Smartphone users utilize native and third-party tools to block unwanted calls

To combat the rise of telemarketing and financial fraud, smartphone users are employing both built-in operating system features and specialized applications to manage unwanted calls.

Apple and Google provide native tools within iOS and Android to filter unidentified callers. On iPhones, the ‘Silence Unknown Callers’ feature automatically silences calls from numbers not found in the user's contacts, recent history, or Siri suggestions, directing them to voicemail instead.

In Brazil, where telephone-based fraud is a significant issue, the Android application ‘Eu Decido Quem Me Liga!’ offers advanced customization. The app allows users to set specific rules, such as blocking all private numbers or restricting calls exclusively to saved contacts. The developers state that the app processes call analysis locally on the device to ensure data privacy, without sharing information with external servers.