[bogidon]

One hack if you get those robocalls that match your area code. Get a new phone number for an area code you think you’ll never go to and use a smart blocking app[1] to block the entire area code.

It’s a brutalist solution that’s not for everyone, but it has restored my sanity.

[1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wideprotect-spam-call-blocker/...

[knodi123]

I used something just like that for a year, and then iOS changed the rules about whether apps are allowed to intercept calls before they ring, and it just stopped working.

Do you vouch for this app working within the last 6 months?

[bogidon]

Yes. I do not get 803 calls at all anymore. Am on iOS 14.4.2. I also use T-Mobile Scam Shield so I can see all the calls that have come in from the carrier’s perspective, so before iOS blocks them.

It’s interesting, of the last 24 calls from the 803 area code (most recent was yesterday) only 9 were identified as spam by T-Mobile and blocked by them. The others were blocked by the WideProtect app. Certain all of them were spam.

(I lived in SC 10+ years ago. The only people I met there are in my contacts and excluded from the blocklist.)

[knodi123]

> Yes

That's good enough for me to spend $3. Thanks so much. I dug into how this particular app works, and it turns out those iOS restrictions are still in place- but the app developer is clever, and is literally turning our prefix blocks into millions of actual blocked numbers. And while he can't intercept calls, he CAN manually add and remove numbers from the built-in system block list.

Madness! But it actually works!

[clankyclanker]

Is there an easy way to set up wide protect for an entire area code properly? The last time I tried it, it just kept freezing my phone and timing out instead of finishing all the lists.

[zippergz]

These apps do not intercept the calls. All they can do is call an API to tell the OS a list of numbers to block. This is good from a privacy standpoint but bad from an effectiveness standpoint, because apps can't do any real-time analysis of incoming calls to make a decision. They just have to periodically update a static list of blocked numbers.

[devmunchies]

i used to live in seattle and have a 206 area code. now live in cali and it does help me ignore calls.

[neogodless]

This is a technique I largely stumbled into. My phone number is from when I lived in a different area, close to family. I've since moved to a new area code. Anyone that I know from that area code is already in my contacts. But a large portion of the spoofed spam numbers use my area code, and while I don't block them wholesale, it's easy to ignore any numbers from that area code.

[post_break]

I'd fucking hug you if I could. Finally an app that does what I want.

[heliodor]

Anyone know of an Android app for blocking an entire area code?

[lots2learn]

I use Hiya for this purpose