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This is EXACTLY what I want it to be. Numbers I've interacted with in the past, I already have in my address book. Numbers that are spoofed just need to go straight to the bin. Companies who just supply "PRIVATE" will either learn to change their practice, or I'll call them back when they leave a voice mail. New people will leave me a voice mail and I'll call them back, and we're good -- but these days, I nearly always text someone first so they have my name and number in their address book too.
 
iOS have had this feature for years!

Do not disturb "silences incoming phone calls from numbers that are not in your contacts list"!
It even lets you narrow it down to Favorites!

So what's really new in the "Unknown callers" feature in iOS 13???
 
my iPhone has a feature already where it answers the call but then makes the spam caller listen to silence (or random background noises) for as long as their patience will permit. And they don't get the option even to leave a voicemail. I find it works very well, as I never get any repeat calls.
 
I would like to see a feature that will allow me to block any incoming calls that do not show a phone number. Without a phone number showing, currently I can not block it.
 
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.
Actually no, I think you'll find that a lot of times an important call might just try someone else instead.
 
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.
I love this feature and will never turn it off. My doctors always leave a brief message and I return their call. When I explain why they did not get through to me they completely understand. If they called from a number with a caller ID I add it to my contacts and if they called from an internal number with no caller ID I tell them they will always go direct to my voice mail. They then make a note in my file and call me from their main number that is in my contact list so I answer. You will be surprised how understanding they are when you explain the situation. I'm sure they get spam calls too.
 
iOS have had this feature for years!

Do not disturb "silences incoming phone calls from numbers that are not in your contacts list"!
It even lets you narrow it down to Favorites!

So what's really new in the "Unknown callers" feature in iOS 13???

Do not disturb affects more than phone calls. You also wouldn't get alerted to incoming texts when do not disturb is on, for example. That doesn't work for me.
 
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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.

That looks amazing!
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It blocks any and all numbers NOT in your contact list. I have been using it from day one and have not had a single sales, give away, phishing Robo call of any kind. It sends everything not in contacts to voicemail with no ring on your end. In the weeks I have used it I only had two legitimate calls go to voicemail and they left messages. I then added them to contacts. I’m loving it.

That's my experience too.
 
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.

For me, even with the CallProtect app in use, I still see a huge number of random spoofed numbers coming through. At least I did until I put iOS 13 on my phone.
 
Not sure if Apple realizes when we want "blocked" calls, we don't want them accessing our VOICEMAIL or being able to contact us in ANY FORM OR FASHION.

What is this?
 
It’d be better if it integrated into a database of known spam numbers rather than blocking everything.
This is impossible because there is no such concept. Robocall spam uses spoofing, meaning it generates a [targeted] random caller ID for every outgoing call. The spammer himself has no actual phone number; he's just doing this all through the internet. The statistical chance is small, but you can get a robocall where the caller ID actually is a phone number of one of your friends in your contact list even though they absolutely did not participate in it.

This is also why you should never share your contact list with Facebook or anyone ever. Ever. It won't be long before Facebook and others sell your contact list data to robocall operators so that they can ensure all the spam calls you receive spoof phone numbers out of your own contact list, rendering features like Apple's useless. And making you never answer a friend's phone call again.
 
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.
Last week I had to make an insurance claim, and two days later got a call from the insurance - number withheld. WTF? That was something I absolutely didn't get. They would actually want the exact opposite feature, one where the receiving phone isn't just told the number, but exactly who the call is coming from. (Could obviously be faked, but you know which strangers - like your insurance - you expect calls from).
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that's great. I wish it wouldn't allow them to leave a voicemail but good job either way.

the amount of free cruises, free vacation getaways, computer virus, zero my student loan debt, payoff my mortgage, expired vehicle warranty, irs has a warrant for my arrest, iCloud has been hacked voicemails i've gotten over the last year has been astounding.

Interestingly, there was a time when I won over 2.5 million Euros in various lotteries, plus a top of the range BMW, but this has stopped for a while. I miss that, always made me smile.
 
Ironically, the "unknown" callers are all things I want to answer these days. It tends to be a doctor or government office, usually.

Meanwhile, every spammer in the world has figured out how to spoof the area code next to mine so they appear to be local calls from the next town over.

