How many unsolicited phone calls do you get each day? How often are you being interrupted by unknown callers or “scam likely” popping up on your phone?
If you’re like most people these days, it’s probably starting to drive you insane. Don’t you wish you could just silence unknown calls and be done with it?
One recent study shows that over half of the phone calls made in the US are actually scam calls.
Enough is enough!
We should all be blocking unknown calls and our phones now have systems built in to do this.
Jump ahead if you’d like:
Block Unknown Calls on an iPhone
What To Do About Scam Calls?
The easiest answer when it comes to handling all of these scam calls is simply not to answer.
There are multiple reasons for this.
Ultimately what it comes down to is that these scammers are highly sophisticated.
Sure, you can have a laugh and string them along for a while to “waste their time” or you could yell profanities at them thinking that will help you vent a bit and feel better. But, you are actually hurting yourself when you do so.
For one, they are clever. Once they get you on the line, even if you have no intention of listening to what they have to say, you are opening the door for them to slyly sneak in with a cunning scheme that might catch you off guard.
Secondly, sometimes all they are doing is testing to see if your phone number is even legitimate in the first place. They just want to know if there is a real human who is going to pick up the phone. Once you pick up, you’re added to another list—the list of real phone numbers. Now you’re just going to get called more often.
And third, there have been numerous reports recently of scammers actually recording and replicating voices. Answering the phone and speaking at all can allow them to do this, which in turn allows them to target your children, grandchildren, and other family and friends.
So this all begs the question…is there a simple way to just avoid these calls altogether?
Absolutely. And it’s built right into your phone.
What Happens if I Block Unknown Calls?
If you set up your phone to block all unknown calls, you don’t need to worry that you’ll miss the most important calls as they don’t simply disappear. These calls will be forwarded to your voicemail and you’ll be able to call the person back if it is a legitimate caller.
The one thing to note is that if you do opt to turn this setting on (which you should!) you should be more diligent about storing phone numbers for local businesses that you are dealing with so that their numbers aren’t blocked. You don’t need all the specifics, but if you’re speaking to a plumber, add “plumber” as a contact or if you tend to get phone calls from the veterinarian or your barber, just be sure to add them in as well. Easy peasy.
How to Silence Unknown Calls on an iPhone
It’s easy as 1,2,3,4.
1) Open the “Settings” on your iPhone
2) Scroll down and tap on “Phone”
3) Scroll down and tap on “Silence Unknown Callers”
4) Make sure the toggle is on (green)
How to Silence Unknown Calls on a Google Pixel Android Phone
It’s easy as 1,2,3,4,5
1) Open the Phone app
2) Tap the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner
3) Tap on “Settings”
4) Tap on “Blocked numbers”
5) Toggle “unknown” to “on”
How to Silence Unknown Calls on a Samsung Android Phone
It’s easy as 1,2,3,4,5
1) Open the Phone app
2) Tap the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner
3) Tap on “Settings”
4) Tap “Block numbers”
5) Toggle on “Block unknown/private numbers”
In Conclusion
Beyond the disruption and annoyance that they cause, scam calls can be dangerous.
We recommend utilizing the “block unknown calls” feature on your phone and we highly recommend setting this up on your parents’ phones as well. The last thing you need is for your parents to fall victim to a scam because they picked up the wrong call and this is one of the easiest ways to prevent it.
3 thoughts on “How To Silence Unknown Calls on an iPhone or Android”
Doesn’t work, it’s still ringing and I’m still blocking… I just want the ringing to stop… I never answer unless they are in my contacts… If there isn’t message left by an unknown number it’s blocked and if it’s irrelevant message it’s blocked, even though I have it ser for block the phone still rings so the setting is usless
What sort of phone are you using? These methods should silence any incoming call from numbers that aren’t stored in your contacts. They might still pop up on the screen, but it won’t ring. It should just go straight through to voicemail.
I have a Samsung 22 with recent update. I have had this feature set for several months and phone still rings with non contact phone numbers. Have tried to toggle off and I but still did not work.