How to block spam calls

Today we’re gonna get rid of those pesky unknown callers. If you have a phone, chances are pretty good that you get a lot of calls from unknown numbers or spam risks all the time. But there are some key apps and features that you can use to block spam calls.

How to block spam calls?

In iOS 13 or later, go to Settings, Phone, and then Silence Unknown Callers. The calls will still show up as missed calls, but at least they won’t ring now. And depending on what Android phone you have, go to your phone’s default caller ID and spam options. Go to Phone and then click on the three dots for settings. Go to Caller ID & Spam and then enable everything. You can also visit the blocked menu to block all calls from unknown numbers. These robo-callers will likely never call you from the same phone number twice, so blocking individual numbers is probably not the best use of your time.

Although these built-in features are pretty great, there are some other tactics that you should use. Apps like WideProtect can help you block area codes and numbers in mass using wildcards if you’re getting hit hard by a particular area. And paid apps like Hiya can also help. All of the big carriers have their own apps that can supplement your spam blocking efforts. Consider installing them as well but resist the urge to pay for their premium features unless you’re absolutely overwhelmed. You should be fine even if you don’t pay for a spam blocking solution, although you may still have to deal with the occasional annoying, but ideally silent spam call.

Let’s look at a few apps to block spam calls

Should I Answer

We’ll start out with my personal favorite which is ‘should I answer’.  It has a large database built up by a community. Here users can anonymously rate and review numbers based on real phone calls when you receive an incoming call. It will show you the rating of that number along with the community ratings ‘green is positive’, ‘ yellow is neutral’ and  ‘red is negative. When looking at your call logs, tapping on any phone number will take you to the screen where you can choose to block that number. You can give it a rating and check out other reviews from the community.

Let’s take a quick look at the settings on iOS and Android. When you’re not using a third-party app your options are limited with ‘Should I Answer’. There are several settings that you can change here at the top. You can choose to leave all of the notifications turned on below that in the blocking section. You can choose the community database sensitivity. The default is standard protection which has a low possibility of false positives below that you can choose the type of incoming calls that you would like to block. You can choose to turn all of these on except for numbers not stored in contacts and foreign numbers to block outgoing calls you can leave these turned off but if you share your phone with others you might want to turn some of these on. 

Hiya App

Next up is Hiya app. Hiya app is one of the most popular and well-known call blockers. It features one of the largest databases containing hundreds of millions of numbers. If you’re on iOS, they do offer a premium version but it’s not needed to take advantage of the key features whether you’re on Android or iOS. The Hiya app does collect a lot of information on a positive note. 

Hiya app also owns another app available in both stores called Mr. number. They’re essentially the same app with all the same features.  So if you have any issues running high on your phone you might want to try Mr. number instead. TrueCaller available for both iOS and Android is the most used call-blocking app. It works great and has a huge database with millions of users.