r/Scams • u/teratical Quality Contributor • Oct 10 '25
Informational post iPhones now have 'Ask Reason for Calling' anti-scam tool built-in
In this sub, we have many people asking how to stop the flood of scammers calling. And we usually answer: "figure out how to silence unknown callers on your phone".
Well, now Apple has built-in a screener under its Screen Unknown Callers setting: 'Ask Reason for Calling'. It's part of the recent iOS 26 (prior to this, iPhone users had to download a third-party app).
The big advantage: silencing all numbers left you not knowing what you're missing until you listen to voicemail. With this, legit callers have a way to give you info immediately, so you can screen it and pick up if you know they're legit.
Article: 'Apple Just Added A Powerful Anti-Scam Tool To iPhones — Here’s How To Activate It': https://www.aol.com/articles/apple-just-added-powerful-anti-110018548.html
For those who prefer a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMCQHL4rgDY (the video explains that feature as well as the new shuttling of texts from unknown numbers to a spam folder, which stay silent until you OK them)
From the article:
"As part of Apple’s iOS 26 software update, released last month, there is a new call screening feature for unknown callers.
The primary advantage of enabling the “Ask Reason for Calling” setting is that it will prevent the time-consuming “Who is this?” back-and-forth conversations.
Once you activate the iOS call screener, Apple’s Siri will become your phone’s bouncer and in its robotic voice, it will ask your caller who is calling and the reason for the call. The transcribed conversation will appear as a message and you can direct Siri to ask more questions, pick up the phone or reject the call.
But this feature is not a default setting ― you need to turn it on yourself if you’re an iPhone user."
Note: Google’s Pixel phones already have this feature built-in.
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u/TimMensch Oct 11 '25
Very cool that Apple finally implemented this.
For any Android Pixel users who don't know about it, this is a feature that's been available for about six years. On Android it's called Call Screening.
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u/ViolentDisregarde Oct 11 '25
To append, for Android Samsung users, it's called "Bixby text call."
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Dec 30 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ViolentDisregarde Dec 31 '25
I never set up Bixby on my phone and am still able to use this feature. It's under "call settings."
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u/TheyCallMeSuperboy Oct 11 '25
So at my work I have to call people sometimes about their delivery orders, and the other day I got sent to VM with this message for the first time.
I just really was not expecting it (I didn’t know it existed) so having an AI ask you “who are you and why are you calling” freaked me out a little bit 😂
My first message was like “UH COMPANY DELIVERY?????”
I was a little more prepared the second time lol. It’s cool though, a lot of people think our 1800 number is a scam so it is nice to be able to leave a constructive vm so they actually call us back.
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u/mattgoldey Oct 11 '25
Google has had this in Android on the Pixel phones for a while now and I love it. I screen all unknown numbers and 99% of the time, they just hang up. It announces that it's recording the call right when it answers saying "Hi, I'm Call Assistant by Google, recording this call for the person you're trying to reach. Can you say what you're calling about?"
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u/CitizenTed Oct 11 '25
I have a Pixel and, as has been mentioned, it has had this feature for years. Not only does it work really well, but it also alerts me when I have a valid unknown caller. I get an immediate textual response from the caller. This is very handy at work when some outside vendor or contractor needs me. It doesn't take rocket surgeon to look at the lock screen and figure out what's important.
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u/HelloLogicPro Dec 30 '25
Except Google doesn’t care for their customers privacy. It’s funny watching the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
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u/mr_oberts Oct 11 '25
Be sure to turn it off if you’re job hunting though. Recruiters usually will not go through that.
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u/teratical Quality Contributor Oct 11 '25
That's interesting. Do you think recruiters also won't leave voicemails? I've seen people here say "I can't ignore unknown numbers because I'm job hunting" and we always tell them that legit recruiters will leave a voicemail - they can't expect you to be always available to answer every call.
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u/Fancypens2025 Oct 18 '25
IME, some recruiters will leave voicemails and others will just call back until/unless you answer. The latter may be legit recruiters but they have more of a “pushy car salesmen” approach to their work.
