How to block an area code on an iPhone

thank you!! this did work...

One thing they haven't told you....Create a new contact with just +1 (XXX) where XXX is the area code you want to Block. Add nothing more to this Contact info.

Then go to Settings and scroll down to Phone, then Blocked Contacts. Scroll to the very last number listed in the Blocked Contacts list. Press the "Add New"... option. It will take you to your contacts list. Scroll to the bottom of your contacts list and find the +1 (XXX) Contact that you created previously. Touch that number +1 (XXX), and it will automatically add it to the Blocked Contacts List in your Settings. Now it should block all those numbers that come from the Area Code.

Just an update for Feb 2025

tl;dr this does not work. But here are some more details in case anyone is curious.

• Yes there is a "block caller" option in the current version of iOS.
• You may have to scroll to the bottom of the contact to see it...
• Adding as an example +1 (901) as a contact number and blocking it will not prevent calls from the 901 area code.
• In my experience 3rd party spam blockers don't work consistently, I would definitely not pay for one.
• The only thing that kind of works is "Silence Unknown Callers" but you're still going to get notifications if you have them enabled. There is no way to make them never reach your phone that I have found, even with a paid application.

I hope this helps some of you out. Spam has been a problem for decades and there never has been, nor do I anticipate a solution as the problem makes too much money for those that would be required to fix it.

Thanks, that worked…. Neat trick

I was sooo hopeful. These political spam texts are killing me! Like LatrinaCleanola mentioned, there IS NOT an option for blocking a caller or for blocking anything. The only option is “Delete Contact.”

I also tried this, and it does not work. I have an iPhone 14 Pro with iOS 18.1.1. Created and blocked the contact per the post and I'm still getting multiple daily calls from the blocked area code.

I block 512 area code this way 512-###-####. The phone doesn’t ring but the call still shows in the call list and it goes to voicemail . Sorry after a lot of research this is the least expensive I could find

apple-josh wrote:

Dear Apple (Bug Report):

This seems like a bug. I'm on an IPhone 13 Mini running 18.3.1. When handling blocked calls, it should be enough to have a single contact entry registered in the phone app's "Blocked Contacts" list and have every associated number for that contact be blocked. Currently, it seems that each associated number for the same contact must have its own entry in the "Blocked Contacts" list - which defies user expectations and is leading to a ton of confusion around a feature that would otherwise be an incredible tool in the fight against SPAM.

I'd also imagine that this bug is affecting people who block a contact and then add a new (or edit an existing) phone number to the contact. The new information doesn't get registered to the blocked contacts list even though the contact appears blocked from the contacts page.

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

I was struggling with this as well and then noticed something weird in the phone app's blocked contact settings.

I had setup one contact named "Blocked Area Code" with ~25 different area codes to block in the format "+1 (xxx)" without quotes. Then, I clicked "block caller" at the bottom of the contact page. Despite that, I was still getting calls from area codes I'd expect to be blocked according to this thread.

I went into the phone app's blocked contact settings and noticed 4 entries for my "Blocked Area Code" contact. Clicking info on them would load the contact page and take me to one specific area code out of the ~25 or so registered to the contact, and that area code would have a tag on it "[recent]".

What I did next was delete those 4 entries, clicked "Add New" at the bottom of the blocked contacts list, and re-selected my "Blocked Area Codes" contact. What this did was create ~25 new entries in the list (as opposed to just the 4 that existed previously) and each one seemed to represent a specific area code belonging to the blocked contact. I suspect this is the bug/issue that people are running into when they claim the original method doesn't work.

TLDR; For those people who are not seeing advertised/expected results:

1. Create a new contact, name it something like "Blocked Area Code."
2. Add all the area codes you want to block to that contact in the format "+1 (xxx)" without quotes.
3. Open Settings > Apps > Phone > Blocked Contacts
4. Delete any reference to the "Blocked Area Code" contact that may already exist in that list.
5. At the bottom of the list click "Add New..."
6. Select the "Blocked Area Code" contact in order to re-add it to the list.
7. You should observe one entry in the blocked contacts list for every area code you added to the contact.

Note: I'm assuming that any time a new area code gets added to the "Blocked Area Code" contact, it will be necessary to re-do all of this to ensure the area code actually gets blocked.

Dear Apple (Bug Report):

This seems like a bug. I'm on an IPhone 13 Mini running 18.3.1. When handling blocked calls, it should be enough to have a single contact entry registered in the phone app's "Blocked Contacts" list and have every associated number for that contact be blocked. Currently, it seems that each associated number for the same contact must have its own entry in the "Blocked Contacts" list - which defies user expectations and is leading to a ton of confusion around a feature that would otherwise be an incredible tool in the fight against SPAM.

I'd also imagine that this bug is affecting people who block a contact and then add a new (or edit an existing) phone number to the contact. The new information doesn't get registered to the blocked contacts list even though the contact appears blocked from the contacts page.

Apple cannot do this. Ask your phone service provider.

They can certainly do this, but whether or not they will will be open to question.

Perhaps this technique worked for older versions of iOS, but there is no longer a "Block" button in the contacts page.

You are correct. After a week I realized the app wasn't helping at all for area codes alone.

This worked perfectly thank you

Zwan123 wrote:

How to block calls from specific area code on Apple iphone 16

Have you read any of the suggestions give in this three page thread?

Anotherdeafguy wrote:

Tried that, wasn't seeing any "Block this Caller" option under the contact. Forced closed Contacts and re-checked the contact, still not there. Checked other contacts, and it was under any of those either, even though I remember seeing it before.

Try swiping down further.

Went to Settings > Phone > Blocked Contacts, and I have a fairly long list of blocked contacts that I've collected over more than a decade, so I deleted a bunch that hopefully won't still be trying to spam me, and then went back to Contacts, and lo! Now the "Block this Caller" appeared for that area code's entry.

Apparently the Blocked Contacts list only allows a limited number of entries, ~36?

No, there doesn't appear to be a limit. I stopped counting mine and 60 and there were a lot left.