How to silence robocalls on your smartphone

Consumer investigator Brian Roche offers practical steps to help smartphone users reduce robocalls by adjusting settings to silence unfamiliar calls.While it may never be possible to entirely stop robocalls, users can take steps to reduce them on many smartphones.You can silence unfamiliar calls completely by setting phones to only accept calls from numbers in the contact list.For iPhone users, you can head to the settings app, identified by the silver gears icon.Users should scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Apps,” then navigate to the letter “P” to find the green “Phone” icon.Midway down the page, there’s an option called “Silence Unknown Callers.”Click it and slide the option to the right until the bar shows green, ensuring all unknown calls go straight to voicemail without ringing the phone.For Android users, we recommend going to the “Call Settings” page and tapping on “Block Numbers,” which is the fourth line down.On the next screen, users should toggle the switch for “Block Calls from Unknown Numbers” to the right.You can always check in with your phone provider, as they often come up with ways to block calls. Never answer unfamiliar numbers. Doing that may only result in more calls.

Consumer investigator Brian Roche offers practical steps to help smartphone users reduce robocalls by adjusting settings to silence unfamiliar calls.

While it may never be possible to entirely stop robocalls, users can take steps to reduce them on many smartphones.

You can silence unfamiliar calls completely by setting phones to only accept calls from numbers in the contact list.

For iPhone users, you can head to the settings app, identified by the silver gears icon.

Users should scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Apps,” then navigate to the letter “P” to find the green “Phone” icon.

Midway down the page, there’s an option called “Silence Unknown Callers.”

Click it and slide the option to the right until the bar shows green, ensuring all unknown calls go straight to voicemail without ringing the phone.

For Android users, we recommend going to the “Call Settings” page and tapping on “Block Numbers,” which is the fourth line down.

On the next screen, users should toggle the switch for “Block Calls from Unknown Numbers” to the right.

You can always check in with your phone provider, as they often come up with ways to block calls.

Never answer unfamiliar numbers. Doing that may only result in more calls.