Help call blocker on android 11

[kris443]

There is a setting in google phone/settings/blocked numbers/switch called "unknown". switched it on but 888 call got through. I have tried many different apps from the play store but most seem to want to "manage" the phone, which means that the phone app no longer works, so lose recents. Only app I found that I use is "Call Blocker" by UnknownPhone (dot) com. Just want to be able to block anything not in my contacts. Don't want to use AT&T's thing.

Moto G Fast, Android 11, current. Stock. No mods.

 

[ocnbrze]

youmail is what i use and i would say about 99% of spam now gets blocked. i still get some that get missed, but it is a pretty darn good app.

 

[kris443]

Thanks. That would be far, far, far too complicated for my purposes. Need a very simple one that doesn't take over google phone app, simply sends calls not in my contact list to voicemail. Simple.

EDIT: there is an "unknown" switch in google phone settings but for some reason that does not do it.

EDIT2: google (community) considers "unknown" to be something w/o a caller ID - an 888 number is identifiable, which is why it doesn't work for my purposes. I need to send anything not in my contacts to voicemail. The only thing I have found which will do that is the app I mentioned in the OP.

 

[kris443]

People seem to want to write apps to talk to spammers and find out what they are, or send not answer codes or the like. Folks, the machines dialing these start at xxx-yyy-0001 and go up, where xxx is an extant area code and yyy is extant within that area code. They don't care if it was previously ID'ed as not connected, or on do not call list, or anything. I send them to voicemail in case it is one of my hospitals using a new-to-me number so they can leave me a message. A few spammers leave a message but that is easy to delete by pressing 7 after hearing a few words.

 

[puppykickr]

You will not find a way to do this very easily.

First, ad-blocking is agaist Google TOS, so it is not in their interest to help even if they are not providing the spam.

Second, the calls go to the device first, and then to voicemail.
There is nothing that goes in between the spammer and the device- nothing that will help, anyway.

Either a call is blocked, or not. I doubt you will find anuthing to decypher the difference between legit calls and spam, then send spam to voicemail.
What sounds simple in words often is not in practice.

You should not lose recents by using another app, most messages should transfer to the new app and if not, the original app is still there and you can use that to see old messages.

Blacklist Blocker has always been a simple, failsafe way to prevent spam calls and texts on my devices.

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.kaliturin.blacklist/

 

[kris443]

First, thank you for reminding me of f-droid. I had used that long ago but forgotten about it.

Ads are easily blocked with "Block This!" aka block-this-latest.apk ( block-this.com )

I tried Blacklist Blocker from F-droid, but it did not block a private number (I called myself with skype and it rang.) If you know how to make this work, please tell me!
Thanks!

checked:
blacklist
contact list
private numbers
event log

 

[puppykickr]

You must also deny access from what you do not want, and some of the settings are convuted sounding.

Also, the app is not in current development, but worked fine on my newest devices OS, though these are 8.1, 9, and 10.

Hold on, and I will send screenshots with my settings for blocking both spam calls and spam texts.

Keep in mind that nothing that was not in my contacts could get through.
If someone wanted to contact me, they had to give me the number that they were going to use so that it could be entered into Contacts.

This did cause some issues at times, but I had to explain the spam problems I was having.

It was that or else I was going to go without a phone period.
No provider or government agency has any interest in actually stopping the problem.

They will lie and say that they do not know where the calls come from- that is bull because the calls are on their system and they have records of all calls.

I battled for years with this over ny father's landline, and when put on the 'Do Not Call' lists (state and federal) the problem actually became worse by 200% (number of spam calls increased that much).

Anyway, let me take and upload these screenshots.

 

[puppykickr]

Here are the screenshots.

I hope they are in order, but I think you can make it through anyway.

I never set up a blacklist or a whitelist- that is why those are unchecked.
(Too much time to mess with that, plus spam comes from an unlimited amount of numbers.)

Also, I unchecked anything to do with notifications about blocked calls or texts- seemed like that defeated the whole purpose.

And if you have the F-Droid app, look for Blacklist Blocker there, and multipke similar apps pop up.
Try them all, and see what works best for you.

Blacklist Blocker just seemed so quick and easy, and if I ever needed to I could turn it off with tbe 'make default sms app' setting.
Very quick and easy.

 

[kris443]

Yes
Thanks for all that.
For me, it does not block private numbers.
If I go to google phone/settings/Blocked numbers - switch "unknown" to "ON", then it will block private numbers and mark them in recents.

I had not noticed but as you pointed out, this is not supported - for 3 years. So I uninstalled it and will stick with the one I mentioned in the OP until I find a better one.

Thanks!

 

[tube517]

Youmail will do what you want. I've tried those other call blockers and they work ok but not the best.

I block any number not in my contact list. I can also change this setting in case I am expecting a call and I don't know the number.

It plays "This number has been disconnected" to spam callers.

You can block rings and voicemails or block one or the other separately.