You can on a Huawei:
- Block unknown/hidden numbers
- Block all strangers (non-contact numbers)
- Block all incoming calls
Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?
161–170 of 332 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?
#162Although at first glance this sounds like a no brainer and a little confusing why we are not given the power to have a whitelist system on our phones I think this feature is a terrible idea. This is the same as saying, why can we not bounce all emails that have not been stored in our email address book. This one feature has the ability to destroy modern communication as we know it. Hear me out. If you all have notice…
Why would a beautiful girl give me her number and not whitelist mine? My teenage child could very well block my number. This argument doesn't make any sense.
Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?
#163Although at first glance this sounds like a no brainer and a little confusing why we are not given the power to have a whitelist system on our phones I think this feature is a terrible idea. This is the same as saying, why can we not bounce all emails that have not been stored in our email address book. This one feature has the ability to destroy modern communication as we know it. Hear me out. If you all have notice…
I don't mean this maliciously but unless I've misread your comment this is a lot of text that boils down to "sometimes you'll be unreachable". Some of the reasons you list: - family members getting new phones - missed connections + job offers - teenage child being angry with you - emergencies Two responses: 1. The cellular phone has existed only for so long, and people found a way to exist before it. I'm not going to…
It sounds to me like phone spam is so bad in the US, a lot of people want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I wonder what the differences are in law or technology that makes the problem so bad there vs other parts of the world? Maybe it can be solved in another way.
Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?
#164What if it was a legitimate emergency? Like if someone used your number as an emergency contact. Or some hospital in the world trying to contact you because someone you know got hospitalized (touch wood).
This is 100% a risk I’d be willing to take. I am not trading actual every day pain for extra safety in a carefully constructed trolley problem scenario
No doubt this depends on where you are in your life.
As a single guy with no children, I'm unlikely to get any emergency calls. But my friend who has two children in school and one in nursery? You bet they're going to call her if one of them gets sick or has an accident.
Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've done this since the original iPhone first started to support custom ringtones. I used a quiet passage from a recording of Beethoven's 7th. Why Apple doesn't include a silent ringtone -- a feature found on pretty much every 'feature phone' I've ever seen or used -- is just one of life's dumb mysteries.
Probably because they were too cheap to pay the licensing fees.
For silence...?
Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?
#166A few years ago my parents were getting a lot of spam calls on their landline. Basically all of them were automated calls, either a recorded message or you were connected to a person shortly after the call was connected. I bought an OBi100 [0], which is a small device designed to be a VOIP adapter, but you can setup rules on how calls (incoming or outgoing) are handled.
I setup a rule that if the call was from a withheld or foreign number, it would play an automated message asking the user to press the number 1 to be connected. This alone stopped basically all the spam calls. I'm surprised how well it actually works, I assume the caller detects it as a voicemail message so just hang up.
I imagine most carriers could implement something like this relatively easy. Sorry Google, no AI needed here.
[0] https://www.callcentric.com/support/device/obihai/obi100
Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?
#167I'm more inclined to say that the real solution to this is to make it expensive for the callers by having a service that answers the call every time and tries to keep the caller on the line wasting their time. There's obviously an asymmetric principal at play here. Imagine for a sec a situation where: 1. I receive a robocaller message. 2. I press a button on phone indicating spam 3. Software Agent takes over, presses…
I've found the Google Call Screening feature to do a much better job at this than anything more malicious. I tap a button, and the call screener takes its time to explain that I've enabled that call screening service, while I continue on my day. No spam I've ever gotten has waited for the voice to finish its 3rd word.
Google Call Screening almost solves the parent's problem. The only thing missing is a setting to have it automatically screen all calls that aren't in my contact list. Then my phone would never ring unless I know you or you waited/responded to the call screening.
Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?
#168Amen. The existing spam call blockers are all based on blacklists, and it's a losing battle against spammers who can simply keep spoofing new numbers.
I'm working on an app (iphone & android) that solves this the way you suggest, via a whitelist of contacts, with an optional way for non-whitelisted, non-robocallers to still get through.
If you're interested in early access, email me at russell.davis [at] gmail [dot] [com].
Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?
#169I just put my iphone on "do not disturb" full-time and use my favourites list to only allow calls though (from a selected list). People who double call are also allowed through. Then you are not constantly distracted by notifications, emails, texts, spam calls [1]. My thinking is, my phone should serve me, not the other way around, so I only check when I'm not focused on something else. Personally, I find useless not…
Not quite the same thing, but I have my mobile network set up to forward every call to a Twilio number which just states that my number doesn't accept calls. It sends me an SMS so I know someone tried to. It's great. People who do need to call me then will just use FaceTime Audio or WhatsApp calls.
Interesting. Do you state FaceTime/WhatsApp in the twilio message?
Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?
#170Although at first glance this sounds like a no brainer and a little confusing why we are not given the power to have a whitelist system on our phones I think this feature is a terrible idea. This is the same as saying, why can we not bounce all emails that have not been stored in our email address book. This one feature has the ability to destroy modern communication as we know it. Hear me out. If you all have notice…
Why would a beautiful girl give me her number and not whitelist mine? My teenage child could very well block my number. This argument doesn't make any sense.
> Why would a beautiful girl give me her number and not whitelist mine?
Ever watched any American movie? The girl usually writes the number on a back of a receipt or napkin, gives it to you and immediately leaves.
:).
I do generally agree with the OP though. I need to have a way for unknown but legitimate calls to reach me. To use actual examples that happened to me - sometimes there's a problem with my on-line order, or with some form I submitted to the government, and some clerk from a company/govt office calls me to set things straight. I don't have, and couldn't possibly have, an idea from what number they'll call, but getting that call is a difference between fixing a matter on the spot, vs. wasting me (and them) half a day + incurring some extra wait time the next week.