We have all been there. Receiving continuous calls from “Unknown Caller” or no caller ID showing up on our phones. These annoying calls generally originate from telemarketers, spammers, etc. Other calls of the same type may show up as Private, Blocked, or simply as Anonymous. Regardless of where they originate or who they are from, we all want to take steps to block these calls.
With the ability to block certain contacts or known numbers, users want the ability to also block the more annoying ‘unknown callers’ as well. If you are one of the many who want to do something about the continuous unknown callers, there is good news. We will take a look at why you may receive these calls, and what steps you can take to make them stop.
So Why Are They Unknown?
Not everyone may be aware of the fact that in the US the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has mandated that cellular service providers are to allow people to be able to block their number from caller ID. For the everyday user this feature is a valuable privacy feature. However, there are many more spammers and telemarketers using the feature now. Using the No Caller ID feature allows them to call cell phone users anonymously.
How to Block Those Who Have No Caller ID
Receiving calls from unknown callers can be frustrating. Fortunately, there are a few ways that you can silence or block those who have chosen to stay anonymous. Here we will take a look at what options you may have to avoid having these No Caller ID calls interrupt your day.
Option 1: Do Not Disturb
This option will allow you to receive calls from only those who are already in your address book. All other calls, including those with No Caller ID will be silenced. This does not fully block them, only silences the call.
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Go into your settings and look for ‘Do Not Disturb’
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Select the ‘Manual’ option
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Turn on ‘Do Not Disturb’ (a moon icon will appear in your status bar)
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Select ‘Allow Calls from’
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Next, select ‘All Contacts’ from the options
Additionally, you may want to enable the ‘Repeated Calls’ option, as most spammers and telemarketers will not be calling over and over.
Option 2: Contacts
Your next option is to use your contacts list to create a blocked contact. You can label this contact as “No Caller ID” for the name.
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Open the ‘Phone’ app
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Choose ‘Contacts’
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Select the ‘+’ button to create a new contact
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For the phone number you will enter 000-000-0000
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Select ‘Done’
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Scroll until you see ‘Block This Caller’ and select this option
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You will then see a pop “You Will Not Receive Phone Calls, Messages, or FaceTime from People on the Block List”
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Select ‘Block Contact’ at this point
Option 3: Service Provider Blocks
This is the only 100% way that you can truly block an anonymous number from getting through. You will find that most of the major cell phone service providers offer a feature that will block unknown calls. You can search your service providers’ website for detailed information on if or how to block unknown callers.
A few of the carriers that offer this feature have articles on their website to assist in blocking these unwanted calls.
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T-Mobile: Blocking Anonymous Callers
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Verizon: Anonymous Call Block
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AT&T: Anonymous Call Rejection
There are still some carriers who do not offer the feature to block unknown numbers. You can, however, block your own number from showing up to others from most any phone, regardless of the provider.
One thing we should point out is that these methods should not be used in certain cases. If you get wanted calls on a regular basis from someone at unrecognized numbers or a business who has their ID blocked, you may want to avoid the above options. It is worth the time to think through who might be blocked in the process before proceeding.
With these types of calls one of the most frustrating things is that you cannot find out who a ‘No Caller ID’ number is or where it has originated. While this can be somewhat irritating, now you do have some options of stopping the calls from be so intrusive or stopped all together. As a final option you can always call your service providers technical support for additional information or ways to block unwanted calls.
It is important to note that when searching your carriers’ website for assistance all of the following terminology are the same thing. Be as specific as possible in your search for better results.
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No Caller ID
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Unknown Caller
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Private Caller
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Anonymous Call
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Anonymous
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Blocked Call
I have tried all of these.. here’s the problem with the putting on do not disturb, allowing your contacts to call- I don’t get audio notifications when I receive a text from my contacts or anyone. I don’t like that because it could be an emergency or even just important and by the time I get around to just looking at my phone periodically, it could be too late. I have Verizon, and I have Family Base. There’s an option that allows me to select restrict private numbers. Thought my problem was solved. Was it? Nope. Still getting unknown calls. We are talking 35-40 PER DAY, sometimes back to back. I don’t want to change my number, and want to keep my iPhone, so what do I do now?
