The iPhone Trick That'll Help Silence Annoying Spam Calls
We're lucky to live in a time where reaching others remotely is faster than cooking a bowl of ramen in the microwave. Today, smartphones offer the convenience of instant and reliable distant communication. With just a few taps on a screen, you can immediately talk to anyone from across the planet.
Unfortunately, this very technology also gave way for spam callers and fraudsters to reach you quickly. While some may not be so easily fooled by spam calls and fraudulent personnel, others might not be so lucky. In fact, a study by Time2play reported that people in the United States receive an average of 3.7 spam calls every day.
Sure, you can block those numbers on your iPhone, but they'll just call you with a new number the next time around. To rid your day of spam calls, a nifty hack available in your smartphone's settings can help with silencing spam or robocalls from unknown numbers on your iPhone.
How to silence spam calls on your iPhone
You can silence spam calls from unknown numbers right from your iPhone settings. No need to install any fancy apps or subscribe to any premium services. To do so, launch the iPhone's Settings app and scroll down to the section that starts with "Passwords." Under this section, you'll see the Phone option, and tap on it. Go to the Calls options, select "Silence Unknown Callers," and turn it on.
After activating this feature, any call you receive from people who are not in your Contacts or Messages will not ring. However, they will still be sent to your voicemail, and you can see their call details on the Phone app's "Recents" list. While this will not completely eliminate spam callers from your life, they will no longer bother you with their nuisance during important meetings or moments of relaxation. It's a quick and easy way to ignore unwanted calls that disrupt your day-to-day life.
Alternative methods to avoid spam calls
Enabling the "Silence Unknown Callers" feature is indeed an effective way to avoid calls from solicitors. Unfortunately, there's also a downside to this: You're going to miss calls from important unknown numbers, too. That can include the recruiter from the new job you're applying for, or that cute guy from the bar that you gave your details to. If you want to block spam calls, but still be able to answer particular unknown ones, here are a few alternative methods to try:
- Enable "Silence Junk Callers": This can also be found in your iPhone Settings under Phone > Call Blocking & Identification. What it does is silence calls that your carrier filtered as spam or fraud. However, only select carriers offer this feature.
- Install call screening apps: Apps like Robokiller and Hiya automatically block robocalls using machine learning and their extensive library of spam callers. Some apps also allow you to customize the settings to make call blocking as aggressive or meek as you want it to be.
- Use Do Not Disturb Mode: If you only want to evade spam calls during meetings or events, you can utilize the DND mode instead. It silences all calls (except ones from specific contacts you set) to help you focus on the task at hand.