If your iPhone rings five times a day and it is never anyone you know, you are not alone. Robocalls and spam calls have become a daily annoyance for millions of people, and older adults are often targeted the hardest.
The good news is that your iPhone already has a free tool built in to cut most of this noise, and you can add more protection in a few minutes.
This guide walks you through turning on Apple’s Silence Unknown Callers feature, choosing a call-blocking app if you want extra help, and reporting the calls that get through.
How do I block robocalls and spam calls on my iPhone?
Turn on Silence Unknown Callers in Settings, then add a call-blocking app or your carrier’s free spam tool for calls that slip through. Silence Unknown Callers is Apple’s built-in feature, available since iOS 13, that sends calls from numbers not saved in your contacts straight to voicemail instead of ringing your phone. It will not stop every unwanted call by itself, so many people pair it with a call-blocking app or a free tool from their phone carrier.
Plain talk: robocall
A robocall is a phone call made by an automated system instead of a real person. Some are legal, like a pharmacy reminder. Many are illegal telemarketing or scam calls.
Turn on Silence Unknown Callers
This is the fastest change you can make, and it takes less than a minute.
- Open Settings on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap Phone.
- Tap Silence Unknown Callers.
- Turn the switch on (it will turn green).
Once this is on, any call from a number that is not in your contacts, not in a recent outgoing call, and not suggested by Siri from an email or text will go straight to voicemail. Your phone will not ring, and you will not see an alert pop up on your screen.
Try this
After turning this on, check your voicemail and Recents list once a day for the first week. This helps you see what kind of calls are being silenced before you get used to the feature.
What Silence Unknown Callers does not do
This feature is powerful, but it has limits older adults should know about.
- It will not block a number permanently. It simply routes unknown calls to voicemail.
- It will not stop a spam caller who has your number saved as a contact on their own list and manages to “spoof,” or fake, a number that looks like one already in your contacts.
- It can silence a legitimate new caller, such as a new doctor’s office, a school calling about a grandchild, or a delivery driver.
- It does not filter text messages. For that, see our guide on the iPhone unknown senders filter.
Because of that last point, many people use Silence Unknown Callers together with another iPhone feature that lets unfamiliar callers state their reason for calling before the phone rings through. Our guide on what “Ask Reason for Calling” means on iPhone explains how that works and how it compares.
How do I block a specific phone number on my iPhone?
If one number keeps calling, you can block it directly without turning on Silence Unknown Callers at all.
- Open the Phone app and go to Recents.
- Find the number you want to block and tap the blue “i” button next to it.
- Scroll down and tap Block this Caller.
- Confirm by tapping Block Contact.
You can also block a number saved in your Contacts app the same way, from that contact’s page. Blocked numbers can still leave a voicemail, but your phone will not ring and you will not see a notification.
Plain talk: spoofing
Spoofing means a caller fakes the number shown on your screen, often to make it look local or match a name you know. This is why blocking one number does not always stop the same scammer from calling again with a different fake number.
Should you use a call-blocking app?
Silence Unknown Callers and blocking individual numbers cover the basics for free. If robocalls are still a regular problem, a dedicated app or your carrier’s built-in tool can filter calls before they ever reach you, often labeling them as “Spam Likely” right on the screen.
| Option | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier spam tool (AT&T Call Protect, T-Mobile Scam Shield, Verizon Call Filter) | Free basic version | Labels likely spam calls and offers optional paid blocking |
| Robokiller | Paid subscription | Auto-blocks known spam numbers and can answer with a recording |
| Hiya | Free and paid versions | Shows caller name and spam warnings before you answer |
| Nomorobo | Paid subscription (free trial) | Blocks calls flagged by a shared spam-number database |
Start with your carrier’s free spam-blocking tool before paying for anything. Many people find it catches enough calls that they never need a separate app.
Any of these apps needs permission to see your incoming calls to work, since that is how call blocking functions on an iPhone. Stick to well-known, widely reviewed apps from the official App Store, and skip anything that asks for more access than call screening, such as your contacts or photos, unless you understand why.
Safety tip
Never press 1, or any other number, to “opt out” of a robocall list, even if the recording tells you to. Doing so usually confirms a real person answered, which can lead to more calls, not fewer. Just hang up.
Reporting robocalls and spam calls
Reporting a call does not always stop it immediately, but it helps the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission track patterns and take action against the companies and networks behind these calls. According to the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for fiscal year 2022, the agency received nearly 3.8 million complaints about unwanted calls that year, and robocalls made up about half of them.
To report a robocall or spam call:
- Go to donotcall.gov/report.html or reportfraud.ftc.gov on a computer or phone browser.
- Enter the phone number that called you and the date and time, if you remember it.
- Briefly describe what the call was about, such as “car warranty” or “claimed to be Medicare.”
- Submit the report. You do not need your own name to be affected by the call to report it.
You can also forward the details to your phone carrier through their app or website, since many carriers use these reports to improve their own spam-blocking lists.
Say this
If a robocall claims to be a government agency, a bank, or a family member in trouble, hang up first. Then call the organization back using a phone number you look up yourself, never one the caller gave you.
Robocalls are also a common tool for scams that specifically target older adults, including calls pretending to be about Medicare coverage or Social Security benefits. If you want to understand those specific scripts, see our guides on Medicare scam calls and on how to tell if an IRS or Social Security call is a scam. For a general overview of where to send a report depending on where you live, our guide on where to report a scam covers the FTC, your state attorney general, and other agencies in one place.
A note on caller ID authentication
Some carrier caller ID apps, such as Verizon Call Filter, now show a “Verified” or checkmark label next to certain numbers. This comes from a technology called STIR/SHAKEN, which major phone carriers began widely putting in place in mid-2021 under rules from the Federal Communications Commission. It helps confirm that a caller ID has not been faked, but it does not block calls on its own, and not every carrier, app, or call is covered yet. Treat a verified label as one small extra clue, not proof that a call is safe.
Plain talk: STIR/SHAKEN
STIR/SHAKEN is a set of technical standards that phone carriers use to check whether a caller ID has been faked before the call reaches you. It does not stop robocalls by itself.
Android users in your family face many of the same problems. If you are helping someone with an Android phone, our guide on how to stop spam calls on Android walks through the equivalent settings for that phone.
Where to go from here
Between Silence Unknown Callers, blocking individual numbers, and a free carrier spam tool, most people can cut unwanted calls down to a trickle within a day. If you would like more step-by-step iPhone guides written the same way as this one, our book Your iPhone covers calls, texts, and everyday settings in plain language, with the same large-print, no-jargon approach as this site.
