The closer we get to Election Day, the more my phone rings.
Well, it used to.
Now I just send all of those annoying political callers straight to my voicemail.
I can do this on my iPhone with a feature that I love (and I think many users overlook) called Silence Unknown Callers. I’ve mentioned this before, but this is a great time to help you regain a little peace and quiet.
Starting in iOS 13, Apple included a feature called Silence Unknown Callers, which does exactly what it sounds like it would do — it keeps calls from ringing through from unknown numbers.
To turn it on, go to your iPhone’s settings, then scroll down to Phone and then scroll to the bottom of the Phone settings. You’ll see it there.
How does the phone determine whether you know someone?
According to Apple, if you enable Silence Unknown Callers, your incoming calls will ring to your phone if the numbers are saved in your contacts, listed in your recent calls list (if you actually talked to them) and from numbers in your emails or text messages (if you use Apple’s Mail and Messages apps).
This is great when political calls are heating up and you just want some peace.
Calls that get silenced go straight to your voicemail and show up as missed calls in your recent calls list. If they leave a voicemail, you retrieve it the usual way.
This sounds like a great feature (and it is), but you need to know its limitations and some potential inconveniences.
If you are expecting a call, perhaps a return call from a doctor’s office to schedule an appointment, you might not be sure what number that call will come from.
In the case of some of my doctors, the number you call to make an appointment is not the number they use to return the call. This means you’d miss the call.
The same thing happened the last time I took my car to the shop. When the shop called to tell me my car was ready, they called from a different number and I missed the call.
That was not a huge inconvenience, but I did have to make one more call to make that connection.
So if I’m waiting for a call from a potentially unknown number, I go in and disable Silence Unknown Callers.
Android users don’t have such an easy time with this feature. There is a Silence Unknown Callers in the Android phone app, but because there are so many variations of Android with various software additions from different phone manufacturers, your experience may vary.
In the Android phone app, touch the three dots at the top of the Phone app screen, tap Settings and tap Block numbers and then toggle the Block Unknown Callers switch to turn it green.
This will block all callers with no caller ID information. The calls will not ring through or be offered a chance to leave a voicemail.
There are apps for Android that can help block spam callers. You might want to look at the app called “Should I Answer?” in the Google Play store.
___
Jim Rossman writes for The Dallas Morning News. He may be reached at jrossman@dallasnews.com.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.