Spam phone calls are among the most successful methods scammers use to prey on consumers. Scams and robocalls are on the rise year-round. USA Today reported that “tens of billions of robocalls” pester consumers every year, according to the FTC.
Phone users are not answering their phones anymore because of too many robocalls they receive on a regular basis.
Over the last year, you may have received an astounding amount of free vacation getaways, pay off your mortgage, iCloud has been hacked, expired vehicle warranty, zero your student loan debt, IRS has a warrant for your arrest voicemails. I personally have, and it’s super annoying.
Introducing iOS 13 New “Silence Unknown Callers” Feature
Apple thinks they can do something about it in iOS 13 with a new “Silence Unknown Callers” feature. It does exactly what the name suggests. It silences incoming phone calls from numbers that are not in your contacts list.
The feature is off by default, which makes sense. Not every unknown caller is spam. You don’t always know everybody that’s calling you.
Sometimes a family member or close friend might call you from an unknown number because their iPhone might run out of battery.
You may take this opportunity to get yourself or your family a good pocket-size iPhone power bank to prevent that from happening.
The “Silence Unknown Callers” feature, with the help of Siri, will determine if a number is in your Contacts list, recent outgoing calls, or in Siri suggestions. Apple’s iOS also has the capability to recognize phone numbers sent via messages or emails.
That way, when you enable this feature, it can block out unknown phone calls. Without a doubt, this is a life-changing feature for many iPhone users. At the same time, it can be an issue.
They’ll likely miss important phone calls such as appointment confirmations, safety, emergency notifications, and security alerts. Thus, iPhone users will have to check their voicemails more often now.
How to Enable Silence Unknown Callers on Your iPhone
To activate this feature, follow these steps:
1. Head to the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Select Phone.
3. Then, scroll down and select Silence Unknown Callers.
4. Turn the slider to the green position to silence all unknown callers.
From now on, for a phone call to go through, the number needs to be stored in your Contacts list. Otherwise, everyone else will go straight to voicemail with no ring on your end.
Wrap-Up: Silence Unknown Callers
Silence Unknown Callers cannot and are not intended to identify spam calls. It only blocks out incoming unknown phone calls.
So, be mindful before you turn this feature on. But still, those unknown numbers can leave you a voicemail, and you can see them in the Recent list in the Phone app.
If it’s someone that you know, you can return the phone call. However, you should note once you call back that number, Silence Unknown Callers won’t block it out anymore, even though it’s not listed in your Contacts.
If you have any feedback or questions, then please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.
