How To Block Spam Callers On Your Phone

Whether it’s a telemarketer or someone impersonating the IRS, spam callers can take up quite a bit of your precious time, not to mention the cringe factor. Despite constant efforts from the FCC and carriers, spam calls remain a huge menace for most Americans.

While there’s no foolproof solution to block all spam callers on your phone, you can take a few measures to ensure you don’t receive as many spam calls as you do currently. I’ll go over some settings you should immediately change on your Android phone or iPhone to block spam calls and highlight a few apps that will help you easily identify spam calls.

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How to block spam callers on Android

The default dialer app on most Android phones includes features that let you identify and filter spam calls or block specific phone numbers. You can enable these features to see a spam ID when you receive calls from a known spammer, filter suspected spam calls if you don’t want to be disturbed, and completely block frequent spam callers.

Enable Spam ID and filtering using the Google Phone app

To see when you’re getting a call from a known spammer or filter spam calls automatically, follow these steps:

1. Open the Google Phone app.
2. Select the three-dot menu button in the top right corner to open the context menu, and select the Settings option to access the app settings.
3. On the Settings page, tap Caller ID & spam in the Assistive section to access the spam ID and filtering options.
4. Enable the See caller and spam ID option if you want the Phone app to identify and flag calls from businesses and known spam callers.
5. If you don’t want your phone to ring when the Phone app identifies a spam caller, enable the Filter spam calls option as well.

The spam filtering option works well, but there’s one downside. It may misidentify some calls as spam, and you might end up missing an important call. If you experience that after enabling the feature, you should turn it off and just rely on the spam ID feature to identify them so that you can choose to ignore spam callers.

Block specific spam callers using the Google Phone app

Although spammers usually call from random numbers, some may use the same few phone numbers to call you. If that’s the case, you can follow these steps to block their phone number(s) specifically.

1. Open the Google Phone app.
2. Head to your call log by selecting the Recent option in the bottom bar.
3. Long-press the number you wish to block and select the Block/report junk option from the drop-down menu.
4. Check the Report call as spam option in the following pop-up and select Block.

You’ll have to repeat these steps for all the phone numbers you wish to block. Once you’re done, you won’t receive any calls or texts from the blocked phone numbers. Suppose you unintentionally block a wrong phone number. In that case, you can unblock it by heading to the Google Phone app settings, selecting the Blocked numbers option in the General section, and tapping on the cross next to the phone number to unblock it.

Block calls from private or unidentified numbers using the Google Phone app

Some crafty spammers use private numbers to avoid detection and increase the chances of an unsuspecting user answering their call. If you’re receiving such calls, you can enable the following setting to block all calls from private or unidentified numbers:

1. Open the Google Phone app.
2. Open the app settings by tapping the three-dot menu button in the top-right corner and selecting the Settings option from the context menu.
3. Select the Blocked Numbers option in the General section.
4. On the following page, enable the toggle next to the Unknown option.

While this option will block calls from completely private or unidentified phone numbers, it won’t filter the calls coming in from phone numbers which simply aren’t saved on your phone but are still visible on caller ID. Even though those numbers may be unknown to you, they are not considered to be completely unidentified callers which this option is designed to address.

How to block spam callers on iOS

Unlike Android, iOS doesn’t have a built-in spam filtering feature specifically, but that doesn’t mean you can’t block spam callers on an iPhone. You can block calls from all unknown numbers on your iOS device to easily filter spam calls, but that might also block some legitimate callers and hide phone calls that you actually want to receive. If you don’t want to risk missing an important call, you also have the option to block specific numbers individually.

Block all unknown callers on an iPhone

The most effective method to put an end to spam calls for good is to block calls from all unknown numbers, and although this puts you at risk of missing some welcome phone calls, iOS provides an easy way to do this.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Select Phone and tap the Silence Unknown Callers option on the following page.
3. Tap the toggle next to the Silence Unknown Callers option to enable the feature.

Once enabled, you won’t see incoming calls from unknown numbers, and the caller will be sent directly to voicemail. However, the silenced call will appear in your recent calls list. If the caller leaves a voicemail, it will also appear in your Visual Voicemail, like voicemails from known numbers.

Block specific phone numbers on an iPhone

Like Android, iOS gives you the option to block calls and texts from specific phone numbers. This can be useful if you get repeated spam calls from the same few numbers. Follow these steps to block specific phone numbers on your iPhone:

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Select the Recent option from the bottom bar to open your call history.
3. Scroll down to the number you want to block and tap the blue info button next to it to open the contact page.
4. Tap Block this Caller on the contact page and select Block Contact on the following pop-up.

Blocking specific phone numbers in this manner will ensure you don’t receive any calls, texts, or FaceTime calls from them. Calls from blocked numbers won’t appear in the recent calls list, and all voicemails will be saved in the Blocked Messages folder at the bottom of the Visual Voicemail list.

Use third-party apps to block spam callers on Android and iOS

If the built-in spam filtering features on Android and iOS don’t help, you can try third-party apps to block spam callers. All major carriers in the U.S. offer handy spam-blocking apps. While these apps are free, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have paid premium plans that give you access to extras like reverse number lookup, proxy phone numbers, and enhanced caller ID. However, you should be able to steer clear of the paid versions unless you really need those features.

Download the spam-blocking app from your carrier by following the links below and follow the on-screen instructions to block spam callers.

1. AT&T ActiveArmor

• Android
• iOS

2. T-Mobile Scam Shield

• Android
• iOS

3. Verizon Call Filter

• Android
• iOS

Google Fi also has a spam filtering feature, but you don’t need to install a separate app to use it. Subscribers can block known spam callers by navigating to the Privacy & security section in the Account tab of the Google Fi Wireless app, selecting the Manage contact settings option under the Spam and Contact Settings section, and enabling the Block Known Spam option.

The Google Play Store and Apple App Store also have several other spam call filtering apps, but proceed with caution. Apps like Truecaller, Call Blocker, and Should I Answer? are great alternatives to dedicated apps from carriers. However, apps like these require access to your contacts, call history, and other sensitive data to work as intended and have been caught in the past sharing this data with third parties and putting users at risk due to a data breach. Therefore, we wouldn’t recommend using them unless all the aforementioned options don’t work.

Decrease the number of spam calls you receive daily

Enabling the settings mentioned above or using the recommended spam-blocking apps won’t completely block spam callers on your phone, but it should ensure you don’t receive as many spam calls as you do right now. It’s definitely worth the effort, and I highly recommend you give it a shot if you’re tired of the growing spam call menace.

While you’re at it, you can also register for the FCC’s National Do Not Call Registry to get fewer telemarketing calls on your phone. Also, check out our guide on how to block spam messages on Android and iOS to prevent spammers from reaching you over text.