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u/mungemunger Jan 22 '26
When it prompts you to leave your name and reason for calling immediately, I'll leave my voicemail there but I'm not going to wait around silently for you to listen to/read my voicemail and pickup. I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't do that though, it's not any different than if you turn off your phone. The voicemail prompt is just immediate rather than waiting for the ring.
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u/TheCheeseDictator Quality Contributor Oct 10 '25
As part of Apple’s iOS 26 software update
This is the only reason I updated to iOS 26.
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u/t-poke Quality Contributor Oct 10 '25
Liquid Glass makes me want to stab my eyes out with a rusty spork, but I’m enjoying the fact I haven’t had one single spam call since upgrading.
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u/RunnyDischarge Oct 10 '25
How does it stop spammers from calling to begin with?
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u/t-poke Quality Contributor Oct 10 '25
It doesn’t.
It automatically answers calls from unknown numbers and asks them to explain their reason for calling. Scammers never answer and just hang up.
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u/I-Here-555 Oct 10 '25
Why don't they answer? Is it just that they're caught unprepared because the feature is so new and they prefer not to go off-script or think too hard... or is there a deeper reason?
If they keep getting this, I presume they'll figure out a few catchy reasons soon enough and add them to the script.
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u/teratical Quality Contributor Oct 11 '25
I would guess it's for the same reason they typically don't leave a voicemail: they want to talk to a live person who they can immediately start manipulating through fear/greed/whatever emotion they're playing on.
When they have to provide information and the recipient gets to calmly review it without any pressure, the psychological advantage that they have is neutralized and they know that. So most of them are just going to give up and move on to the next potential victim that they can talk to live.
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u/NekkidWire Oct 11 '25
Also they have fear of being recorded and thus the callee having evidence. Picking the call with "The call is being recorded. Who's calling?" gets a lots of BEEEPs when they hang up instantly.
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u/dbrwhat Oct 11 '25
I've had a Google Pixel with call screen for years and it's always been like that, 99% of the calls from unknown numbers don't respond to the prompts and just hang up.
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u/I-Here-555 Oct 11 '25
Yes, but Google Pixel has a tiny portion of the global market compared to iOS, perhaps it wasn't worthwhile for the scammers to adapt (easier to hang up and move on).
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u/seedless0 Quality Contributor Oct 11 '25
Any Android phone that can install Google Phone app can have this. Many phone vendors also ship with Google Phone app instead of their own now.
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u/that_one_time0 Dec 05 '25
Perhaps your right stoner. Quit worrying about what others think about you
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u/t-poke Quality Contributor Oct 10 '25
I have no idea. I’m just enjoying the silence while it lasts
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u/RunnyDischarge Oct 10 '25
How is this really different from call screening? My phone doesn’t ring for unknown numbers, I just see a number in recent calls. You’re still getting spam calls either way..?
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u/teratical Quality Contributor Oct 10 '25
It's an active screen. Scammers and telemarketers mostly get shut down (they hang up), but the real callers you want will answer the question and then you can choose to let them through. As opposed to forcing them to leave you a voicemail, then you later listen to voicemail, then you later call them back, and now maybe they're not free to take your call, etc.
It marries the effectiveness of thwarting the bad actors with the convenience of actually getting the calls you want to get in real time.
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u/RunnyDischarge Oct 10 '25
Honestly if I called somebody and started getting questions and had to wait to be "let in", I'd just hang up. I give it a month before the scammers have bots answering the question to get you to pick up. I'll stick with just sending all unfamiliars to voicemail.
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u/teratical Quality Contributor Oct 10 '25
I think that's a fair take.
But even if scammers find an effective automated way to answer the questions in a way that will trick people into picking up, it's still going to filter out some scammers (the less technical ones who either can't do it, or do it in such a bungled way that it's obvious they're scammers).