I guess the 000-000-0000 didn’t stop “Unknown Callers”? I was just going to give that a try. 😉
Address Book on iOS 12 doesn’t give me the option to block this contact after adding 000-000-0000 as a contact. Doesn’t work.
Correct, it doesn’t work. Even adding “Unkown” as a contact and then block it does not work either.
Yeah, the Iphone totally sucks. I had a Samsung that worked awesome. Every since I got this Iphone 8, it has been nothing but frustration and disappointment. Everything is back-assed. I can’t even connect to my computer to download pictures- something that should be so simple in the 21st century turned into such a major project. Can’t block the most annoying calls that exists for some stupid reason. Apple is not user friendly which is how they came to be back in the 90s with the Mac, but their philosophy has changed to some kind of greedy, communist, world of stupidity. For the life of me i can’t understand all the hype about it. They would have/should have gone completely bankrupt if it wasn’t for the ipod. But those days are long over. Nobody needs itunes or wants it. But they try to force it on you like greedy little commie bastards. It is such a scary thing to see all those dumb people standing in line all night long waiting for the new Iphone to come out in stores. It is a piece of garbage and the support is non-existent from some smug punk-ass.
Anybody want to buy a barely used Iphone 8????!!!
This is not relevant to the article.
Well what’s your freaking problem. You bough an iPhone, that’s your problem. Remember, that it’s a choice you made. Similarly, everyone can choose which phone one wants. So stop bashing a company like an idiot.
You need help other than with your iPhone. Seriously.
Ditch your PC it’s cheap, a worthless Windows PITA, iPhone is designed to WORK with macOS. See how much money you saved?
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hopefully this worksss, someone i used to talk to won’t stop calling me from *67 (anonymous way to call) and it comes up as Unknown Caller. i know it’s him because i answered the first time. i just keep declining, and if my mom finds out it’s him, she’ll think i came back to him. ugh, sorry for the rant, but hopefully, again, this works!!
thanks
but how can i block unknown calls
thanks
This is my last iphone. Not being able to stop unknown phones call did it.
Hey! Just so u know the 0 way might work because if you go into settings and type in blocked there should be a phone thing that appears and from there you can select a contact
To start with,I’m one of those 70 yrs.”young”(there’s nothing wrong in being old,I love my senior status and my age!) With time, some of us develop the
“best call blocking tool”, it’s call… Patience! I get them all the time,even from Russia, and other strange countries. I have developed this strange
feeling of joy when I get these calls,
This is how it works: the phone rings, I let it ring and ring, it’ll stop, then when
stopped(I’m a bus driver),I look,check and I truly enjoy the pleasure of deleting
them with one tip of my finger. Easy,
Some times,I even like to “play” with them(I know,I’m evil) . I start a conversation(short,they get desperate fast,specially the fast talkers!(things like…are you momma? Oh I have so much fun. Patiently ignore them and press that finger. Develop that taste…
Come to the dark side of call deleting!
This is how I do my blocking. I would go to YouTube search for ( disconnect number message recording ) and add that to my voicemail. Once the callers or telemarketing calls they realized it’s a disconnected number and they’ll remove you from there calling data 👍
Its just baffling these phone companies actually let people have this ability & let the person on the receiving end put up with it with no legit way to counteract it & its usually just used as a tool for harassment & abuse anyway. Spammers these days call with displayable numbers so if someone using an unknown/blocked number is probably a stalker/harasser or someone trying to bypass a number you have blocked.
A few years back I was dealing with blocked number calling me over & over & I had no way(at least that I was aware of) the within the phone to block or unmask the unknown/blocked number. This should be a serious breach of privacy considering someone can call you whenever & you have no way of knowing the number calling. There should be some included way of unmasking or at least blocking a caller with no number to be displayed.
They seem to have designed/updated the iPhone call app in such a way so it requires a number to be able to do anything about it so not even using the ‘silence unknown callers’ feature can block a caller with no displayable number. They should make it so a number has to be displayed regardless in order for the caller to go through.
I still didn’t see an answer on how to block Unknown Callers…. anyone?
No one, because there is NO help from Apple on unknown private calls
I just got an Iphone12. I am unable to figure out how my contacts all get blocked, I go to the bottom and push blocked , it then comes back in blue and says call unblocked.
However I go to my phone app in settings and push blocked calls and they are all back as blocked. Verizon tried to fix it, but Apple needs to do it.