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Comment by avtar | Hacker News Reader

Apple’s call and sms spam filtering remains subpar to say the least. When I had a Pixel, I had the option to let the OS transcribe what the potential spammer was saying and end the call. It’s puzzling why Apple isn’t doing more here.

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Boy do i have a lifehack for you. Buy a phone number with a random area code, like ohio or something, all the spam calls come from surrounding area codes.

There's a useful iOS app called Number Shield that lets you block all calls coming from numbers that match the first six digits of your phone number. That's the most common spoofing technique, so it really does help.

E.g. if your number is (555)555-1234 it'll block anything from (555)555-0000 to (555)555-9999.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/number-shield/id1319082167

It's funny how 30 years ago, probably 90% of my actual phone calls were with numbers that matched the first six digits of my own.

Now that number is 0%.

I wish I could block all calls from UK. Since brexit all spam calls that comes through are from there sadly

So true! Area codes (and first three digits) used to indicate where you were. Now, more often than not, they indicate where you bought your first cell phone, i.e. where you lived around the year 2000 for us oldsters.

It was closer to 50% for me since there were two (overlaid) exchanges in my neighborhood. I still remember about a dozen phone numbers of friends from when I was growing up.

Begone is better than Number Shield plus its free.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/begone-call-blocker/id15968181...

I've been using Number Shield since long before Begone existed, so I can't really comment on their comparison.

...though the creator of Begone will hopefully realize that every entry in its version-history starting with that same rant about fake ad campaigns is making it look more sketchy than ignoring the issue would.

This is a great idea; unfortunately now I have dozens of voicemails a week from these numbers instead of just calls. Any option to prevent them leaving voicemail?

Can confirm, bought it years ago, the only app that allows me to easily block full range of numbers. I'm in France and work just fine.

I didn't want to over-promise, having only used it inside the USA's phone system. :D

Interesting. Anyone knows what API they are using or how they are achieving this? It’d have thought that this would not be possible.

From a user perspective it’s similar to content blockers for Safari.

Settings > Phone > Call Blocking & Identification

Just be warned this will also block legitimate numbers.

You can give it access to your contacts so it'll exclude them, or whitelist specific patterns if you want.

Does that app transmit data anywhere?

Not that I know of? The privacy statement on that App Store page says it collects usage data and diagnostics, and that neither are linked to you personally.

its kinda sad that we need an app for that ngl

One of the things I've noticed recently is that spam call numbers have gotten smarter -- somehow they're figuring out numbers corresponding to regions that I spend time in that aren't related to my area code or central exchange...

Meta smarter

I love this. Used to live in SF and kept the 415 number after moving. Any of the bay area area codes get instant silenced (manually). And any number from my current area code I know to answer as it is legit

I noticed spam callers are even copying the first 3 numbers of my cell phone.

555-555-1234

All the 5s match my number, which hasn’t happened since I used to live in a small town. That always makes me do a double check but it’s also easier to ignore.

this wouldn't work for me. most of the spam calls that I get are from other random cities/states that are far from my area code.

But then my calls will come from the random area code too. It’d be neat if you could do a dual phone number, where your CID on outbound calls shows as your local area code, but you give out the foreign area code for inbound calls.

But then you mess up callbacks.

Your missing the point. Spammers call you from a spoofed number so that you think its someone near you based on the area code. I lived just a town over an invisible line in 2009, and ordered a new phone, and got an area code that the only other person I know that has a number in that area code is my wife. (920)

the ONLY calls that call me from that area code are spammers. if I get calls from any other area code, only 20% or so are spammers. Others are sales/marketing for IT companies, etc, and calls from one of the 2 area codes that cover my area where I actually live are usually all local businesses, etc. If I had to guess, I would say 85-90% of the 'spam callers' call and spoof the 920 area code when they dial me. that drastically cuts down on my automated messages about a car warranty that is about to expire.

You misunderstand slightly. All the calls from the area code matching your phone number are more likely to be spam (spammers matching you to appear legit). So unless you call people in that particular area, you won't be matching their area code, so you won't look like a spammer. And unless you happen to know a lot of people in that area, you won't get calls from that area that appear to be spam.

> So unless you call people in that particular area, you won't be matching their area code, so you won't look like a spammer

You're misunderstanding them too, I suspect. One could equally assume that a call coming from an area code they've never been to, 5 states away is spam - so this trick works if you do not make a lot of calls.

> One could equally assume that a call coming from an area code they've never been to, 5 states away is spam

Not equally. I have an area code from the opposite coast. If I get a call from that area code, it is 100% spam. Spammers just love outing themselves by spoofing the same area code of the person they are calling.

A call from any other area code is only 30% chance of being spam.

> But then my calls will come from the random area code too

Nobody will care. Everybody's cell number is just a record of where they lived when they got their first phone; people you call will have you in their contact list most likely.