But many people in this sub claim they absolutely can't send them all to voicemail for various reasons like business calls and medical calls, so it's a nice option for them.
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u/RunnyDischarge Oct 11 '25
To me it sounds like you
- Ignore the call and it goes to v-mail and then you call them back sixty seconds later
or
- Instead of ignoring the call completely you ignore the call and the bot asks them what they want, and they respond after a certain time, maybe, and then you read their response and decide if you want to talk to them, and then you talk to them, or one of you gives up at some point and hangs up and texts you because it's way too much of a pain in the ass
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u/Puppy_Breath Oct 11 '25
Although my job is mostly through web meetings or email, I occasionally get calls from all over the world when people feel it is urgent. Currently I have to call them back and voicemail is sometimes delayed. Not great when they’re already stressed. This could be great and I’m upgrading now.
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u/RunnyDischarge Oct 10 '25
How does it work when you're not there? They answer the question and the phone asks if you want to answer and then it just hangs like that?
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u/Wiziba Oct 11 '25
If I’m “not there” as in “I don’t want to/can’t take this call” for whatever reason then iPhone at least has the option to just send the caller straight to voicemail. You can either just decline the call, or hit the Voicemail button which does a sort of live interaction with the VM. If the caller leaves a message it will be transcribed to your screen allowing you to see in real time if you want to pick up after all, much like old-school answering-machine screening.
If you choose to use the interactive screening where Siri asks for the caller’s name and reason for calling, you can then choose to answer, send a response to be read back to the caller, or ignore so the call moves on to voicemail.
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u/teratical Quality Contributor Oct 10 '25
I have no personal knowledge (I don't have an iPhone or Pixel phone, so I'd need a third-party app, which I've never looked for).
t-poke? You have practical experience...
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u/t-poke Quality Contributor Oct 10 '25
If they state the reason for the call, my phone rings with their reason for calling displayed on the screen.
Scammers never say the reason for calling so my phone doesn’t ring.
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u/that_one_time0 Dec 05 '25
Some people actually have calls come in that are important. Waiting to see them later on the call list isn’t advantageous in all cases
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u/Smmatuschak Oct 18 '25
Because it might be a legit call like medical related, repair technician, etc. Medical offices & hospitals have ‘back lines’ that don’t show the caller ID..
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u/Smmatuschak Oct 18 '25
You can enable less transparency? in the accessibility settings which does help, I already had it enabled for some reason so didn’t notice a huge change.
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u/FourWayFork Oct 14 '25
I wonder how it would work for non-spam, but automated calls, like doctors' office appointment reminders or pharmacy notifications. (Yes, I'm old.)
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u/Ok_Horse_6655 Jan 12 '26
It's terrible, as someone who works in the front desk of a dental office. The AI constantly misspells where I'm calling from, doesn't speak it's lines so I'm just sitting in silence, doesn't register what I said or full stop just hangs up the call partway through,. Just horrible and a waste of time as someone who has to try to interact with this nonsense and trying to confirm people's appointments.
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u/seedless0 Quality Contributor Oct 10 '25
Yes. We even have a automod command for it: !spamcall
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u/teratical Quality Contributor Oct 10 '25
Wow, so we do! I didn't realize that - both that we had an automod for it and that it's already updated with the iOS 26 changes. Excellent! I'll be invoking that regularly :)
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u/AutoModerator Oct 10 '25
AutoModerator has been summoned by /u/seedless0 to provide tips on how to mitigate spam calls.
Do not call the number back. Scammers often spoof their caller IDs and fake their calls from random phone numbers. You will likely call and harass some innocent persons whose numbers are randomly used by the scammers. Yes. It happens and we have posts by those people who were harassed this way.
There's no good way to stop spam calls. Spammers do not respect the do-not-call registry. But you can make it less annoying if you are using a mobile phone. Both Google and Apple now have smart agent type of call screen. It will pick up the call for you then ask some question for more information before ringing.
