The price we pay for using all free online products is data. This data includes most things – including your phone number. Once recorded, you may receive calls from bots or even people trying to promote or sell their products. While it may earn a livelihood for some, at the receiving end, these calls are ruthlessly called spam. If you’ve been getting a lot of these lately, here’s how to block spam calls on your iPhone.
There are multiple ways to block spam calls on iPhone. Thankfully, Apple has built in a few tools within the iPhone to block people you do not want to interact with, and you don’t necessarily have to install third-party services unless you want a few more features.
As you go on reading this article, you’ll learn how to implement seven different ways to block these unwanted and annoying calls on your iOS device. Let’s begin with silencing unknown callers on your iPhone.
1. Silence Unknown Callers on iPhone
The iPhone has a feature that allows notifications for calls only from your contacts, and the other recent outgoing calls you have made. This way, your iPhone won’t ring when someone else is trying to call you, and this is a great way to stop spam calls on your iPhone.
Step 1: Open the Settings app.
Step 2: Scroll down and tap on Phone.
Step 3: Select ‘Silence Unknown Callers’ and turn on the toggle for the same.
Additionally, if your carrier supports automatic call blocking from junk callers, you will also find an option called ‘Silence Junk Callers’. Turn on the toggle for it too.
Next, let us look at how we can go ahead and block a number on iPhone using the phone app.
2. Block a Number on your iPhone Using the Phone App
If you want to evade telemarketing or unwanted calls from a certain number, you can block the number on the Phone app. These calls will be sent straight to voice mail. You will neither be notified of the same nor will it be reflected in the recent calls list on the Phone app.
Step 1: Open the Phone app.
Step 2: Find the caller or the number you want to block. Tap on the ‘i’ option next to it.
Step 3: Tap on ‘Block this Caller’.
Step 4: Now, select Block Contact in the next window.
The caller is now blocked, and will not be able to reach you. We can also block contacts from calling you, and not just unknown numbers. Here’s how.
3. Block Contacts on iPhone
Here’s how you can block contacts from calling you on your iPhone. When the blocked contact tries to call you, it will be directly sent to voicemail and you will not receive any notification for the same.
Step 1: Open the Phone app and select Contacts in the bottom toolbar.
Step 2: Tap on the Contact you want to block.
Step 3: Tap on ‘Block this Caller’ and select Block Contact in the next window.
We can also block a number from the messaging app. Let’s look into that as well.
4. Block a Number From the Messaging App
If you receive a message from a number that is also trying to call you, you can directly block them from the Messaging app. That way, they will neither be able to reach you nor send a text message or place a phone call. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Open the Messaging app and open the message sent by the number you want to block.
Step 2: Tap on the profile of the number and select info.
Step 3: Tap on ‘Block this Caller’ and Select Block Contact in the next window.
Furthermore, you can also silence calls and not receive notifications from them using Focus Modes. Here’s how.
5. Use Focus Modes to Silence Calls
Focus modes on iPhone are one of our favorite features. It’s incredible the amount of control it lets you have over what notifications you receive and don’t want to.
In terms of phone calls, you can set a focus mode that allows phone calls from known numbers only or from specific contacts. Here’s how.
Step 1: Open the Settings app and tap on Focus.
Step 2: Select the Focus mode for which you want to add the call silencing function.
Step 3: Tap on People.
Step 4: Select ‘Allow Calls From’, and choose Contacts Only to silence calls from unknown contacts.
This means when unknown numbers call you, it will be sent straight to voice mail and you will not be notified. However, the number will pop up in the call history.
Step 5: If you want to allow calls from specific people only, select the ‘Allow Notifications From’ option in the People tab.
Step 6: Select Contacts for who you want to allow calls.
Step 7: Tap on ‘Allow Calls From’ and select ‘Allowed People Only’.
This way, you will receive calls from the contacts you earlier selected. Next, let us look at how we can use a third-party app to screen calls and filter out spam.
6. Use Third-Party Apps for Call Screening on iPhone
Truecaller is one of the more useful call-screening apps that you can download on your phone. However, the app for iPhone isn’t as functional as it is on the Android app. But it gets the job done and lets you block spam calls on your iPhone.
Also read: How to use Truecaller assistant to screen spam calls
Step 1: Download the Truecaller app for iPhone.
Once downloaded, open the app and follow the on-screen instructions to finish the first-time setup.
Step 2: After completing the setup, open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Step 3: Tap on Phone.
Step 4: Select ‘Call Blocking & Identification’.
Step 5: Turn on all the toggles for Truecaller to enable spam identification and blocking’.
There you go, all the spam calls on trying to reach your iPhone will be blocked. Next, let us take a look at how contacting your carrier service provider can help you out.
7. Contact Your Carrier Service Provider to Block Robocalls on iPhone
If none of the above methods seem to help, and you feel like there isn’t any other way to block calls – do not worry. Contact your carrier service provider and let them know you’ve been receiving a lot of spam, and robocalls and want to safeguard your phone number against the same.
You will certainly receive help. We also suggest you report these spam numbers on your iPhone to the relevant authority. Based on the region you live in, you can surely find the helpline numbers for these authorities on the internet.
This way, you’ll also be helping other users and preventing spam calls and robocalls from reaching them.
That is everything you need to know on how to stop spam calls on your iPhone. However, if you have any more questions regarding the same, you can look at the FAQ section.
FAQs on Stop Spam Calls on iPhone
The blocked caller will be sent to voicemail and you will be able to see the list of blocked numbers on the voicemail tab in the Phone app.
Open the Settings app, and tap on Phone. Here, you’ll find an option to see a list of ‘Blocked Callers’ which you can edit and modify.
No, Trucaller does not have the live caller ID feature on iPhone.
Stay Spam-Free
We hope this guide helped you block spam calls on your iPhone. Online privacy is the need of the hour, and we hope Apple bundles in a few more tools to enhance privacy and help the user automatically prevent such spam calls. While this article helped you solve the issue with spam calls, we also have a guide for dealing with spam messages.
Last updated on 28 March, 2023
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