Not sure that blocking 'unknown' would do a darned thing anymore. Spammers have moved on.
Yeah, this exactly. It turns out that blocked numbers in my province (Quebec) are always the government or hospital calling, and it's all other numbers that are spam. So I'll have to keep this feature off and keep letting calls from my area code go to voicemail.

Honestly, this is just as bad as the 'solution' for spam texts. It doesn't work on iMessages, so every spam message I get is sent from an iOS/MacOS device. :/
 
Unfortunately this feature is using brute force instead of data smarts. A call from the city I've been waiting for went to VM instead of ringing. The number the call came from is associated with the city of LA so ostensibly, a smart feature, would recognize it as legit. Alas, I turned it off.
 
Personally, I LOVE how the feature is implemented currently in the beta. I never answer my phone unless I know the caller (they would be in my contacts at that point), so if it is important enough they will leave a voicemail.
 
Living in Asia and receiving many calls from abroad, often displays a random local caller ID number, Even from people I have in my contact list. When I miss a call, I call back some stranger who didn’t call me. It is quite frustrating.

I welcome features blocking spam calls, though I find it only a problem in france. I believe in the US it is even greater a problem.
 
I personally don’t like a blanket block but I also only get 2-4 spam calls a week, if even that.

Why does this keep getting repeated, it's not a blanket block, it's a silencer for unknown numbers not in person's contacts. You're not ignored completely, you're sent to voicemail. My block list is easily over 100+ spammers right now, I've not had a spam call in ages, and those unidentified numbers when valid would leave a voicemail. PS, you still get a notification you got a voicemail.

True blocked calls are blocked by iOS through the block caller feature.
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- a blacklist database managed by my operator or by Apple should be able to filter BS calls with 100% certainty. The relevance if those is immense: who really wants such calls anyways???

Solutions to these exist through third party apps and spoiler, they don't always work. A blacklist? How is a blacklist supposed to determine valid from invalid numbers, considering caller id spoofing is all the rage. It would be real suckage for your company to block your number because someone else spoofed it to try and steal someone else's credit info. This option allows those **** calls to be silenced so you don't see them, leave a voicemail if they're genuine, and automatically adds them to a white list if it's a valid number as determined from the voicemail and call back.
 
Feature was working fabulously until I saw I had a missed call and voicemail from my doctors office. The thing is doctors offices and hospital networks call from different numbers so it will be a little challenging to add all of them to a safe list or contact.
 
Imagine how many cruises, free trips to Vegas, low interest credits cards, loans, free computer repairs, and business opportunities I have missed out on by not answering my phone. It's amazing how much free stuff is out there that people are calling me at random and out of the blue just to give me free stuff... I feel special.
 
Why does this keep getting repeated, it's not a blanket block, it's a silencer for unknown numbers not in person's contacts. You're not ignored completely, you're sent to voicemail. My block list is easily over 100+ spammers right now, I've not had a spam call in ages, and those unidentified numbers when valid would leave a voicemail. PS, you still get a notification you got a voicemail.

True blocked calls are blocked by iOS through the block caller feature.

A lot of people don’t set their voicemail up so this would not help.

Look, all I’m saying is thee will be a lot of people that will turn this feature on then get mad when they’re not getting calls. Mom’s in an accident and broke her phone? Can’t call son because he couldn’t be bothered to set up his voicemail. Future employer calling? Can’t leave a voicemail.
 
This is impossible because there is no such concept. Robocall spam uses spoofing, meaning it generates a [targeted] random caller ID for every outgoing call. The spammer himself has no actual phone number; he's just doing this all through the internet. The statistical chance is small, but you can get a robocall where the caller ID actually is a phone number of one of your friends in your contact list even though they absolutely did not participate in it.

This is also why you should never share your contact list with Facebook or anyone ever. Ever. It won't be long before Facebook and others sell your contact list data to robocall operators so that they can ensure all the spam calls you receive spoof phone numbers out of your own contact list, rendering features like Apple's useless. And making you never answer a friend's phone call again.
There are plenty of websites (at least for us in the UK) where I go to check if a number is a known spam one so it is perfectly possible, the only real risk is someones number being blacklisted because a spammer spoofed it.
 
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