Call Blocking (Change or a bug?)

[papbot]

Something has changed in call blocking on the phone that I only just discovered by accident. I had a call ring through this morning from a contact that I had previously blocked on my phone. When I went to my recents and tapped on the “i” for info, the contact screen for that contact/number came up with an “unblock” option at the bottom. I thought maybe I was mistaken and had not actually blocked it, but discovered that I had. Why the call rang through then, I don’t know.

It occurred to me that I could block it through my Hiya call blocking app as well. I do this frequently with numbers that appear in my recents list. Numbers that I use Hiya to search for the identity of the caller and then block if I want to. All that is standard and has been done a hundred times with no issue. That number then goes into a blocked list on the Hiya app. This time, with this morning’s call, when I tapped on block after looking the number up in Hiya, a message came up that because of changes in iOS 18, I would have to add the number to the block list in the Phone app itself. There is no way to manually add a number you wish to block into that blocked list. You have to go to your Recent call list to find that number and block it on the contact info screen.

I go through this blocking process all the time, and this is the first time that message came up, as well as not being able to block the number within the Hiya app. When did this change, and has Apple disabled some functions from call blocking apps? If so, I’m concerned that the number I had blocked previously, in the Phone app, was not blocked this morning even though it was displayed as blocked, yet still rang through. If this is a bug and not a one-time glitch, I want to submit feedback on it. I really, really, really, don’t want numbers I’ve previously blocked to all start ringing through again. If any of you have blocked numbers on your phone, please keep an eye on whether they now ring through instead of going to voicemail as previously.

 

[Ruggy]

I've been having the same problem but I haven't got to the bottom of it yet.
I use Wide protect and asked them for help. They very kindly went over the logs and found nothing wrong so for the moment, It's a mystery.
I think it must be something in 18 and I have an old XS and sometimes when IOS changes you don't get exactly the same settings so it might be something with that?
If I get to the bottom of it, I'll report in.

 

[papbot]

I've been having the same problem but I haven't got to the bottom of it yet.
I use Wide protect and asked them for help. They very kindly went over the logs and found nothing wrong so for the moment, It's a mystery.
I think it must be something in 18 and I have an old XS and sometimes when IOS changes you don't get exactly the same settings so it might be something with that?
If I get to the bottom of it, I'll report in.

Using my Hiya app, I very frequently look up a number that I’m not familiar with when it comes in on a call. I have “Silence Unknown Callers” enabled so they don’t ring through, but I will see the number in the recents list or, maybe, on a voicemail message if one was left. This was the first time I wasn’t able to block the number I was researching within the app. Instead, I got the message that blocking would have to be done manually from within the Phone settings. But that can’t be done; I had to go to my recents list and pull up the info screen for that number and block it there, only to find out I had previously blocked it, so it should have never rung through even though it did. Something has changed in 18, but I don’t know if what I experienced, the blocked number ringing through, was a one-time glitch or a bug in this release.

 

[Ruggy]

Hello again.
I don't have a solution but I do now know that a lot of people are complaining about this.
Apple brought in a new blocking service on 18.2 called 'Live Caller ID Lookup API' and I think this is the problem.
Here's some blurb about what it does:
---
It's a new feature that lets apps identify who’s calling you in real time.
The phone number is securely encrypted (using homomorphic encryption).
That encrypted number is sent to a third-party app that supports this feature.
The app searches its database for a match — all without ever seeing the unencrypted number.
If a match is found, the caller’s name or tag (like “Spam Risk”, “Delivery”, etc.) appears immediately on your screen before you answer.
----
This service doesn't appear in settings, it only works with a third party app which supports it so you won't find it on your phone or be able to turn it off
I've checked and neither Hiya nor Wide protect supports this feature and I think that's the problem.
They may support it eventually and then it'll work again so fingers crossed
Otherwise, I think we'll have to change to an app which supports it like Truecaller or Livecaller.

It is speculation and I have no confirmation that this is the problem but I think it's extremely likely.
Very annoying.
Good luck, I hope it gets sorted out.

 

[papbot]

I was mistaken previously, as you can manually enter a number to be blocked in the Phone app settings. You have to scroll down to the bottom of the list to find the “add” option. I also tried blocking a couple of numbers I had in my recents. Using the Hiya app, I was able to block those numbers without issue. It was only the one number that had rung through before that caused me to start this thread that could not be blocked by the app, giving me that message about iOS 18. Why only that number, so far, couldn’t be blocked, I don’t know. It is blocked in the Phone app settings. I haven’t had a repeat of this specific issue, so I’ll just keep an eye on it.