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Comment by _9vpl | Hacker News Reader

I got pretty fed up with robocalls and none of the existing iPhone apps that use a blacklist approach really worked since robocallers and spam callers can just fake their number or use recycled numbers.

I created an iPhone app called MyHumans that takes the opposite approach with a whitelist using your phone contacts. Other callers are sent to voicemail without ringing your phone. It has an easy to access switch where you can temporarily disable any blocking for a time period, like an hour, if you're expecting a one-off call from a recruiter or whatever.

It works really well for me. Spammers rarely bother leaving a voicemail and legitimate businesses leave a voicemail that I can follow-up on later.

https://www.myhumansapp.com

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> I created an iPhone app called MyHumans that takes the opposite approach with a whitelist using your phone contacts.

iOS 13 now does this: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/06/ios-13-silence-unknown-...

The only reason I know about this feature: My iPhone prompted me to turn it on yesterday. I turned it on, and it is working admirably so far (multiple spam calls blocked, and my dad got through as expected.)

Wow, finally. These calls are driving my grandma crazy, I showed her my Pixel has been able to block spam calls for at least a year but that iPhones somehow had no equivalent. She was trying to block one number at a time but obviously it wasn't effective.

The major difference is you don't have an easy way to turn off the call blocking with the iOS 13 setting if you need to accept a call from an unknown caller (recruiter, scheduled call, whatever). On iOS 13, it's hidden in the settings app and there is no way to temporarily disable for a period of time so you don't forget to turn it back on.

Serious question - do you ever worry that perhaps you'll get a call from a hospital about a loved one, or from a school about a hurt child, etc?

It's a legitimate thing to consider and something I've thought about. If the call comes from a loved one's phone then the call won't be blocked. If it's a major emergency where the call is from a hospital line then they will leave a voicemail and I'll find out soon enough when I glance at my notifications (although not immediately).

Which is exactly what I do would do anyways. If it's an unrecognized number I send it straight to voicemail and check it later.

I set up a SIP call flow [1] to deal with this. I was getting upwards of ten spam calls per day. Apparently, the last person with my number owes a lot of money.

In short, it's like Google Voice, with a change: The caller is asked to record their name, my phone rings from the SIP number, and the recording plays back. I can then press a key to pick up the call, another to send it to voicemail, and another to add it to a blacklist with an automated "GTFO" message (with the caller being redirected immediately to this message if they ever call again).

Then, I set my cell to whitelist mode, which allows my contacts as well as the SIP number. 100% reject rate for bots and obnoxious callers, with very few false positives, and anyone important has my direct cell number.

[1]: https://i.imgur.com/5zIo1sU.png (Provider is Anveo)

Cheers for Anveo. They really provide a unique service at dirt cheap prices. Happy customer. If they add a "Shaken/Stirred" ok flag or auto-blacklist, I'm a customer for life.

That is a major reason why I would never use a white/blacklisting app. The odds of some unknown phone being used to urgently find me may be exceptionally low, but those are also the circumstances when time matters most.

Doctors almost always block their outgoing number when calling. At this point given how much call spammers have taken to spoofing their caller id, if it says "Private caller" I know it must be a doctor.

they can leave a message, which shows up almost immediately

Checking voicemails actually takes longer and involves more steps than answering calls.

Sure, but in my experience, most robo-calls don't actually leave messages. I maybe get a message every week or two, but I'll have multiple spam calls per day that are sent to my voicemail.

It's also not immediate. I can check my voicemail later when I have time, instead of having to pick up whenever I'm spammed. That's even before I might have a service/feature where it will try to transcribe the voicemail, which often makes it very easy to tell that it's spam.

a tweak would be to the phone OS to ping alerts on new VMs immediately. perhaps VMs user-flagged as spam can be templates for autoblocking such VMs for other users.

>swipe down notification bar >tap voicemail ribbon

Two touches versus one. Sooooooooooooooo many extra steps, lemme tell ya.

And then it needs to dial in. And then you need to listen to the message anyway. You could have just picked up for less time and effort.

That is unless you're willing to pay for transcription service.

"You could have just picked up for less time and effort."

Or I could be driving, and refuse to touch my phone like an informed and rational and unassuming human being.

Not answering the phone while driving is entirely unrelated to not answering the phone because you think it might be spam.

If I'm driving and you call me, you're spamming for my attention, IMHO.

perhaps such emergency VMs can be allowed special tagging by the OS to remove all doubt

i am all in favor of 100% true positives on blocking all spammers and getting all real emergency calls through

This is feasible if first responders and medical offices use SIP/VOIP providers who support SHAKEN/STIR.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/at-t-comcast-successfully-test...

https://transnexus.com/whitepapers/understanding-stir-shaken...

But has far fewer false positives. Especially with a workflow.

a possible solution is that hospitals and police might have escalated dial-in privileges where they cause the phone to ring, irrespective of user-set conditions. so long as these privileges cannot be spoofed, this might take care of what is an important corner case. i myself would rather get a call than deal with a VM in a true emergency.

Is that different from Silence Unknown Callers in IOS 13?

I honestly would use that instead if there was a quick way to disable without digging through the settings app.

Maybe through shortcuts?

I foiled myself and missed an important call the first time I used that setting. It was a call I expected, but not a contact.

> Maybe through shortcuts?

Kinda! You can make an iOS shortcut to take you right to the Phone settings, at which point turning "Silence Unknown Callers" on/off is a one-tap operation.

To do this, create a shortcut to open the URL "prefs:root=Phone". You can find more detail and a bunch more interesting options here: https://www.macstories.net/ios/a-comprehensive-guide-to-all-...

I Get so annoyed when I forget to toggle back on "silence all unknown callers," especially when I'm driving/listening to music in the car and oh hey it's call yet not for me rather some scumbag is trying to steal ppl's money.

Another shameless self-plug, this is why MyHumans is better because you can temporarily turn off the call blocking for a time period, like an hour, and it will automatically turn back on.

Cool Apple needs to add that.

Though I only turn it off when I'm expecting a call. If your app can figure out when I'm expecting a call and when that call is done then toggle silence all unknown callers on then I'm sold.

I end up with voicemails from spammers all the time. They'll ring me and while the phone is ringing, they'll ring me again so they get sent straight to voicemail and can leave a message.

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