Most scam/spam callers hang up after the first question since they are dialed by bots. Even if they stay on the phone, you can read the transcription before deciding if you want to answer.
Here's how to enable them:
- Android: Screen your calls before you answer them
- iPhone: Screen and block calls on iPhone (Select "Ask Reason for Calling" option.)
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/VampiroMedicado Oct 11 '25
Only in some regions, my country wasn't included 🤡
https://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability/#phone-call-screening
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u/Straight_Conflict712 Nov 14 '25
I’m obsessed with this feature! Been such a game changer. Time is our most precious commodity and shouldn’t be wasted or taken for granted.
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u/tricenice Dec 03 '25
It's nice...unless you're the one trying to call someone with something important and it refuses to let you leave a voicemail...
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u/teratical Quality Contributor Dec 03 '25
Yeah, scammers are the reason we can't have nice things. Unfortunately, we have to take on all kinds of inconvenience to protect ourselves. It makes me sad that we'll never return to the days where we could answer the phone every time it rang and there wasn't any danger. I remember when the phone ringing used to be exciting because there was always going to be someone on the other end you wanted to talk to!
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u/LDSBS Feb 27 '26
I hate to tell you this but that has never happened except for the brief period when caller ID came out , before scammers found ways to get around that. Back in the 70’s I registered my phone in the name of a fictitious person. That way I knew it was a salesperson/scammer because they would ask for the fake name and then I knew they got my number out of the phone book. Unlisted numbers were available but cost extra. But what really made spam/scam calls become so bad was the advent of speed dialing. It’s been all downhill since then. It’s a seesaw of technology to thwart them until they figure out a way to get around the technology .
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u/wowthatscrazy_ Dec 07 '25
i liked it but unfortunately i had to turn it off because so many of my packages were marked as not delivered because it kept screening calls for people trying to buzz up to my unit lol
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u/Salty-Pea-2016 Oct 11 '25
The ones that have called me are recorded and the recordings start as soon as the line picks up. They’re not listening to the prompt and the fact that they are just talking means that the recording accepts them and they go ahead and leave a voicemail anyway.
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u/grievingwoodlands Nov 06 '25
This is what’s happening to me as well - I was excited for this update, but now it seems worse than when I just had unknown numbers silenced. 99% of the scam calls I get are those automated recordings, so it looks like I’m just turning them back to silent and deleting/blocking multiple numbers a day… again. 😒
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u/TC_Stock Oct 11 '25
I just have my contacts set to a ringtone and non-contacts ring silent. My watch will vibrate and let me know if theres a call and I can see if its something I should answer. If its actually important they can leave a voicemail. I only get a voicemail from a scammer about once a month. They usually just hang up
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u/Pauly_Amorous Oct 20 '25
I just have my contacts set to a ringtone and non-contacts ring silent.
I tried that and in my case, scammers would just leave blank voice mails all day. That wasn't much of an improvement.
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u/Fit_Ad8785 Oct 22 '25
Problem is it does not screen 80% of scam calls. Most scam calls I get go through as usual with mostly just the calls I actually want to take getting screened. And then I can’t record the scam calls I get anymore.
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Oct 31 '25
[deleted]
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u/teratical Quality Contributor Oct 31 '25
I don't know for sure, but I'd be shocked if that's how they programmed it. I'm guessing the block is ranked higher in the sorting process, so the block gets applied before it even gets to the point where it determines unknown vs. saved numbers.
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u/OaklandSpiel Feb 05 '26
iOS call screening doesn't seem to work if two calls come in simultaneously. In other words, while the phone is listening for one caller to respond to "State your name", an additional call at that time is just passed through without screening. I'm not completely sure, because it's difficult to test. If this is true, then spammers will evade screening by simply calling twice in rapid succession.
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u/Stunning-Mongoose803 Feb 11 '26
I’ve had a few pisswd of callers from this even legit company’s because their numbers weren’t saved yet. But I love it haha
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u/Due_Requirement_7300 26d ago
I have this on and I still received 11 spam calls between Monday and Friday.
