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Settings -> Do Not Disturb -> Allow Calls From {Contacts, Favorites, ...}

Some folks don't like doing this, but I find it a relatively painless way to achieve whitelist functionality. If they're not in my Contacts, they can jolly well leave a message.

No, that won’t do it for me. I run a business where I have different numbers calling me all the time (online sales and service) but I’ve had problems with “No Caller ID” calling repeatedly. So, using a whitelist isn’t going to work for users like me.
 
Some people like to bash the EU here, but there are things which are far better here in some countries.
I am on a do not call list, all businesses or people who like to sell me something have to check the list before they make a call, if they still call me I can complain, next thing they get fined €5000 for calling me.
We also have the do not call list here in the States, only issue is the spammers don’t give a damn and don’t get prosecuted.
 
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Problem is that some spammers are avoiding this by auto generating numbers, often similar to mine - only the last four digits are random, the first six are the same. Happens to my friends too that they get calls matching their numbers. Guess they try to pretend to be from your neighborhood... well I’m no longer picking those numbers up, still annoying ... but people I care about are in my contacts everyone else can leave a voicemail

Spammer, telemarketing,.... etc suck and they don’t care about the do not call list.

Apple got caught scamming the customers by secretly slowing down older phones without DISCLOSURE.

Now, Tim Cook & buddies REFUSE to allow us to block calls & texts from unknowns outside our contact list except one at a time.

If they’re NOT on my contact list, I don’t want calls or texts. But Apple refuses to allow us that benefit so Cook & buddies must have a financial benefit for their refusal in that IPhone function.
 
I'm gunna test having DND on full time and allowing calls from ALL CONTACTS.

I used to have Favorites set but my wife would still have to call twice before it buzzed my watch.
 
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What I found is working for me: when I receive e-mail spam, is to sign them up to pornographic websites. One idiot was stupid enough to SMS spam his name and phone number to me so I signed him up to a porn site, created a story he was seeking group BBW hookups and contact him on his phone number. I encourage everyone to return the spam favours - they are people too who just need some anonymous love not your money.
You know the contact information was likely spoofed too, right? What you probably did was sign up a perfectly innocent person to receive massive amounts of porn. Congratulations.
 
We also have the do not call list here in the States, only issue is the spammers don’t give a damn and don’t get prosecuted.

They are calling mainly from outside of the country, where they are very difficult to find, let alone prosecute. Recently one of these boiler room operations in India was busted up, but IIRC it was pursued because they were running the IRS impersonation scam.

The baseline problem is CallerID spoofing. A technological method is needed to prevent or at least detect anyone using a CID that doesn't belong to them.
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That's where the fine should come in, €5000 here is a lot.

They are far beyond the reach of fines.
 
They are calling mainly from outside of the country, where they are very difficult to find, let alone prosecute. Recently one of these boiler room operations in India was busted up, but IIRC it was pursued because they were running the IRS impersonation scam.

The baseline problem is CallerID spoofing. A technological method is needed to prevent or at least detect anyone using a CID that doesn't belong to them.
[doublepost=1521214882][/doublepost]

They are far beyond the reach of fines.

Ah, Ok, thought these calls were made from the U.S.

That's one good thing about not being a English speaking country, we get few oversees spam calls.
 
Ah, Ok, thought these calls were made from the U.S.

That's one good thing about not being a English speaking country, we get few oversees spam calls.

What country? I'd bet your telecom system is better prepared to address this problem. Ours is highly decentralized, which makes it easy for criminals to abuse.
 
No, Apple. I don’t want a blacklist feature. Considering my blocked callers list has grown into an unwieldly list of numbers that’s hard to sort, manipulate and maintain, I just want a whitelist feature.

If you’re not in my Contacts, I don’t want my iPhone to ring. Period.

We are just too connected in this world. If I can make my Facebook and Twitter accounts private and only allow access by invite, my phone number should work the same way.
That feature already exits. It's called. Settings/Do not disturb/Allow calls from: pick a Contact Group or All.

I choose All contacts. If someone like my auto repair shop called and they are not in the contact list then it goes to voice. I then listen to the message and add them to the contact list. I guess the advantage to blocking a call out right is there can be no voice mail? But as stated previously, spammer use a random ID.
 
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That seems a bit impractical to me. Maybe you are young and only talk to a circle of friend and family. But I use my phone for business and I frequently need to connect with people not in my contacts list. Under your scenario those people could never get though to me. I'm not sure there is a good solution here. I just rely on caller ID and my common sense whether I'm going to take a call. I also tend to keep my ringer off and rely on the vibration on my phone or watch.
It wouldn’t be hard for the non whitelisted number to go straight to a voicemail that informs them they are not whitelisted and to leave a message which you will review and call back.
 
Try a Third-Party Blocking Solution

If you're inundated with spam calls from different numbers on a regular basis, then consider one of the many third-party blocking solutions available from the App Store: Several apps like Hiya and TrueCaller use an implementation of Apple's CallKit to identify and block suspect numbers before your phone even rings.

After installing one of these apps, you can manage their call permissions at any time from within the Settings app, by tapping Phone and selecting Call Blocking & Information.

This part should be first. Blocking callers is all well and good, but does absolutely nothing against robocallers who are spoofing random caller ID numbers. You're not going to see the same caller ID number twice, and trying to use iOS's native "block" feature is beyond useless.
 
