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Block a phone number. What does the caller see and hear?
- Thread starter petalino
- Start date
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Whilst there may be some valid reasons for wanting a caller to know they've been blocked, for me I would prefer the opposite.
Since ios7 I've blocked three numbers. I'm 100% sure each one has been a commercial call from credit companies or PPI lawyers that are just looking for opportunist custom.
I'd rather they assumed my number was out of action and unresponsive than them knowing I've actively declined their calls. If they know my number is live and I'm just blocking them they'll keep trying from a different number. It's the same as spam email.
Since ios7 I've blocked three numbers. I'm 100% sure each one has been a commercial call from credit companies or PPI lawyers that are just looking for opportunist custom.
I'd rather they assumed my number was out of action and unresponsive than them knowing I've actively declined their calls. If they know my number is live and I'm just blocking them they'll keep trying from a different number. It's the same as spam email.
The only thing that really bothers me is how text messages are tagged as "delivered". If they simply had no tag (which happens for me once in a while) it would be better, IMO.
Would also be nice if someone blocked could not leave messages on voicemail, but I don't know how this could work while not telling people they have been blocked. Perhaps a "this voicemail is full and cannot take more messages" warning?
Would also be nice if someone blocked could not leave messages on voicemail, but I don't know how this could work while not telling people they have been blocked. Perhaps a "this voicemail is full and cannot take more messages" warning?
But this is not a true block. An old-school block prevents the call from even going through. Apple is apparently doing this at the phone level, not collaborating with the carriers. With a block, callers should certainly not be able to continue to leave voicemails. What if this is some guy who can't take a hint and continues to leave weird VMs on a girl's phone? This is a bad solution.
An Improvement
Whilst most opinions are understood I can't help but feel it's an improvement on what was on offer before ......... nothing.
In general I agree that a block should be just that but fairly pointless if it is anything non commercial (ie a fallout etc) and the second party isn't aware.
A simple message informing them that they are blocked and contact via phone is a waste of time should suffice - unless they've already blocked you lol.
Whilst most opinions are understood I can't help but feel it's an improvement on what was on offer before ......... nothing.
In general I agree that a block should be just that but fairly pointless if it is anything non commercial (ie a fallout etc) and the second party isn't aware.
A simple message informing them that they are blocked and contact via phone is a waste of time should suffice - unless they've already blocked you lol.
Brilliant simple explanation !!! You would think, right .
But this is MR and you are dealing with lot of people with not much between their ears - or not big enough 'goolies' to tell their potentially pregnant girlfriends of the break up face to face. They think a block feature from Apple is supposed to solve all personal problems as well .
I would like Siri to say 'Please stop calling or texting this number. Apple fanboy does not want to be your friend'
I don't use voicemail so I disable it and when I test it, it doesn't even ring just a dead line noise
So it sounds more like an Ignore feature and not a Block feature because there is no notification to the caller/texter that they're being blocked.
Too bad you couldn't customize this a tad and have the option to block (it tells the caller they're blocked) or ignore.
Too bad you couldn't customize this a tad and have the option to block (it tells the caller they're blocked) or ignore.
If you block someone it should not say delivered on texts. If anyhing it should say unable to deliver and get bounced back.
Phone calls it should go straight to a message that says unable to connect your call and it hangs up. Not allow them to leave a voicemail, if youve blocked an abusive person say they should not be able to leave you messages.
They would soon get the message.
Phone calls it should go straight to a message that says unable to connect your call and it hangs up. Not allow them to leave a voicemail, if youve blocked an abusive person say they should not be able to leave you messages.
They would soon get the message.
This I agree with 100%
This would be on the carrier side I would assume? iOS put the ball in their court......
You don't get the call or even notified of the voicemail (unless you check for it). That seems like a block to me. If you want the other person to know they have been blocked just tell them once and that's that. If they keep on calling and leaving a voicemail you can just delete those voicemails once a month or even not at all (since you aren't notified about them) and that's that.
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It's not related to apps, just actual calls, messages, and/or FaceTime.
While I think the current feature is good enough, I do wish it was more like Google Voice. If you get blocked in Google Voice, the caller hears a message saying the number has been disconnected.
It also wouldn't hurt to get a bounce back text message stating something similar if you are blocked via text. Google Voice handles blocked text messages the same way IOS 7 does currently.
It also wouldn't hurt to get a bounce back text message stating something similar if you are blocked via text. Google Voice handles blocked text messages the same way IOS 7 does currently.
I like it. Personally, I will be blocking a few people when I get a 5S, but I don't want them to know. I want to block them because it is awkward to speak to them. If they were told that they were blocked, that would also be awkward, the exact issue I want to avoid.
This is a non-issue.
If you want someone to know you've blocked them, tell them.
Do you really want the phone sending loads of text messages telling people they're blocked without you knowing?
Sending messages automatically is potentially dangerous anyway. What if someone's iPhone responds to somebody who has taken out a Restraining Order against them prohibiting contact? They'd be arrested for a serious criminal offence.
If you want someone to know you've blocked them, tell them.
Do you really want the phone sending loads of text messages telling people they're blocked without you knowing?
Sending messages automatically is potentially dangerous anyway. What if someone's iPhone responds to somebody who has taken out a Restraining Order against them prohibiting contact? They'd be arrested for a serious criminal offence.
I think Apple should give the option to notify if the blocked person is blocked or not. They both have their uses, and the other person being told that their message has been delivered when it hasn't can create other problems.
It's pathetic that some people like to think that just because they don't have use for a feature, that nobody else should either.
It's pathetic that some people like to think that just because they don't have use for a feature, that nobody else should either.
A 'respond to all' option would be dangerous as per my previous post, but the option to set it on a per-person basis could work.
You can still use Google Voice for just voicemail and have that kind of blocking too in addition to what Apple provides.
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A not delivered type of response would be a nightmare for Apple and carriers as there would be people contacting them telling them they have issues sending something to someone and they would have to waste their resources teoubleshooting the issue when it's just someone blocking them.
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Having configurable options would be fine, but we know Apple, they don't really like to give too many options often so as not to complicate things. Perhaps they will add something in an update in the future (given that this is the first release where blocking became available in general), but at best we can mostly just hope for that (certainly not expect it).
I think one issue with bounce back text messages would be for folks that don't have unlimited text messages would possibly get charged for these bounce backs without even knowing they were sent.
I'm fine with the way it is. If I truly need to block someone, I would log on to my carrier website and do it there. iMessage always bypass the carrier blocking though so now I can do it on the phone as well and not worry about it.