Call Blocker Thread
- Thread starter willmtaylor
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I’m in a different code and have no contacts from those two so that’s not an issue for me. You can fine tune the blocks depending on where you put a wildcard, or if you use one at all, but i went with the nuclear option for these two because there’s no reason for me to get calls from either code.
It's a horrendous problem in the US. Multiple calls every day.
I was a subscriber but I cancelled. I had called my bank because of a credit card issue and they need to call me back for identification purposes. I didn't understand why I wasn't getting a call until I realized that Robokiller might be intercepting them. Even worse, each time the bank tried to call me they would get a different answerbot. I had to call them and explain everything.
Sorry to hear about that. I wish a real and total solution was available. I'm getting about 90 robo calls a month now. So I'm going to live with the downsides of using the app.
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I do the same. No apps, I just block the numbers as they popup. It's a hard way to get started, but now that I've been doing it a few years, it's fairly easy to stay on top of things. My rule is you get two calls (or maybe one call depending on my mood). If those calls have no caller ID, they don't leave voicemail or a reverse lookup on the number calls it spam, they get blocked.
You have to wonder how low these Robo/scammer callers can go? I got a call one two months ago from a live caller. She claimed to be a nurse, in a nursing home, and my mother had fallen. The nurse was in a total panic.
My mother passed away years ago. I hope the people behind these awful "sales" calls and scams choke on their latte!
My mother passed away years ago. I hope the people behind these awful "sales" calls and scams choke on their latte!
Apple could do users a service by simply implementing a whitelist, or alternate call handling feature in iOS.
iOS can already accept calls only from a user's contacts, except that it's restricted to Do Not Disturb mode. Free it from that constraint, make the behavior available all the time and it could solve a lot of problems for many, if not most users.
Complement that with the option on how to handle call not in contacts, or without caller ID -- a specific ringtone, highlighted notification, or automatic rejection. Hell, even old POTS landlines have had the last feature for years.
It would be simple to configure (without having to dive into specific ringtone assignments), allow DND to be used as intended, and avoid false positive missed incoming notification from always-on DND. Those who need to regularly accept calls from unknown numbers can simply not enable the options.
No apps, contact exposure to third parties, or other subscriptions needed for those who only want basic protection.
Given the state of things, a whitelist, rather than blacklist, approach seems warranted.
iOS can already accept calls only from a user's contacts, except that it's restricted to Do Not Disturb mode. Free it from that constraint, make the behavior available all the time and it could solve a lot of problems for many, if not most users.
Complement that with the option on how to handle call not in contacts, or without caller ID -- a specific ringtone, highlighted notification, or automatic rejection. Hell, even old POTS landlines have had the last feature for years.
It would be simple to configure (without having to dive into specific ringtone assignments), allow DND to be used as intended, and avoid false positive missed incoming notification from always-on DND. Those who need to regularly accept calls from unknown numbers can simply not enable the options.
No apps, contact exposure to third parties, or other subscriptions needed for those who only want basic protection.
Given the state of things, a whitelist, rather than blacklist, approach seems warranted.
Well I've got 'Do not Disturb' on permanently. I have it on timer so it's just off one minute a day in fact and that way I don't have to keep switching it on.
Then I have it set to just allow calls from contacts.
I rarely have calls from anyone that isn't in contacts however, but if it's a genuine caller, they nearly always leave a message so it hasn't caused me any problems.
Then I have it set to just allow calls from contacts.
I rarely have calls from anyone that isn't in contacts however, but if it's a genuine caller, they nearly always leave a message so it hasn't caused me any problems.
I used to think that except: I went from Vonage to Verizon with a phone number that was spammed multiple times a day. On Vonage, I had to put it on nomorobo but I still got spammed daily and know this because it still would ring one time. We then joined the 21st century and got smart phones. The Vonage number went to my husband who now gets about 1 spam call a week. And that annoys me. About once a month I go through his call list and voice mail and block and delete. He has trained himself to look at the caller and answer it ONLY if it is in his contact list. It really cut down on spam calls. We transferred the number almost 2 years ago and before that I was on Vonage with that number for about 12 or more years.
I personally have default callers on a silent ring with no haptic and everyone on my contact list with a custom ring and haptic. I get virtually no spam calls - ever. I got this new number almost 2 years ago with Verizon. I got about 1 spam call every other day. I think when you don't answer and put them on a block list it sort of works.
I tried that. But the issue was that DND also blocks other notifications, including texts and such, which were unwittingly missed.
I don't have any issues with text spam, but Messages in iOS already has the option to "Filter unknown senders," which silences text notifications from senders not in Contacts and sorts them to a separate list.
Why not offer that feature for the Phone app and calls as well? It's so stupidly obvious.
I just looked it up and it doesn’t allow you to block a caller that is anonymous. I think my Vonnage VOIP had this setting. A friend just got 20 anonymous calls in a row. How is that allowed?
