{"id":27607,"date":"2018-03-16T10:04:09","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T14:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/?p=27607"},"modified":"2018-03-07T10:06:16","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T15:06:16","slug":"block-telemarketing-calls-automatically-on-your-iphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/block-telemarketing-calls-automatically-on-your-iphone\/","title":{"rendered":"Block Telemarketing Calls Automatically on Your iPhone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Junk calls are one of the great annoyances of the modern world. You\u2019re minding your own business when your iPhone vibrates in your pocket. You pull it out, curious as to who\u2019s calling, but don\u2019t recognize the number. You may notice that it\u2019s in the same exchange as your phone number, suggesting that it\u2019s a neighbor. But no. When you answer, it\u2019s \u201cHeather,\u201d a pre-recorded voice wanting to sign you up for a resort vacation, give your business a loan, or help with your credit card debt. Angered by the intrusion, you tap the red hangup button, wishing you had an old-style telephone receiver to slam down.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no way to retaliate against these scum-sucking bottom feeders, and the best option is to hang up immediately. For quite a few versions of iOS, you\u2019ve been able to block a caller manually\u2014just tap the i button next to the call in the Recents screen in the Phone app, scroll to the bottom, and tap Block This Caller. But that\u2019s seldom worth doing since telemarketers often spoof the numbers they call from, so it\u2019s unlikely you\u2019d get a second call from the same number.<\/p>\n

Instead, we recommend taking advantage of a feature Apple introduced in iOS 10 that enables apps to block calls for you. Quite a few of these apps have appeared, with some of the best reviewed being Hiya<\/a>, Mr. Number<\/a>, RoboKiller<\/a>, and Truecaller<\/a>. Hiya and Mr. Number are both free and from the same company\u2014Mr. Number is a stripped-down version of Hiya\u2014whereas RoboKiller and Truecaller require an in-app purchase for a monthly membership.<\/p>\n

In general, these apps work by receiving caller ID information from iOS and comparing it against both your local contacts (to identify good calls) and a constantly updated database of numbers used by telemarketers (bad calls). Calls from your contacts ring through normally, as do calls from phone numbers not in either of those sets. That\u2019s key, since your doctor might call back from a secondary number, or your kid\u2019s new teacher might call to talk about an upcoming snack day. But if you receive a call from a number known to be used by a telemarketer, the app can either identify it on the incoming call screen or block it automatically, sending it to voicemail.<\/p>\n

To enable one of these apps, after you download it from the App Store, go to Settings > Phone > Call Blocking & Identification and enable its switch. You\u2019ll probably also have to do some setup in the app itself, providing your phone number, perhaps creating an account, and determining what should happen with different calls (Mr. Number is shown below, right).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With Hiya and Mr. Number, you can copy a number from the Phone app\u2019s Recents screen (tap the i button for a call, and then press the number to access a Copy button) and then look it up to learn more and see comments other users have made. And if you get a telemarketing call from a number that the app doesn\u2019t recognize, you can submit it to protect others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

RoboKiller claims that it wastes the telemarketers\u2019 time by playing pre-recorded \u201cAnswer Bots\u201d conversations to keep them on the line, preventing them from calling more people.<\/p>\n

Details vary by app, but the only real downside to using one of these apps is that it may ask for information about you or your contacts to improve its services. If that feels intrusive, investigate one of the apps that requires a membership, like RoboKiller, to see if it better answers your concerns.<\/p>\n

In the end, it comes down to how many telemarketing calls you receive each day, week, or month. If you\u2019re lucky and get only one or two per month, it\u2019s probably not worth messing with a call blocking app\u2014maybe just send unidentified (and unexpected) calls to voicemail. But if you\u2019re interrupted by multiple junk calls per day or week, give one of these apps a try and let it reduce the onslaught.<\/p>\n

\n

Social Media:<\/b> If you\u2019re inundated with telemarketing calls to your iPhone, you can fight back with a call blocking app. These apps put the kibosh on incoming calls that match the phone numbers of known telemarketers. Learn more at:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Junk calls are one of the great annoyances of the modern world. You\u2019re minding your own business when your iPhone vibrates in your pocket. You pull it out, curious as to who\u2019s calling, but don\u2019t recognize the number. You may notice that it\u2019s in the same exchange as your phone number, suggesting that it\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[157,193,66,39,61,71,48,52,110,60,196],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-pros","category-apros-archive","category-article","category-blog","category-customization","category-explainer","category-ios","category-iphone","category-phone","category-productivity","category-restricted-content"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Blocking-Call-Settings-Mr-Number-960x1024.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6YLEm-7bh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1590,"url":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/make-phone-calls-directly-from-ios-calendar-events\/","url_meta":{"origin":27607,"position":0},"title":"Make Phone Calls Directly from iOS Calendar Events","author":"computeradv","date":"July 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Let\u2019s say you\u2019re setting up a lunch with a contractor, and you want to make it easy to call them when your iPhone alerts you to the meeting. Or perhaps you want to embed conference call details into an event. 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In the Phone app\u2019s Recents screen, you can\u2019t select the number to copy it, but there\u2019s a hidden workaround. 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In the United States in 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 391,000 people were injured and 3477 killed in accidents caused by distracted driving. 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