iPhone Restrict Calls to Address Book ?

[George Knighton]

Before I get carried away with the iOS 7 and iPhone 5S bandwagon, there's a problem that I might have and I don't see the answer anywhere.

In iOS 7, is there a way to restrict incoming calls to the Contact List (Address Book)?

I have always had to jailbreak my iPhones to get this capability.

Although I see many references to Call Blocking of individual numbers, I really want incoming calls restricted to the Contact List most of my work day.

Please let me know if this is attainable with iOS 7 before I upgrade to something that is going to complicate life instead of simplifying it!

Thanks very much for any help you can provide.

 

[Zcott]

You could probably do this with Do Not Disturb. Add all your contacts to favourites and it'll only allow those calls. However it won't work when your iPhone is locked.

 

[Tyler23]

Before I get carried away with the iOS 7 and iPhone 5S bandwagon, there's a problem that I might have and I don't see the answer anywhere.

In iOS 7, is there a way to restrict incoming calls to the Contact List (Address Book)?

I have always had to jailbreak my iPhones to get this capability.

Although I see many references to Call Blocking of individual numbers, I really want incoming calls restricted to the Contact List most of my work day.

Please let me know if this is attainable with iOS 7 before I upgrade to something that is going to complicate life instead of simplifying it!

Thanks very much for any help you can provide.

In short - no, it's not possible.

 

[George Knighton]

You know, I remember many years ago posting in a public place why it wasn't possible to restrict iPhone calls to the Contact List, when the same simple functionality was available on all Motorola and Nokia Symbian devices since ages long past.

I got a strange email reply that looked like it came straight from Steve Jobs and although I do not recall the exact phraseology, it sounded like, "Why the hell do you want a phone if you don't want phone CALLS?"

LOL....

My life since that first iPhone 3G has been a constant struggle to find a way to restrict the calls to the Contact List, and the only way has been jailbreaking + iBlacklist, at least that's the best way for the best functionality.

People just go straight to voice mail, unless it's a hidden caller ID or obvious Spam, in which case they'll get a message via YouMail telling them that they won't get through unless they properly identify themselves.

I am at a complete loss to understand why Apple doesn't "get it" that there are a lot of people who have to deal with a lot of calls and voice mails, but we'd still rather use an iPhone to do it.

What many professionals and politicians seem to do is set their default ringer to silent and their phones won't ring unless somebody's in the Contact List and has a ring assigned in the Contact List.

But I can't tell you how often I've seen one of them accidentally answer a call they did not want to take because they've gone to use their iPhones at a time that a silent call was coming in.

It's a ridiculous situation, and I am sure that many, many of us would appreciate being able to restrict incoming calls to the Contact List.

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In short - no, it's not possible.

Well, then. No iPhone 5S for me.

That's too bad.

:-(

 

[Zcott]

The other workaround is to deal with an initial period of unwanted calls and save all the numbers to one contact called Spam. Then block that caller.

 

[hagr182]

The other workaround is to deal with an initial period of unwanted calls and save all the numbers to one contact called Spam. Then block that caller.

Maybe he just does not want to talk to anyone else, since it may be time wasting, I used to have a girlfriend who would call 3 or 4 times during my work hours, it was annoying, maybe he has many people who would call him on useless stuff.

This is a nice feature, make it happen on ios 8 Apple! (Lol, getting the iOS 8 train started hahaha)

 

[George Knighton]

Maybe he just does not want to talk to anyone else, since it may be time wasting, I used to have a girlfriend who would call 3 or 4 times during my work hours, it was annoying, maybe he has many people who would call him on useless stuff.

Exactly. I probably do want to hear information that they are trying to give me, but if I'm driving I can't really pull over to write stuff down, and it's impolite to say call me again and leave it on voice mail.

Send them to voice mail in the first place.

And, let's face it, even your banks have started calling you with product solicitations. They're calling from toll free numbers that won't be in your Contact List, so let them go to voice mail and you'll decide later if you really and truly want a new investment or new mortgage.