HT201229: Block phone numbers and contacts or filter messages on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch
Learn about Block phone numbers and contacts or filter messages on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch
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Helpful answers
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Jan 22, 2016 6:57 PM in response to Oldbieby tasa,This has been happening to me in the past couple of months, very annoying! So today when I received a call from a previously blocked number I looked at a number of possibilities. I discovered that when using the "Block this caller" directly from the recent call log, it automatically added the "1" prefix to the blocked call number, even if that prefix doesn't show in the caller ID. However, when I tried creating a new contact from the recent call log, that "1" prefix was not incuded in the contact record. It remains to be seen if this works. I guess if it works I won't know since the call won't go through! I'd be interested to see if anyone else has tried this alternative method for blocking unwanted calls.
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Jan 27, 2016 4:02 AM in response to tasaby Daniel Woolstencroft,This has been bugging me too. A call from a blocked contact today triggered a google search, and this thread.
Thanks to the advice here, it does look like the theory Zundix posted is true. I had a "blocked" and a "blocked2" contact - I'd previously had a theory that only the first 10 numbers were actually blocked, which didn't prove to be the case.
When I checked in settings - phone - blocked, I had one row for Blocked, and one for Blocked2. I removed both, and re-blocked them, and now I have a row for each number I've got in each contact.
In short, every time you add a new number to a blocked contact, you have to unblock and reblock to get them to work.
It seems like managing these for each number might be the better way to go. The old tip of having a blocked contact that you just keep adding numbers to doesn't seem to work on the later versions of iOS.
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Jan 27, 2016 6:58 AM in response to Daniel Woolstencroftby zundix,Actually, I found that you do not actually need to remove and readd the contact. You can just add it again, the new phone numbers will be added and the previous ones will be retained.
In other words:
- get unwanted call
- add number to unwanted callers contact, containing many others
- readd contact to blocking list
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Apr 7, 2016 9:04 AM in response to zundixby ChasButters,This is the key. They are storing the blocked numbers separately from the contact, and that list just gets updated with the existing list at the time that you block the contact. Anything added later is not added to the blocked list. So I understand what's happening there, but it would be nice if they just referenced the contact in the list of blocked callers rather than the individual numbers.
Another thing I just noticed is that if you go into the Contacts app to access a contact, the "Block this caller" option isn't there. It's only an option when you access contacts via the Phone app.
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Apr 26, 2016 8:18 AM in response to paperqueenby Ferd Burfle,Wow...17 unique numbers for your Junk Calls contact...I wish...
I have over 100 unique numbers (and some fake area codes) for my "Unknown Caller" contact, one of those numbers called me this morning and got through. I tried to implement paperqueen's solution, and when I clicked the i in the circle, guess what? It took me to my Unknown Caller contact where the number was plainly listed. And at the bottom of that contact? UNBLOCK this caller - which means - it's supposed to be blocked.
I'm getting many calls a week from these robocallers. The phone is listed on the do not call list (BIG HELP...not really!)
HELP ME OBI WAN TIM COOKIE, YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE! I'm a loyal Apple fan, but I'm at the end of my rope. I'm considering jail breaking or (heavens forbid!) an Android solution.
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Jun 8, 2016 1:21 PM in response to Ferd Burfleby EEKinPA,I'm getting daily "search engine junk" phone calls even though I added the number to a contact that is blocked. If I understand the thread above, blocks are done by number rather than by contact. And that when you add a number to a contact list that already is set for blocking, that number isn't added to the blocked list. That's not how I would have implemented the feature.
In the future, I'll just block the number when the call comes in rather than adding them to a contact list (I have a few such lists).
But what I just did to each of my junk contacts was Unblock this Contact (potentially letting through any number in that contact for a few moments) and then Block this Contact (hopefully blocking all numbers currently in that contact). It sounds as though this should work. I don't have a good way to test whether it really does work. If I get a Search Engine Junk call, I'll know that it doesn't work. But it was easy to unblock and then block.
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Aug 11, 2016 10:38 AM in response to Oldbieby paulywesterberg,I have this problem on my iPhone 6 Plus, iOS Version 9.3.4, This seems to be a bug in Apples call blocking implementation which is based on numbers, not contacts. You can see the list of blocked numbers if you go to
Settings > Phone > Blocked
At the time when you block a contact it will copy all of the numbers over to the blocked numbers list. But if you add a number to a blocked contact at a later date it will not get automatically added to the blocked numbers list.
Apple could fix this 2 ways:
1. If a number is added to a blocked contact then also add it to the blocked contact list.
2. Allow the blocked list to include numbers or contacts, when you lookup the caller/contact to display it on the phone as it rings check if the contact is blocked and disregard the call.
You can temporarily fix this by unblocking and then blocking the contact which will correctly copy all of the numbers to the blocked numbers list.
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Sep 8, 2016 3:01 PM in response to FoxFifthby Howard Brazee,I used to just block spam, but decided to create a "blocked" number to keep better track of which phone numbers are blocked.
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Sep 8, 2016 3:10 PM in response to Howard Brazeeby Howard Brazee,I just noticed - I don't seem to be able to tell which number just called me. "Recent" just shows "blocked" called me.
But I just edited "blocked" and copied all of the numbers without a "1" prefix and added them as phone numbers with that prefix.