Whether it's from an ex, a local telemarketer, or a scammer posing as your cellular carrier, spam calls and texts can be incredibly annoying. Regulators are working hard to put a stop to the practice, but it's an uphill battle that inevitably will involve some unwanted calls making it through. Thankfully, there's quite a bit your phone can do to help you deal with the issue, from blocking specific numbers outright to identifying and filtering calls based on their likelihood to be spam.
One of the most important things you can do is take advantage of your iPhone's built-in call blocking feature, Silence Unknown Callers. This is available on any iPhone running iOS 13 and newer, and it works by silently sending unknown calls directly to voicemail without the caller hearing a ringtone or seeing your number on their screen. It's a great way to cut down on spam and robocalls, but it does limit what kinds of calls you receive, as only numbers in your contacts and those that have called you before will be allowed through.
There are also a wide range of third-party spam call blockers available in the App Store, and many of them have excellent reviews from Apple users. These apps can help stop calls from known robocallers and also prevent the scourge of caller ID spoofing, where fraudulently altered numbers masquerade as real companies or government agencies. In addition to calling out spoofed numbers, some of these apps will also detect and report text spam.
