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Paco II

macrumors 68020
Sep 13, 2009
2,288
706
I think it would be good to have some visual indication of this. Right now I see nothing in the app to validate that numbers are being pushed to iCloud.

Yeah, actually it's always enabled (every time you add/edit/delete some prefix, the app is trying to save new list to iCloud, if it's available).
 

valerii

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 21, 2017
81
33
Kharkiv, Ukraine
Next version is issued (4.9):
- added ability to share prefix list via AirDrop
- added News screen (instead of popup view on main screen), hope it will be less annoying :)
 

csutak40

macrumors newbie
Jan 24, 2020
1
0
I have been using the app for quite a while, been very happy with it, just discovered this thread :)
I have two questions.
Recently upgraded my iPhone and it now has a setting to "silence unknown callers" which works brilliantly. I have a long list of blocked numbers in the app, but had no need to add any more since I discovered this. So, I am wondering, is there any purpose to keep using the app?
My next question is about the SMS-s. I hadn't noticed this before, went to set it up, and got this warning from Apple. That sounds pretty scary!
Apart from the obvious reason I wouldn't want this to happen (does it?) it made me realise that it may not be a great idea to set this up (also discovered that Apple has a similar setting too) because that would include verification codes I get as well. Shame really, I regularly get spam text messages as well (usually asking me to follow a link)
 

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valerii

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 21, 2017
81
33
Kharkiv, Ukraine
I have been using the app for quite a while, been very happy with it, just discovered this thread :)
I have two questions.
Recently upgraded my iPhone and it now has a setting to "silence unknown callers" which works brilliantly. I have a long list of blocked numbers in the app, but had no need to add any more since I discovered this. So, I am wondering, is there any purpose to keep using the app?
My next question is about the SMS-s. I hadn't noticed this before, went to set it up, and got this warning from Apple. That sounds pretty scary!
Apart from the obvious reason I wouldn't want this to happen (does it?) it made me realise that it may not be a great idea to set this up (also discovered that Apple has a similar setting too) because that would include verification codes I get as well. Shame really, I regularly get spam text messages as well (usually asking me to follow a link)

Hi, thank you very much for the message :)

First thing - "silence unknown callers" means blocking callers with hidden number (usually they are displayed as "Unknown number" or "Unknown caller"), but it does not mean callers not from your contacts. So, you should still use WideProtect to block spammers using prefix.
SMSs - iOS provides two ways to mark SMSs as "spam":
1) app can ask own web-service (and send there sender number and sms text) to recognize that it's a spam
2) app can decide locally if this sms is spam
WideProtect uses only second case, it mark SMS as spam based on sender number (check it by prefixes in the app) and text (check it by keywords in the app).
 

Frank Caston

macrumors newbie
Mar 6, 2020
2
0
I am trying to enable all the extensions, some turned on, others are sitting with an hourglass for the last half hour, not turning on.
 

NoBoMac

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 1, 2014
6,302
5,022
Had same issue of spinning extensions right before iOS 13 rolled out and gave up on it with iOS 13: switched to "Silence Unknown Callers" option and have not looked back.
 
Last edited:

High Above Texas

macrumors newbie
Jan 7, 2016
6
2
Hi everyone!

I've been developing Call Blocking application for iPhone, and I'd like to know any thoughts about it:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wideprotect-call-blocker/id1171024059

The main idea is blocking phone numbers using prefixes, so you can block entire area code, for example, or block prefix of your own number to prevent spammers spoofing your number.
The app is using CallKit features, and there is an iOS constraint about count of numbers to block, so now maximum is 20 millions numbers.

I hope that the app will be usefull for you!

Your app works great for me in blocking specific area codes from which I was getting scam text messages daily from a bogus "Trump" group, demanding I make a monetary contribution to their bogus "campaign". I'm very confident this scam originated in China, and the link in the text "smelled" of malware. I just added another new area code today from a different text scam offering $500, if I clicked on the link they included.

I'm not too technical on setting up stuff on my iPhone or computer, and it took me several attempts to get this working (you might recall the name "Radar O'Reilly" I used when contacting you) and I greatly appreciate your patience in helping me get this working. It was confusing to me seeing how each time I added a specific area code, the "spinning ball" and my internet service is slow (I live in a rural area in Texas not having broadband) but what a relief now. The scams are sent to my "unknown & junk" tab and makes it easy for me to trash them without the hassle I had in the past. You should charge more for your app! It is worth 10 times (to me) what I paid for it on the Apple App Store.
VW Pilot.jpg
 

knny

macrumors newbie
Jun 12, 2013
13
1
Is there any way to block more then 50 million calls by prefix from the UK? Or is this iOS limitation? Any bypass on that maybe?
 

valerii

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 21, 2017
81
33
Kharkiv, Ukraine
Is there any way to block more then 50 million calls by prefix from the UK? Or is this iOS limitation? Any bypass on that maybe?
Unfortunately, UK has too much numbers, much more than 50 millions, so it's not possible to block whole +44.
Just try to use long prefixes, like +44 12 34** ****

iOS still does not allow to block by prefix or on the fly, the app is pre-filling iOS blocklist, and blocking 50 millions takes much time and some space in device memory...
 

Noah Way

macrumors newbie
May 11, 2022
1
0
Feature request:

It would be great to be able to block calls by the name of the exchange. For example I get a lot of spam calls from ‘Plandome Manor’ under a variety of different exchange numbers.

This would be a huge improvement as I have already reached the 50 million limit of the app.

Thanks -
 

valerii

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 21, 2017
81
33
Kharkiv, Ukraine
Hey everyone, sorry, have not looked to this thread for a long time... Just wanted to update the status - recently release version 7.0.1 of the application, which allows to block up to 150 million numbers now! Hope that it will be enough for the most cases :)
 
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