The problem I have is that it simply doesn't work.
Since installing it (and allowing full permissions) I've had spam callers on a weekly basis and maybe 1/10 gets flagged.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The iOS 10 Call Blocking & Identification Apps Thread
- Thread starter hank moody
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Since installing it (and allowing full permissions) I've had spam callers on a weekly basis and maybe 1/10 gets flagged.
Thanks for your reply Kamran.
If I understood you correctly, when one allows access to the contact list, a SPAM user is created in the apps Contacts tab, with a huge list of telephone numbers. This list is the list of spammers, which is I presume updated daily. The app, I assume, updates this contact entry on a regular basis.
If one wants to block (as in "I will never know if you called me") all those potential spammers, its done via the application's contacts tab by looking for the SPAM entry and then Edit and block.
Did i get it right?
In the grand scheme of things...for me, that answer is an unqualified Yes. But I have a number that was once a business number, and still shows up occasionally in lists online even though the business has been gone almost 8 years now. I get waves of a month or so at a time where multiple spam & scam calls a day have been an issue, and I used to jailbreak for iBlacklist, which cost me about the same $10-15 every time I upgraded phones. Should this function simply be included in iOS at no charge? YES. But it isn't, and I'm willing to pay to never have to deal with another stupid sales recording or fake IRS message again.
But if spam calls are merely a mild nuisance, maybe one of the free tools is a better option.
Hi William and all,
That's good to know. Always make sure that your spam list is up to date, within the "spam" tab that is.
If the spam list is already up to date then we need to investigate why those numbers is not already added to the CallKit extension list. In order for us to fully investigate please share me the spam-numbers and your phone number + country code, PM me. And that goes for all of you
@RqThrottle
Glad to hear that you understood. And yes, it's created to the contact tab which is your contacts. It's basically a shortcut to your contact book from a third party. So, when you allow contact access we'll update the top spam(contact) list for you accordingly to keep you protected at all costs. You can remove the contact by disabling "Top spammers" within Truecaller > more > settings > top spammers.
As you already know by now, these are the top spammers in your region and the spammers from the CallKit list can also be considered as top spammers of course but if you update it on daily bases then you'll add newly spammers to the CallKit list. For instance, if a spammer with a low spam-score is calling you outside of U.S then CallKit list should back you up on that.
@rijc99 Yes, that is why we require contact access, in order to protect you.
I can't answer on those deeper technical/engineering questions but i know for sure that we have no interest in doing that. If we had same "freedom" as in the Android/WP platform then we could provide all of this without contact access and also provide with a full caller id experience + blocking hidden calls and much more. We do the best with these limitations in order to help you guys to stay spam-free.
Thanks for understanding and feel free to contact me if you have any other questions or concerns.
Good night,
Kamran @ Truecaller
I tried CallBlock. It's enabled on the "Call Blocking and Identification" and running on the background. It let through 2 spam calls in less than 12 hours. They were not even flagged as such... color me unimpressed.
Exactly my same experience. I think I've had this app installed for 3-4 months now and maybe 2 calls have been flagged? Probably deleting soon.
I've installed AT&T Call Protect, too. The calls it deems "Potential Fraud" are blocked at network level; the ones deemed "Spam" are flagged as "Telemarketer" but still ring through. Checking the incoming numbers, it's not entirely clear to me how they are differentiating. (The Call Protect app will let you see what the incoming numbers were, even for those calls that don't ring through.)
In the past three weeks, I've had five calls blocked at network level, and one rang though as "Telemarketer."
Overall, I'd give Call Protect an A-. I hope they give us the option to block Spam calls, not just flag them.
In the past three weeks, I've had five calls blocked at network level, and one rang though as "Telemarketer."
Overall, I'd give Call Protect an A-. I hope they give us the option to block Spam calls, not just flag them.
I haven't had any calls flagged as "Telemarketer", which is supposed to show up on the lock screen instead of the phone number. I'm not sure why since I'm in a HD calling area, which is the only requirement. The only time I ever saw "Telemarketer" on the lock screen is when my iPad rang (numbersync rings all registered devices), but my iPhone still showed the phone number.
It was already doing spam detection for a long time, using the old method of creating a contact with spam numbers. Seemed a natural progression considering the huge database of numbers they'd built... and adding CallKit blocking was also a further natural progression.
I used to use it to sync contact photos and other information, but stopped a while back, seemingly before all the spam identification and all of that was really part of it.
Is it? I just installed it and it only lists 2417 numbers. Do I have to become a paid subscriber to get more? Other blockers have well over 100,000 numbers.
Just going to delete TrueCaller. It's truly useless. Sorry @kamranmamedi , your app does nothing. I just got another call which wasn't flagged. Then when I copied and pasted into the app, it didn't show up, but a quick Google search showed that MANY have already reported that number as a credit card spammer.
I absolutely love sync.me. I personally think its the best one out there. It works great for me.
just don't let your friends know when someone puts their number in here it reveals their name because you uploaded your contacts to their database: https://sync.me/
Last edited:
I can confirm multiple Id/blocker apps work with each other. As for whether it's redundant to use multiple apps, depends on how fast apps update their database of scammers and what numbers each app developer adds to the block list. There's likely redundancy, but I've had different apps correctly/incorrectly identify numbers.
The Call Protect app is entirely different as it doesn't use CallKit. I would say since it uses the Hiya database that it and Hiya are redundant, though only if Call Protects caller ID feature works. For me it does not. Blocking works, Id does not.
I'm quite impressed with AT&T Call protect. It's more of a pita to set up (IMEI and ATT ID) than the others, but totally worth it. Also, one doesn't need to share the contact list for the network level blocking feature. Oh, and you can have say ATT TC and TrueCaller running at the same time.