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It’s so crazy. When I was in the US and got a SIM card from AT&T I kept getting random calls from Cuba or the Bahamas within a day. I have not had a single spam call here in Germany, ever

but how else are you supposed to find out about your car insurance or student loans?..
 
In my case, it seems AT&T has largely solved this problem. As of about 2 or 3 months ago, it now shows both the number and “Telemarketer” or “Spam Risk” on my screen. This has worked great for me.

If AT&T keeps this up, I won’t need this feature.
 
I’ve been using this in the beta. Love it. If someone is important enough for me to answer - they are in my contacts. If it’s a Dr or something that is important and gets blocked, leave a VM and I call right back.
 
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This is a step in the right direction, but the Android Call Screening is really slick. If you haven't seen it...


One of the only features I envy on Android.

Maybe Apple can invent this after a few more years of improving Siri
 
this is not what I imagined this would be. I wanted blocks for calls that come up on callerid as "unknown", not to block the world except for what's in my contacts... Apple please try again.

Spoofing phone numbers is so easy today. Well over 90% of my junk calls look like they are from legit numbers so Apple is doing the right thing here.
 
This is great for people with kids or an autistic with a phone. Silencing everything not in the contact list, because no one they don’t know should be calling them anyway.

But now I have to upgrade my son's phone, because it doesn’t work on an iPhone 6.
 
It’s so crazy. When I was in the US and got a SIM card from AT&T I kept getting random calls from Cuba or the Bahamas within a day. I have not had a single spam call here in Germany, ever

Not surprising. The US government spent all its resources snooping on every phone call Americans made rather than doing something good and useful like preventing us from being hounded by spammers.
 
This is perfect! I no longer answer my phone if I don't recognize the number. I rarely need anybody cold calling me and in the six+ years I started doing this I have yet to miss anything actually important. If it is that important they can leave a voice mail. If it is a number I am expecting a call from like a doctor I can add them to my phone contacts because I will likely need to contact them again.

If one is concerned about missing a call from a potential employer you could try to add their number to your contacts as well just in case. Or just let them leave you a voice mail.

If its that big a deal not to miss an important call then turn it off for a few days. Once you get the job turn it back on and never be harassed ever again.
 
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I really wish Calls would become a notification so it wouldn't take over the whole screen.

Agreed.. or at least the option to toggle such a feature on and off in settings, or for it to be integrated with Do Not Disturb mode.

This is a step in the right direction.
 
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Wish iOS could prevent blocked numbers from leaving voicemails.

Even better would be iOS responding to blocked callers with "We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service"
+1

Also this part seems flawed and useless. Calls 2x?
Goes to voicemail?? No.No.No!

“If you call a number that was sent straight to voicemail, however, it is no longer recognized as an unknown number even if that number isn't added to your contacts.”
 
I'm not sure how I feel about this. There can be situations where the Unknown caller could be a family member or close friend.
 
I'm not sure how I feel about this. There can be situations where the Unknown caller could be a family member or close friend.

It all depends; if it is an unknown number - do you pick up? I never do. I simply don't. They can leave a message and I will listen to it.

This feature is perfect for me; I have asked the doctor office etc. before which number they use when calling so I can add them to my contacts if I am expecting a specific call. Otherwise, I am going to be ignoring it no matter what. So this feature is perfect for me as it is.
 
I wish they had an option to also allow any Siri-detected phone numbers in any of your messages/emails! That would be perfect and allow for a more "lenient" spam blocker that still may include business contacts or others
 
This is useless to me despite getting some spam calls. Many callers are not in my contacts list nor do I want them in there. Some calls will be emergency calls to me, and even if I did have a number in my contact list for that organisation, they would dial from different number.
 
this is not what I imagined this would be. I wanted blocks for calls that come up on callerid as "unknown", not to block the world except for what's in my contacts... Apple please try again.

Just an example of how this could turn bad...

Let’s say I’m looking through applications at work, or needing to call an employee to see if they can come in. My work has 3-4 different lines. When I pick up a line to dial, I don’t know which one I’m dialing from. For your suggestion to work, the callee would need to either turn this off or have all our numbers listed in a contact. I think very few of our employees have it saved.

I personally don’t like a blanket block but I also only get 2-4 spam calls a week, if even that.
 
I love this feature. Most unknown numbers are spammers/telemarketers, for me anyway. If it is an important call, and I don't have the number in my contacts, they'll leave a message.
It is extremely rare that a spammer/telemarketer leaves a voicemail.
Agree. Shocked so many above don't. Even if I'm expecting a call - if I'm in meetings; not picking up; I'm driving; not picking up; I'm working on something I don't want to be pulled away from; not picking up. Bottom line - real people leave messages; scammers and unsolicited sales usually don't. And when they do the translator shows the text and I can spot the fake ones.
 
this is not what I imagined this would be. I wanted blocks for calls that come up on callerid as "unknown", not to block the world except for what's in my contacts... Apple please try again.
Well it still sends them to voicemail and if it's a REAL person, they will leave a message. And you get an instant notification that you've received a voicemail. So you can just call them back. I think this will work just fine for me. I get so many bogus robot calls it's nerve racking. Now, what about texts??? I get the too!
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Agreed. I get calls from doctors or my vet or whatever, and they don't always call from the regular number listed for them. I know for myself - I'd never use this feature.
But they will leave you a message and you get an instant notification. You just call them back. Problem solved!
 
this is not what I imagined this would be. I wanted blocks for calls that come up on callerid as "unknown", not to block the world except for what's in my contacts... Apple please try again.
Most spam calls have fake spoofed caller ID numbers attached — so filtering “unknown caller” calls would do very little.
 
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