iPhone 6(S)/Plus Silence Unknown Callers (iOS 13) does NOT work

[nickdalzell1]

I thought this feature was supposed to stop those annoying robocallers or other numbers I don't recognize (as in NOT in my contacts list) to not alert my phone or watch with a ringtone or notification of a missed call if I ignored it? That's how all the websites promoted it, at least!

It has NEVER worked since I had my 6S on iOS 13. Today, two unknown people attempted to call me whom I have no idea who they are. Obviously this feature is broken, or I'm doing it wrong.

Does it work for anyone else? It's definitely enabled on my phone, but unknown callers still come through and I have to decline them then add them to the block list each time! (Also, get SPAM LIKELY from certain family members' phone numbers, such as one time my grandmother called from her landline and it showed up as SPAM LIKELY and if not for the voice mail she left I'd have missed it! What's the algorithm that determines that?) SPAM LIKELY also makes the phone ring and alert to a call, and stop unknown callers doesn't fix those either.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don't have a watch but SUC is working as described for me in iOS 13.6.1. Calls from numbers not in my Contacts do not ring the phone or even appear.

There's nothing in the description of SUC (in settings) about notifications. If Notifications are "on" for Phone you'll still get a notification of a missed call or voicemail.

iPhone 8

 

[nickdalzell1]

No my phone still rings and my watch taps me with a caller ID of a number NOT in my contacts. Usually from some other state.

Also, I still get the phone ringing with 'SCAM LIKELY' and a lot of times my grandmother's home number gets incorrectly flagged as such, but phone rings anyway.

I ended up having to pay for a robocaller app to stop the crappy calls. SUC does NOT work on the iPhone 6S running iOS 13. I've toggled it off and on many times, no dice.

 

[ActionFigures]

I just wish I could do something about all these car warranty spam calls it drives me nuts

 

[Blowback]

I just wish I could do something about all these car warranty spam calls it drives me nuts

Big crackdown and fines reported in the news today about the two major perps....should decrease the volume for awhile. But I understand...

 

[nickdalzell1]

I tried to search but all I get are promos about how this 'feature' is supposed to stop unwanted calls from anyone not in your contacts. But on my 6S, it does. not. work.

 

[JagRunner]

I had this feature on. It blocked the calls from ringing my phone. I had no issues there. I would see the random "missed calls" in my call log. But it also wouldn't notify me if I had a voicemail from these unknown numbers unless I happened to reboot the phone. I noticed it when I rebooted one time and I had like 6 voicemails from these unknown callers. One of them was kind of important but I didn't have that # saved in my contacts so I never got the voicemail until I happened to reboot the phone one day. I get that the feature is supposed to keep your phone from ringing, but shouldn't it tell you if you got a voicemail from them? It did that a couple of more times before I turned that feature off. I haven't had any voicemail issues since.

 

[chscag]

I just wish I could do something about all these car warranty spam calls it drives me nuts

Me too. I have two fairly new autos both still covered by the factory warranty and I continually get calls about some off the wall car warranty they're trying to sell. Those calls go to voice mail immediately but they still are annoying.

 

[nickdalzell1]

I wish I knew how to make it work on my 6S. It's definitely got iOS 13, and the setting is toggled on (green switch) but I always get around two calls each day around 11AM from some odd number in the same area code (usually listed as Oak Grove, KY or Beach Bend Park KY)

The phone calls ring like normal phone calls, show the ID of the number (obviously no contact as it's no one I know) and city, sometimes shows 'SCAM LIKELY' at times, but phone rings anyway. Last time it blasted the ringtone through my AirPods. Interrupted my music for junk calls. Once, I got called at 11:30 PM!!

I've had to resort to buying an app to fix what apparently Apple cannot. Other than that, messing with DND and allowing only contacts via that.

A similar feature exists on my Samsung phone that is my backup line (Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini) but it is useless also. Does not work. Has another third party app to fix it.

FYI a solution I found for the voice mail thing. If you don't use Voice Mail (I find it annoying as only crap ends up leaving messages) go to your settings and change the forwarding options for 'unreachable/busy/unanswered' and put a fake phone # there. No more voice mail or the icon.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I think you should consider that something is amiss on your particular phone. Have you gone as far as doing any resets? What about a restore as new?

I worked on an iPad that just wouldn't ring when a FaceTime call came in. Nothing seemed to fix it. I restored as new and it started working…but note…when I restored from a backup the problem came back. Obviously, something was out of whack in preferences or settings that couldn't be "fixed". So…had to restore as new and setup all over again to avoid restoring from a backup.

 

[nickdalzell1]

After the whole mess that I dealt with giving my Series 3 Apple Watch to a friend and finding out what a PAIN unpairing and re-pairing was, I'm not really interested in doing that again after a reset. Phone works fine otherwise, and I got a lot of mods done to stop updates and keeping my apps at a specific version and the like, which would be gone in a reset. Also, re-pairing my Series 5 Watch would also force-install watchOS 7 to it, which I am avoiding due to annoying features like the stupid handwashing thing as well as removing Force Touch. Same for my 6S, I won't update to iOS 14 because I'd lose 3D touch, and get that annoying App Library crap, as well as possible slow downs because it's the last supported update to the phone.

I also solved my issue (constant calls from oddball numbers) by paying for a third-party app (RoboKiller). Just had to make note that the 'silence unknown callers' feature is either broken in iOS 13.3, or doesn't work as I expected it to (maybe it's just supposed to silence anonymous calls? the ones without a number ID?)

Also, similar issues are present in a still-used Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, as well as a Samsung Galaxy S5, and Samsung Galaxy S3. The issue isn't confined to one device or to iOS.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Who's your cell provider? I don't know if what comes in from your carrier can have an effect on this setting but I suppose it can't be ruled out. Phone model could play into it, also.

I think there would be more people responding here if they were having the issue you're having with Silence Unknown Callers. It works on my iPhone 8 with iOS 13.6.1 perfectly (Verizon network via Xfinity Mobile).

If you don't want to take the steps to fix it (for the good reasons you gave) then your paid solution is the way to go for now. Eventually you'll have to reckon with a new Phone and/or iOS version.

 

[chscag]

I think there would be more people responding here if they were having the issue you're having with Silence Unknown Callers. It works on my iPhone 8 with iOS 13.6.1 perfectly (Verizon network via Xfinity Mobile).

Works perfectly here also with my carrier: T-Mobile. Works with both our 11 and 12 Mini. (iOS 14.4.1)

 

[nickdalzell1]

Straight Talk Prepaid, with a BYOP SIM kit. It's an iPhone 6S (not max). It originally was sold at Best Buy in 2019 for $149 with a prepaid plan for Simple Mobile by T-Mobile. The iPhone appears to be unlocked and useable on any carrier since the SIM I used for Straight Talk is a Verizon-compatible SIM. So, technically, it's Verizon.

I'm on iOS 13.3, and most of you are on 13.6 or later. Maybe that fixed some bugs? Either way, I can't update to just 13.6 since if I tried enabling the check for updates, it shows 14.4 as the available update.

I won't be 'reckoning on a newer iPhone or iOS version' anytime soon. If ever. So long as it works fine, I refuse to update or upgrade. Besides, ain't no iPhone made with the same size screen except perhaps the SE 2, but it's a worse 6S (Missing headphone jack, 3D touch). The 11 Pro (non plus) is similar in size, but I hate that stupid gesture stuff they got to replace the home button with since the iPhone X I tried a few years back was a frustrating experience (and I missed how quick and convenient touch ID was)