Tag Archives: cellular

fixed : how to safely block caller without calling the untrustworthy number

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Question :

Over the past few days I’ve had several incoming phone calls from an unknown phone number. Since my iPhone warned me that these were from Algeria (the actual phone number started with +213…) and I don’t know anyone who currently is in Algeria, I did not answer any of these calls as I was expecting them to be fraudulent scams…

Now, I want to block this phone number from ever calling me again…

How do I do that safely ?

 

Answer :

By ‘safely’, you probably mean ‘without running the risk of accidentally calling this number’ right ?

To safely block a caller, this is the procedure :

  1. switch on Flight Mode
  2. block the caller
  3. delete the call from the recent calls list
  4. switch off Flight Mode

Since it isn’t clear from your question if you want to block a caller from calling you over regular mobile network (a.k.a. cellular) or from Whatsapp or from any other audio-calling app, I will outline the exact procedure for cellular (GSM) and Whatsapp-audio below.

Here’s how to safely bock a caller  from cellular (GSM) calls :

  • put your iPhone in Flight Mode
    • swipe down from the top right corner of the screen
    • in the window that opens, click on the Airplane-icon
    • now the Airplane-icon will turn orange and the icons for cellular (GSM), Bluetooth and WiFi will dim (grey out)
    • now your iPhone is in Flight mode
  • then, open the Phone.app (the green icon with the old-fashioned telephone hand-piece in it)
  • in the next window, click on “Recents” (in the bottom row, with the clock-icon)
  • in the “Recents” list, find the untrustworthy caller and click on the info-icon at the far right of it (the blue circle outline with the letter “i” in it)
  • in the next window, scroll down completely
  • there, click on “Block this Caller”
  • then, click on “< Recents” top right to return to the Recents list
  • in the “Recents” list, click “Edit” (top right)
  • now find the untrustworthy caller and click on the red “No Entry” icon that has appeared in front of it (far left of the phone number)
  • then, click “Done” (top right)
  • then, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to get back to the main screen
  • then, switch Flight Mode off
    • swipe down from the top right corner of the screen
    • in the window that opens, click on the orange Airplane-icon
    • now the Airplane-icon will turn gray and the icons for cellular (GSM), Bluetooth and WiFi will switch on (turn blue or green)
    • now Flight Mode is turned off

And here’s how to safely block a caller from Whatsapp calls :

  • put your iPhone in Flight Mode
    • swipe down from the top right corner of the screen
    • in the window that opens, click on the Airplane-icon
    • now the Airplane-icon will turn orange and the icons for cellular (GSM), Bluetooth and WiFi will dim (grey out)
    • now your iPhone is in Flight mode
  • then, open the Whatsapp.app (the green icon with the old-fashioned telephone hand-piece in a cartoon speech balloon)
  • in the next window, click on “Calls” (in the bottom row, with the telephone hand-piece icon)
  • in the “Calls” list, find the untrustworthy caller and click on the info-icon at the far right of it (the blue circle outline with the letter “i” in it)
  • in the next window, scroll down completely
  • there, click on “Block Contact”
  • then, click on “< Calls” top right to return to the Recents list
  • in the “Calls” list, click “Edit” (top left)
  • now find the untrustworthy caller and click on the red “No Entry” icon that has appeared in front of it (far left of the phone number)
  • then, click “Done” (top left)
  • then, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to get back to the main screen
  • then, switch Flight Mode off
    • swipe down from the top right corner of the screen
    • in the window that opens, click on the orange Airplane-icon
    • now the Airplane-icon will turn gray and the icons for cellular (GSM), Bluetooth and WiFi will switch on (turn blue or green)
    • now Flight Mode is turned off

As mentioned, the procedure is similar for all voice-audio calling apps.

That’s it !

Now the caller has been blocked from sending new messages, and you can no longer accidentally call back.

enjoy 😉