I must be extra lucky because I receive calls from all over the US and beyond. Just yesterday I received one from Brazil.

I have a 972 number. Caller ID recently made it look like I'd received calls from Israel and Peru, but it was had dropped the US country code (+1) and making it look like the calls were from +971 (Israel) and +51x (Peru).

OK, so basically if you have a 650-64 Palo Alto number, you'd block half the VCs in the world. If you have a lower Manhattan 212 number, you'd block a quarter of all finance recruiters? (granted, the latter has moved to Linked In)

Yeah, I did this. But it's not enough. Most phone number blocking apps get really slow blocking a couple of area codes. Number Shield loads _very_ slowly on my iPhone 13 with just 919 and 984 blocked. But they do fire prober calls from other locations too. The interesting thing is that they never actually say anything on the phone or in text. It's solely some sort of DoS against me. Weird.

In my location the spammer spoofs the numbers of calls that get picked up or go to voicemail.

I assume they do this to muddy the block lists that get used to filter their calls.

I know this because every now and then I will get up to 5 or so calls or texts of people claiming I called them.

Actually, the more-telling part of the number is the exchange. They'll often match yours, which is dumb as hell.

In the age where most phones are mobile, this whole "scheme" is pitifully ignorant.

Spamming, like many other things in life, is a field of bleeding edge technology. :) They were not using your area code a decade back, then they realized your area code works better - it probably did for a while. When it loses effectiveness, they will move on to other patterns they have discovered.

Also, A/B testing is not just for good guys.

I got a Google Voice number with an area code that's way out in the boonies somewhere. It's super easy for me to identify spam, and to prevent it by not giving my real number to almost anyone.

Yep. I have had my number for, forever and I'm now in a different area code. Pretty much everything that comes in from that original area code is spam.

Just have the US start sending missiles to spam call centers and people will stop real quick.

People answer phone numbers that their phone doesn’t tell them who it is?

Huh.

This works until you get calls from DC.

Select "Silence unknown callers" and you're done.

Last month I had a flurry of spam texts and calls. I moved the slider to the "enable" side a few weeks ago and have had zero issues since.

I would have this on if it wasn't for the fact that I get calls from delivery drivers, who all have unknown numbers, and for whom the notification must be immediate.

I'm always paranoid that I'm going to miss a call from one of the million numbers that come from my kiddo's school.

That and our doctors' offices are starting to call from random numbers. Sigh

Buy a Twilio number that forwards to your real number. Then whoever has that number can call it, and it will ring you from the known Twilio number. Add to address book and voila!

Do spammers not call Twilio numbers?

I assume the spammers buy "known active real person phone numbers" from somewhere (probably the awful carriers themselves), so it might be less likely for them to find a new Twilio number. But as soon as you give the phone number to some company that sells (or accidentally leaks) their customer data, that number will be burned too.

I don't know about calls, but I definitely get spam SMSes on my persistent Twilio SMS numbers.

This is a simple and neat idea. I'll try it on the weekend.

My carrier has an option that forces unknown callers to enter a 2 digit number to proceed with call. I add known contacts to my list online and they don't get the prompt. Works well, however I now get a lot of spam texts which it doesn't work for.

It's strange they don't have some API that would let Lyft or Doordash or whoever provide caller ID for this use case.

This is a great feature but it's a huge double-edged sword. I need to remember to turn it off when I'm expecting a call from an unpredictable number, and then I need to remember to turn it back on again after I receive the call. It would be great if I could turn it off for some number of hours or days.

I've had the same issue if I am expecting a call but not sure what number it will ne. But iIf you already know the number, adding that to contacts will solve the problem ?

Numbers I didn’t know and had to turn off “silence unknown callers”… recruiters/hiring managers, freight deliveries, doctors, pharmacy.

The feature mostly works, but needing to remember to disable it when a call is expected is annoying.

I use a Google Voice number for all of my delivery, business, etc phone calls. It has built in verbal call screening and the smarter spam filtering, and thus my personal iPhone # can be exclusive for my white listed personal calls.

Sadly, soo many services refuse to accept Voice numbers. Most recent example: I tried to submit positive feedback to an airline and their form rejects any Google Voice numbers, mandating a "real" phone number instead.

True. Would they accept Ooma number? Wish I could pay like $5/month for a forward only number that worked everywhere.

I use GV also and use call screening. But it still rings through for me quite a bit with spam, so I now keep DND turned on, and if I get VMs then I return the call. Not ideal, but better than giving out my real phone number.

My strategy is to have my voicemail say that I don't get calls from unknown numbers and to text or call again if it is urgent.

I think this strategy would be a winner if I thought that most people would bother listening to my mailbox message.

I do this.

I missed a hospital calling about a family member. They should have left a voicemail, but they didn't.

People always say this but if this is true:

1) You have a kid AND 2) You're not currently looking right at that kid

Then you need to pick up calls from random numbers basically every time. Just the way life is.

