iOS 13 Lets You Send Unknown Callers Straight to Voicemail

[adrianlondon]

huh? big whoop, this is not new, lol,
I have already been doing this in iOS 12 using Do Not Disturb.

DND silences all alerts not just calls. Secondly, your method means DND is no longer available for any other use, such as overnight or in meetings when you only want calls from a limited number of people to come through.

So it is new.

... if two people unknown to each other have this feature enabled, they will play phone tag forever.

Until they add each other into their contacts, or the "Siri intelligence" allows calls from people in your recent-calls list, as you suggest. That's a brilliant idea.

 

[MisterSavage]

So excited for this feature. I get so many calls from my area code that are spam. There's one particular NPA NXX combo where I absolutely know it's spam. The fact that the iPhone transcribes the voicemails means I can quickly scan and delete the garbage voicemail and my phone won't be ringing because of them anymore.

Wow for me not usable at all. How do couriers contact you guys? In my country by phone. Also for example when an Uber calls you it will too send it to voice mail. ..food delivery? Same thing.

Half my Uber drivers text instead of call the few times they need to reach me. If they left me voicemail I would use the app to call them back.

 

[B4U]

And today, FCC approved regulations to implement robocall/spam calling at the carrier level.

https://news.yahoo.com/fcc-robocalls-block-tech-adopt-2020-170205699.html

But that chairman is so pro-business that there is no rule to make sure the carriers to include those service without charging us extra.

 

[mantan]

Why not just kill the call? I don't want them spamming my voicemail.

I think there is a large group of people who want to block calls, but may get calls from unknown numbers that would leave a VM. Killing those calls woudl cause more problems.

For example, a school may have multiple extensions. What if they are trying to call a parent on an issue and they just keep dumping to voicemail. Or you have a contractor or vendor who's trying to reach you who for an appointment. Or you have someone trying to contact you for as an emergency contact, but they aren't in your contacts.

Having it dump to voicemail for any caller would be overkill. And would inevitably lead to users complaining about a vital phone call they missed because of this 'feature.'

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

I don't think you're correct. I believe blocked people CAN send you voicemail. Can someone confirm?

Ok, apparently this is the nitty gritty (if it still works like this, that is- the info I found referenced iOS 7)...

They leave a message, but you are neither alerted to the call, nor the voicemail.
However, there is a new category created in your voicemail labeled “blocked messages”, in which it will stay for 30 days before self-deleting.

 

[44267547]

I think there is a large group of people who want to block calls, but may get calls from unknown numbers that would leave a VM. Killing those calls woudl cause more problems.

For example, a school may have multiple extensions. What if they are trying to call a parent on an issue and they just keep dumping to voicemail. Or you have a contractor or vendor who's trying to reach you who for an appointment. Or you have someone trying to contact you for as an emergency contact, but they aren't in your contacts.

Having it dump to voicemail for any caller would be overkill. And would inevitably lead to users complaining about a vital phone call they missed because of this 'feature.'

You have some valid reasons you mentioned, but it doesn’t stop someone from checking their voicemail if it’s important/pertinent. I mean, who doesn’t leave a voicemail if it’s not important today on someones smart phone? If somebody really _needs_ to get a hold someone and they want the call returned, you leave a voicemail. We live in a world now where I don’t think the phone has to ‘ring’ necessarily for someone to answer the phone, when you can be easily notified with a Chimed notification that you have a voicemail pending from XYZ phone number. Again, I stress the fact if it’s a vital/important phone call that someone needs to get a hold of that person specifically, then they will leave a voicemail.

Also, keep in mind, this feature specifically is to help combat against scam calls, and even though the system isn’t perfect with this new iOS 13 feature, I would rather have the option of having it enabled than not have it at all, especially when we live in a world where your phone number is no longer private in the midst of world where someone’s trying to steal _your_ information through scam calls. Case in point.

 

[12vElectronics]

This is OK. What would suck is if a friend is calling me from an unknown number. Or the mechanic shop. Or my bank etc

 

[MisterSavage]

This is OK. What would suck is if a friend is calling me from an unknown number. Or the mechanic shop. Or my bank etc

It wouldn't be any different for me. I don't answer calls from numbers I don't know and would call them back when they left voicemail.

 

[ErikGrim]

Wow for me not usable at all. How do couriers contact you guys? In my country by phone. Also for example when an Uber calls you it will too send it to voice mail. ..food delivery? Same thing.