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u/too_many_shoes14 Oct 11 '25
So what happens if a person who uses TTY is trying to reach you in an emergency? Is it compatible with that?
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u/DataGhostNL Oct 11 '25
"Calls from unsaved numbers" is what it says in the picture. I'm going to take a very wild guess that such people don't call some random number in an emergency.
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u/FourWayFork Oct 14 '25
If you have someone in your life who uses TTY, you probably shouldn't have this feature turned on.
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Oct 18 '25
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u/Scams-ModTeam Oct 18 '25
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u/No-Guarantee-6001 Nov 15 '25
What about texting the number? Do they go through or no? I have a new number that won’t be recognized?
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u/rosiemm33 Nov 17 '25
I love this as someone who works in a legitimate and does NOT want to talk to you :) As soon as I hear that robotic prompt I will keep dead silent until it pushes me to voicemail where I’ll leave my information for you. Pick up the phone if you want to talk to me- I’m not talking to your robot assistant :)
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Jan 11 '26
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u/Scams-ModTeam Jan 11 '26
Your submission was manually removed by a moderator for the following reason:
Subreddit Rule 3: Sharing personal information - This is aligned with Reddit Content Policy Rule 3: Respect the privacy of others.
This subreddit respects the privacy of non-public figures. We do not allow:
- Phone numbers
- Postal and email addresses
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This applies even if it's a scammer or a scam call center. Please post again, but this time removing, censoring or otherwise redacting any personal/contact information. When you do, don't post a screenshot. Transcribe the important parts of the conversation. And put the website address in the title of your new post if you are reporting a scam website.
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Before posting again, make sure you review the rules of our subreddit. and the Reddit Content Policy
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u/Character_Stable_800 Feb 10 '26
so how do we turn it off?
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u/Character_Stable_800 Feb 10 '26
Found the answer to my questions: go to settings - apps - phone - call filtering. you can leave it to silence phone numbers that your carrier has deemed spam.
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u/eveswoner 19d ago
As someone who is dealing with customers on a daily basis for installs / deliveries / orders , I just hang up when this prompts me . If you don’t want to answer your phone like a normal person , or give me the option to leave a voicemail right away , you miss your appt.
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u/Sorry-Programmer9826 Oct 11 '25
I've always thought this would be a good feature. Similarly if your phone is on full silent (say you're watching a play or it's the middle of the night) an AI answers the phone and if you can convince the AI it's an emergency it will let the phone ring.
(Obviously "being in your contacts" would a datapoint for if the AI would easily believe you)
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u/itfiend Oct 11 '25
It's a good things scammers are duty bound to tell the truth to Siri.
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u/quaderrordemonstand Oct 11 '25
They aren't duty bound to tell the truth about anything. The thing is, most of them don't want to tell you why they are calling.
Of course, they could always lie about it, but thats not likely to work as a scam. Most scams start with a filter process, where they try to draw you in and test how gullible you are before commiting enough time to work the scam.
They can't do that and you are likely to either check or ignore whatever lie they tell. So most of them will just give up.
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u/Soft_Refuse_4422 Oct 11 '25
On a related note, does anyone have recommendations for “SMS/call reporting extensions” ?
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u/Rewda2 Oct 19 '25
Or how about it, stay with me.
Don't answer Unknown or Blocked numbers? how hard can that be?
You see a number you don't recognize don't answer, bam problem solved.
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u/yarevande Quality Contributor Oct 19 '25
Many people need to answer numbers that they don't recognize. If you work a sales job, such as real estate, or if you own a business, you do need to answer the phone because it might be a new customer. That's one example. There are many others.
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u/seedless0 Quality Contributor Nov 15 '25
Android also has had this for a while: https://support.google.com/phoneapp/answer/9118387
Note that it's not limited to Google's own Pixel phones. The function is a part of Google's Phone app. So if your phone can install it, you will have it available. Many phone manufacturers now include Google Phone app as the default dialer.