For those of you that want to learn more about this feature, Apple has a page describing how it works as well as how calls get through.

It’s a simple read and worth the minute or so if you use the feature.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32757077

Hospitals and MDs often use unrecognizable phone numbers, you may want to receive those.

What is unknown? Someone not in your contacts? That’s just not feasible, I receive a lot of first time callers especially from work.

Be sure to turn it back off when you're waiting for a call to come in from the plumber, A/C tech, etc.

I forgot this was turned on and missed a call from a recruiter once.

They didn't leave a voicemail? Weird of them to leave money on the table like that for the sake of a few extra seconds.

It's the biggest thing I've missed after switching from a Pixel to an iPhone this week. In my first day of iPhone ownership, I received more spam/text calls than in an entire year with a Pixel.

Why would you switch the same week they were going to announce all new stuff?

There's a 2 week return period, and I wanted to be sure I'd be fine switching to iOS before buying an expensive new device. Part of the reason I'm switching is the new Pro models are a lot closer to Android phones with features like always on display. Based on the rumors, I was pretty sure what to expect today, so I have just been onboarding myself with iOS yesterday and today and can return the phone by the time I should have the new one in hand.

Odd strategy. Why wouldn't you just return the 14 Pro if you didn't like it?

Because I'm immediately leaving town. I can grab it, quickly set it up, and know what to expect.

Don't leaving town make returning difficult?

I believe what the gp is really saying is that by the time they get to pick up the iPhone 14 Pro (whether in store or when their pre-order gets delivered), they'll be too close to the date of their departure.

In other words, they would not have had any meaningful time getting accustomed to iOS from Android, which is why they used the strategy of getting an iPhone 13 spend 2 weeks or more with it, in the hopes that if they like the experience, they'd return it for the newer iPhone 14 Pro.

Correct!

the question remains, why could you not wait instead of creating a refurbished device due to impatience?

I was disappointed to find that if you return an iphone it gets recycled, as in destroyed and ground up to materials, rather than there being any channel of refurbished/open box sales.

https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished

Thank you. Obviously the guy working at the store was not fully informed.

Second hand phones exist.

T-Mobile does this and also labels a lot of numbers "Scam Likely". Its been really helpful. I too wish Apple would do more, but the carrier can do a bit.

I'm using yandex app and it detects spam calls. So iOS does have some hooks for that. You just need to find app for your location.

I just use the free version of Truecaller: https://apps.apple.com/app/id448142450

appreciated this rec. trying it out, so far looks legit. always worried that these things are free (so what data of mine are they selling) but the permissions seem locked down

Truecaller is not bad in some areas like EU, US etc as there are strong privacy laws. They have slightly different versions based on the country and jurisdiction.

But where there are no strong privacy laws like india, truecaller is straight up spyware

https://restofworld.org/2022/how-truecaller-built-a-billion-...

At the very least, it always tells Truecaller who is calling you (your phone doesn't have a copy of the database - it is being looked up).

And at least as of a few years ago, Truecaller would upload a copy of your phonebook to their servers. That's how they bootstrapped their database - from user's addressbooks. I only ever used it on a burner with an empty phone book, and occasionally get Truecaller pearls like "Annoying John - do not answer" as the caller's name.

Give the app bouncer a try. I been able stop almost all spam texts.

That must be a US thing? I never get spam calls on my iPhone and only very rarely a spam text; maybe a couple of times a year I get the 'you've got a parcel with a fee to pay' scam.

It's definitely not a US thing.

Robocalls seem to be way less of a problem in Europe than in the US, not sure how many other countries suffer from the same.

I’d like it if you could just have an ephemeral call list. I don’t want to add an estate agent or recruiter to my main contact list, but I’d like to see their name come up if they call back or I get another call from them.

Just make it a contact with like a 7 day TTL or something. If it’s longer term, save it proper.

I mention this because the old Caller ID setup doesn’t really work any more.

I set up a VOIP phone number for this and give that one to anyone that I don't meet personally. Anyone that needs to be able to call me has my real phone number.

Apple’s call and sms spam filtering remains subpar to say the least.

It's my understanding that this is largely because of the carriers.

Phone and text spam filtering came to the iPhone in China long before it hit other countries. I only know a couple of people in China, and neither are in tech, but they say it's because spam was absolutely rampant so the government leaned on the carriers to fix it, and the iPhone spam filtering appeared a short time later.

There's no shortage of Chinese users on HN, so maybe one of them can explain further, or refute what I've been told.

Is it true? I’m also curious about it.

Also using Focus mode to whitelist who can call me when has reduced my spam calls.

It's weird there's still genuine uses for phone calls. Tends to be only sort of "official" ones from gov agencies or utilities providers. Both cases should be scheduled via text/email first, otherwise it's rude.

I think they have a patent on it

robokiller does a decent job on ios

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