No, that won’t do it for me. I run a business where I have different numbers calling me all the time (online sales and service) but I’ve had problems with “No Caller ID” calling repeatedly. So, using a whitelist isn’t going to work for users like me.

Why do you not have a second work phone? This solution would work for 80-90% of the population if not more. Just because it doesn’t work for the small minority doesn’t mean it can’t be an option for the rest of us.
 
What we need is a solution to block “unknown” and “no caller ID” numbers. I realize that people have the right to block their number during a call, but I also have a right to block their unsolicited harassment.
Yeah, except the vast majority of robocalls DO have (faked) caller ID numbers. Blocking "unknown callers" would take out maybe 1 in 10 of them, tops.
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No, that won’t do it for me. I run a business where I have different numbers calling me all the time (online sales and service) but I’ve had problems with “No Caller ID” calling repeatedly. So, using a whitelist isn’t going to work for users like me.
I think you need to get a Google Voice number. It rings through to any phone you want. I never give my "real" number out to businesses and the like, only my Google Voice number, which I leave on "do not disturb" most of the time. I get probably half a dozen spam calls on it every day but it doesn't bother me at all because at most I get a notification of a voicemail that turns out to be "you've won our contest!" or whatever.
 
Ah, Ok, thought these calls were made from the U.S.

That's one good thing about not being a English speaking country, we get few oversees spam calls.
The worst part is about it is that these spammers get numbers very similar to our carriers and location. I got so many phone calls that look like they are local sprint numbers.
Hopefully this Hiya app helps. I seen good reviews for it.
 
This part should be first. Blocking callers is all well and good, but does absolutely nothing against robocallers who are spoofing random caller ID numbers. You're not going to see the same caller ID number twice, and trying to use iOS's native "block" feature is beyond useless.

This isn't entirely true. I've seen a good number of these scam CIDs remain in use for years. They are exploited heavily for a few days or weeks then go away for months if not years before coming back. It's a nuisance to have to block them one at a time, and not a cure when you do, but it isn't completely ineffective either.
 
Nothing I have tried is 100&. Currently, I am using Nomorobo. Would be nice if it at least worked similar to the home phone model, where spam calls only ring once. If a call gets through with Nomo, it rings and rings until voicemail picks up.

Edited to add: The cell companies should not be allowed to sell our numbers.
 
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They are calling mainly from outside of the country, where they are very difficult to find, let alone prosecute. Recently one of these boiler room operations in India was busted up, but IIRC it was pursued because they were running the IRS impersonation scam.

The baseline problem is CallerID spoofing. A technological method is needed to prevent or at least detect anyone using a CID that doesn't belong to them.
[doublepost=1521214882][/doublepost]

They are far beyond the reach of fines.
The cellular provider need to be able to detect IP calls and block them from going through...
 
What I found is working for me: when I receive e-mail spam, is to sign them up to pornographic websites. One idiot was stupid enough to SMS spam his name and phone number to me so I signed him up to a porn site, created a story he was seeking group BBW hookups and contact him on his phone number. I encourage everyone to return the spam favours - they are people too who just need some anonymous love not your money.

I know this sounds like good retribution, but have you considered how many people use e-mail addresses that belong to real people - but don't belong to the SPAMmer? If, somehow, your e-mail address was used to send someone else some junk advertising I don't think you'd like being signed up - because of something you didn't do.
 
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I have the issue where spammers are spoofing my number to make hundreds of calls at least once every month. I end up on the receiving end of at least a handful of very angry people each month demanding to know who I am and why I called them.

Call screening apps/services are helpful, until I try to make an outgoing call and my number is blacklisted by someone else.

This has happened to me as well
 
This might be a solution Apple or a third party might implement.

(1) if the number is blocked ignore the call (this works today)

(2) When a call comes in first check contacts and if the caller is in that list ring the phone. Go to normal voice messages if the call is not answered.

(3) If the caller is not in the list of contacts let the user choose what happens. options are (a) optionally go directly to voice message and don't ring the phone (b) a "special voice mail" where you can have different greeting for unknown callers. "hi leave you name, phone number and short message and I will call you back" people in your contacts list get a different greeting

With more work the phone number can be VERIFIED. When an unknown caller calls he the phone does not ring and the caller hears a robot voice saying "Please hang up and I will call you right back" The phone then disconnects and makes an outbound call. Now yo KNOW the other persons number.

Other options are to check if caller ID is blocked. Your phone could be set to never ring if the ID is blocked and tell the caller to un-block the ID and call again. Of causer then he might get the "please hang up and let me call you back" massage above.

Finally one more idea is common blacklist. When people get robs-calls that can take them as such an the number is sent to an on-line database. After the database gets enough reports on a number it gets flagged. You phone can be programmed to keep it blocked list up to date andsync'd to the online blacklist

With some effort we could completely eliminate the junk calls.
 
Things like Hiya and Truecaller should be included in your phone service and should work to prevent the calls from ever reaching your phone in the first place. Additionally, carriers should be required to reveal the real phone number that is calling you and not a spoofed number. They obviously know who is calling you because they have to figure out how to bill that number, be it minutes on an unlimited plan or what, but spoofing caller ID should easily be able to be prevented if the phone companies applird a little time to it.
 
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