Yeah. The way they presented it in the keynote was you could silence calls with no caller ID. This is a sledgehammer where I need just a regular one.

 

[tizeye]

While it sounds good, it is terrible for self employed individuals who are dependent on unknown people contacting them. Think about a Realtor. You see this home you are interested in and a Realtor's phone number. It shows up as an unknown number and you are sent to voicemail.

 

[StyxMaker]

I’d like there to be an option when you set up a contact record to indicate it should be sent directly to voice mail. My pharmacy calls when they have a prescription ready, there is no reason for me to listen to the recorded message when they call. I prefer to listen to it at my convenience and would like it to go there without ringing.

 

[Baymowe335]

I can confirm that you are incorrect.

I don’t think I’m wrong.

https://appletoolbox.com/2014/02/io...a-voicemail/#Carrier_blocking_services_for_US

It will create a separate folder called blocked messages which you can still check.

 

[naturalstar]

Well this is welcome news! Only thing is, telemarketers have evolved to having actual phone numbers now. Either through Verizon or some other reason, I haven’t had an “Unknown Caller” come through in months! Only those with an actual number get through now, typically the ones who use the same area code and prefix as my own number. They will keep trying.

What was the DNC list for again?

Will have to catch up on other features in iOS 13.

 

[JackClark]

Wish we can block voicemail too.

I have changed my outgoing message to a 90 second clip of Justin Bieber's "Baby." It's longer than most robo-voicemails, so my phone just treats it like they hung up during the outgoing message. It also stops those annoying people who want to leave a voicemail because the outgoing message is more annoying than they are. If they really really need to get ahold of me, they can wait through the 90 seconds of torture and when I see a message, I know it's one I want to listen to. Problem solved!

 

[Baymowe335]

I have changed my outgoing message to a 90 second clip of Justin Bieber's "Baby". It's longer than most robo-voicemails, so your phone just treats it like they hand up during your outgoing message. It also stops those annoying people who want to leave a voicemail because the outgoing message is more annoying than they are. Problem solved!

Can’t you press # to skip that?

 

[JackClark]

Can’t you press # to skip that?

Maybe, but robo-callers don't.

 

[JoeShades]

How is this different from Do not disturb?

 

[NoBoMac]

How is this different from Do not disturb?

Think of it as DnD lite. If known number, phone rings (ala the "Allow calls from" option in DnD), otherwise not. But unlike DnD, still can get notifications for Mail, Calendar, Reminders, etc.

A middle ground between all or nothing.

 

[kyte]

I think I will probably keep using Hiya and Truecaller...

 

[simonmet]

I hardly ever take inbound calls except for close friends or family. I’d be happy to silence all calls other than those from contacts in my address book.

 

[C.Calthrop]

If only Apple made a landline phone. Our home is in sight of the Apple spaceship but cable is not available and reliable cell service is not available from any carrier so I’m stuck with copper. I get 2-5 spam calls / day.

 

[ctyrider]

It's for when you don't have a number saved in your contacts list!

This is no good, honestly. When my kid's school needs to contact me - this means I would have to pre-enter all the different numbers this call may come from into my Contacts.. otherwise I miss the call? Or when his phone's battery dies and he needs to get a hold of me using his friends phone?

This feature needs to be more intelligent - it should recognize likely SPAM callers based on AI patterns like some carriers do. Just blocking any number that's not in a contact list is too much of a hammer solution.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Wow for me not usable at all. How do couriers contact you guys? In my country by phone. Also for example when an Uber calls you it will too send it to voice mail. ..food delivery? Same thing.

Not every unknown caller is spam. I think google duplex works better because it will try and interact with the caller before you decide if you want to bin them or not.

 

[Allards]

If people call with a real number they might be unkown but i’m still willing to answer. What i need is an option to silence those (at least in the Netherlands) that phone with a hidden number.. (unkown number)

 

[adrianlondon]

Those of you who think Apple should come up with an AI to work out spam callers ... I think this would be really difficult to do. The best people who would have access to enough call info to implement something like this are the network providers themselves. So I suspect it would be better if they put more effort into blocking spam calls. That way one can simply not use the new iOS13 feature.

This does seem to be a particularly US issue as here in Europe we don't get so many spam calls, but instead get unwanted calls from legitimate (or barely legitimate) companies such as insurance sellers or financial product sellers. For me, having the option to send all unknown calls to voicemail is great, as I usually do that manually anyway when an unknown (or "withheld" or "unavailable") number calls me. The fact I can just switch it off when I'm expecting calls is fine.