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iPhone User Guide

Screen and block calls on iPhone

On iPhone you can block specific callers and you can change your setting to automatically identify, screen, filter, and block unknown and spam calls.

Turn on call identification

iPhone can help identify incoming calls using information from Apple Business Connect, supported carriers, and supported call identification apps.

  1. Go to the Settings app 👁 Image
     on your iPhone.

  2. Tap Apps, tap Phone, then tap Call Blocking & Identification.

  3. Turn on one or more of the following:

    • Business Call Identification: Caller information is identified by Apple Business Connect or your carrier.

    • Call Identification apps: Caller information is identified by supported caller ID apps.

Screen or silence unknown numbers

Call Screening automatically answers calls from unknown numbers without interrupting you. Once the caller shares their name and reason for their call, your iPhone rings and shares their response so you can decide if you want to pick up. You can also choose to silence calls from unknown callers and send them directly to voicemail.

👁 An iPhone with a Call Screening notification displayed on the Lock Screen. The notification states that the iPhone is asking the caller for their name and why they are calling.

  1. Go to the Settings app 👁 Image
    on your iPhone.

  2. Tap Apps, then tap Phone.

  3. Choose one of the following:

    • Never: Call Screening is turned off and your iPhone will ring when you receive a call from an unsaved number.

    • Ask Reason for Calling: Calls from unknown numbers will be asked for more information before iPhone rings.

    • Silence: Calls from unsaved numbers will be silenced, sent to voicemail, and appear in the Recents list.

Note: When answering calls, Siri will speak in your iPhone’s default language. See Change the language and region on iPhone.

Filter unknown and spam calls

  1. Go to the Settings app 👁 Image
    on your iPhone.

  2. Tap Apps, then tap Phone.

  3. Turn on the following:

    • Unknown Callers: Calls from unknown numbers are removed from your Recents list and sent to the Unknown Callers list.

    • Spam: Calls identified by your carrier as potential spam or fraud are silenced, sent to voicemail, and moved to the Spam list.

You can mark an unknown caller as known to prevent future calls from being sent to the Unknown Callers list. Go to the Phone app 👁 Image
, tap 👁 the Filter button
, tap Unknown Callers, tap Mark as Known next to the call, then tap Mark as Known.

To remove a number from your known callers, tap Contacts twice, tap Other Known, tap the number you want to remove, then tap Mark as Unknown at the bottom of the contact card.

Block calls from specific people or numbers

  1. Go to the Phone app 👁 Image
    on your iPhone.

  2. Tap Contacts, tap a contact, then tap Block Contact.

Unblock a blocked contact

  1. Go to the Settings app 👁 Image
     on your iPhone.

  2. Tap Apps, then tap Phone.

  3. Tap Blocked Contacts, then tap Edit.

  4. Tap 👁 the Remove button
    ,     then tap Unblock.

View calls from unknown or spam callers

  1. Go to the Phone app 👁 Image
    on your iPhone.

  2. Do one of the following, depending on which Phone app layout you are using:

    • Unified layout: Tap Calls.

    • Classic layout: Tap Recents.

  3. Tap 👁 the Filter button
    in the top-right corner of your screen.

  4. Tap Unknown Callers or Spam.

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