Other unwanted call blocking in the Apple universe

[Pretorien]

I'm considering dumping an almost new (3 mo old) Galaxy S22 Ultra and moving to an iPhone for a single reason: I'm being overwhelmed by spam calls. The Samsung/Android system does not have the ability to effectively block any and all calls not on my "contacts" list. I have heard that iPhone iOS does have this capability
So: Is this correct? Any comments on how well it works?
Thanks

 

[Apple_Robert]

The iPhone stock method sends an unwanted call to voicemail. I use the T-Mobile app to completely block any spam calls.

 

[jz0309]

I'm considering dumping an almost new (3 mo old) Galaxy S22 Ultra and moving to an iPhone for a single reason: I'm being overwhelmed by spam calls. The Samsung/Android system does not have the ability to effectively block any and all calls not on my "contacts" list. I have heard that iPhone iOS does have this capability
So: Is this correct? Any comments on how well it works?
Thanks

I have it turned on, for several years now. "Block unknown callers", works very well for me, contacts only. and those who really want to talk to me will leave voicemail.

 

[dontwalkhand]

I have it turned on, for several years now. "Block unknown callers", works very well for me, contacts only. and those who really want to talk to me will leave voicemail.

I wish there was a way to just block unknown numbers/ no Caller ID calls. I take calls from clients, so I need all calls to come in, but a client who is going to block their number from me, isn't worth becoming a client, IMO, as I already know it will be hard to get a hold of them.

 

[jz0309]

I wish there was a way to just block unknown numbers/ no Caller ID calls. I take calls from clients, so I need all calls to come in, but a client who is going to block their number from me, isn't worth becoming a client, IMO, as I already know it will be hard to get a hold of them.

check with your cell service provider if they have to offer something ...

 

[eyoungren]

I'm considering dumping an almost new (3 mo old) Galaxy S22 Ultra and moving to an iPhone for a single reason: I'm being overwhelmed by spam calls. The Samsung/Android system does not have the ability to effectively block any and all calls not on my "contacts" list. I have heard that iPhone iOS does have this capability
So: Is this correct? Any comments on how well it works?
Thanks

In the interim, and assuming these spam calls are using actual numbers, you could do a work around. It does require manually adding the spam call to a contact though, the first time at least.

What I did, before Apple had call blocking and before I was using iBlacklist (for jailbroken iPhones), was create a contact called 'BLOCKED CALLER'. I added a silent ringtone to that contact and also put it on my Do Not Disturb list. Then whenever a number came in that annoyed me, I added it to that contact.

The effect was for the phone to not make any noise whenever someone on that list called and then to just ignore the call.

 

[russell_314]

I'm considering dumping an almost new (3 mo old) Galaxy S22 Ultra and moving to an iPhone for a single reason: I'm being overwhelmed by spam calls. The Samsung/Android system does not have the ability to effectively block any and all calls not on my "contacts" list. I have heard that iPhone iOS does have this capability
So: Is this correct? Any comments on how well it works?
Thanks

It is possible to do this with an iPhone.

The first way is using Do Not Disturb or now it’s called Focus mode. You can set it up where only your contacts can call. I haven’t tried it since they changed to the Focus mode system, but I found when activating do not disturb under the old system it would silence notifications from apps as well. I don’t think this is the case with the new system since you can customize a whole bunch of stuff. I haven’t tested it though.

The second way to do this is something called “Silence Unknown Callers”. The keyword here is unknown. This means you have to unsubscribe to any kind of caller identification or spam blocking from your carrier. I don’t use it anymore but when I did it worked well till I signed up for Verizon’s spam blocking feature. It would put a name to the caller, so it instantly was no longer an unknown caller. This system works best for me because anyone that I haven’t called recently or not in my contacts would just go straight to voicemail. If it was important, they would leave a voicemail and I would call them back. When it was working right, it was 100% effective and made life awesome. I went from getting three or four spam calls day to zero. Spam calls don’t sound terrible till you work nights and have to sleep during the day. Getting woken up multiple times when you’re trying to sleep is not good.

This was maybe a year ago, so I don’t know if anything has changed since then. I’m surprised you can’t do this with android because of how many different features it has.

Right now I am using Verizon’s call filter app. I think because I had my phone set to silence unknown callers for several years most of the spam callers have given up with my number. I figure this way it will allow me to get calls from numbers I don’t know but might be important. So far it’s working and I receive minimal spam but who knows that could change any day

 

[Ruggy]

I'm considering dumping an almost new (3 mo old) Galaxy S22 Ultra and moving to an iPhone for a single reason: I'm being overwhelmed by spam calls. The Samsung/Android system does not have the ability to effectively block any and all calls not on my "contacts" list. I have heard that iPhone iOS does have this capability
So: Is this correct? Any comments on how well it works?
Thanks

Yes it does and it works well although it can also be inconvenient of course.
I do find that if it's legit they are much more likely to leave a message - if you keep your outgoing message short.
You can also block a number you can identify as spam but I imagine you can do that on the Galaxy.
There are apps which will check a number before it answers and tell you if it's on a list but spammers buy massive blocks of numbers so that doesn't always work so well.
There's no perfect solution.

 

[NoBoMac]

check with your cell service provider if they have to offer something ...

This.

In the case of ATT, their call blocker app has the option to filter private callers along with a slew of other options in their free version.