Block nuisance calls on your iPhone

Make sure fraudsters, phishers, and telemarketers can’t talk to you

REQUIRES

iOS 10 or higher

you will learn

How to report and stop annoying or risky numbers that keep calling you

IT WILL TAKE

15 minutes

These days it’s easier than ever to stay in touch with people all over the world, but there’s a downside in that it’s also easy for unsolicited calls to reach you. One cause of this can be that you’ve given your personal data to social networks, apps, or services, perhaps because they require it as part of setting up an account.

Even if you trust that they won’t share your details, a security breach could leak data and lead to fraudsters, phishers, and identity thieves calling you – not to mention the barrage of telemarketers.

This is where Hiya ( apple.co/2kI5Qsg) tries to help out: The service maintains a database that collates the numbers of known spammers and scammers, and will warn you when one is trying to call.

On the Phone app’s incoming call screen, Hiya adds a yellow alert for spam calls from the likes of telemarketers and surveyors, or a red “No entry” shield next to any number it identifies definitively as a “scam or fraud” – and you have the option to block both or pass them to voicemail if you prefer.

You can help boost Hiya’s effectiveness, too. Within the app there’s a page for reporting or blocking unwanted numbers; the info you provide there is sent back to Hiya’s developer, which, after a number is reported enough times, will add it to the public database. That database is updated daily and automatically, so you don’t have to worry about constantly installing app updates – everybody who uses Hiya is protected as quickly and easily as possible, thanks to community efforts.

Make preparations

One thing that might raise concern when you first open the app is that it asks for permission to access your contacts. According to Hiya’s privacy policy, this is to “filter out numbers that may look spammy, but are actually legitimate (like your Doctor’s office).”

After you’ve run through the app’s intro, go to Settings > Phone > Call Blocking & Identification and ensure the switch next to Hiya at the top of the page is on. Then read on to learn how to work with Hiya.