Millions of people fall victim to spam calls in the USA every year. And while most of us get spammed through other channels like text and emails, phone calls are more effective for the bad guys. For context, Americans lost $39.5 billion to spam calls in 2022, up from $29.8 billion in 2021. While it sounds easy just to avoid the repeated spam caller, the extent of social engineering sometimes leaves you no choice. In such cases, the to-be victim starts believing the caller revealing details that cause huge losses, primarily financial. And to no surprise, these fraudsters chiefly target the elderly. In such cases, the foolproof way is to cut the suspicious call immediately and block that number. Besides, there are many personal or professional situations where blocking is the last resort. So let’s see to block any number on your Android.
Blocking From Recent Calls
This is a process where the number is in your Recent calls, contact or not. First, tap the subject number avatar. Next, tap the three dots menu on the top right to open the setting pop-up. Now tap on Block numbers. It will ask for the final confirmation. Here you can check the Report as spam accordingly. Finally, tap Block to proceed. Now, you will see this ⊘ sign against the blocked number. These steps can vary depending on the user interface of your smartphone or tablet. But, the common steps I have seen with Samsung One UI include tapping on the avatar, then the three dots menu to block the contact. So, you can presume that the blocking options are inside the individual contact tile settings.
Blocking From Contacts
Doing this for contact is similar to the process we have already seen. The only difference is the first few steps where you navigate the contact list to find the subject. This starts with opening your Android’s contact application and tapping on the relevant avatar. Afterward, tap on the three dots menu to select Block numbers. Finally, you will see the status with the blocked sign on the respective contact tile. And again, I have found the steps to be similar on my Wife’s Samsung smartphone, just that the dots menu will be at the bottom instead of the top as in my stock Android. So these were some of the native ways to block any number on Android. However, this isn’t perfect. This way, the blocked caller would be disconnected instantly or sent to voicemail, per your device configurations. And there is a better way to do it with…
YouMail
YouMail is a freemium application to block any number on your Android smartphone. Its free subscription is for basic automatic robocalls and custom call blocking. Besides, it checks for missed caller details (the US and Canada only) and features personalized voicemail greetings. The paid plans offer professionally-recorded voicemail greetings, an additional number, auto attendant for custom routing, auto-replies, free conferencing, etc. Finally, the blocked contact will hear the ‘out of service instead of the ‘number busy’ message.
Conclusion
So this was a short guide to number blocking for Android users. In addition to standard blocking, you can try some caller ID apps like YouMail to shut off these spam calls.
