How to Block Spam Calls and Robocalls on Your Phone

Robocalls and spam calls are one of the biggest annoyances — and dangers — for phone users today. The FTC receives millions of complaints about these calls every year. Many are from scammers pretending to be the IRS, Medicare, Social Security, or even your own bank. The good news is that both iPhone and Android phones have free, built-in tools to block many of these calls automatically.

On an iPhone: Open the Settings app, scroll down and tap "Phone," then tap "Silence Unknown Callers." When this is turned on, calls from numbers not in your contacts will be sent straight to voicemail. You will still see a missed call notification and can check the voicemail. On an Android phone (the steps are very similar on most brands): Open the Phone app, tap the three dots or "More" in the top right corner, tap "Settings," then "Blocked Numbers" or "Spam and Call Screen." Turn on "Filter Spam Calls." Google's built-in feature called Call Screen can even answer the call for you and tell the caller to state their name — real callers will say who they are, scammers usually hang up.

You can also register your phone number at donotcall.gov for free, which is the official national registry run by the FTC. While this does not stop illegal scam calls (scammers ignore the list), it does reduce calls from legitimate telemarketers. For an extra layer of protection, your phone carrier likely offers a free spam-blocking service — AT&T has "ActiveArmor," Verizon has "Call Filter," and T-Mobile has "Scam Shield." Search your carrier's name plus "free spam call blocking" to find and activate yours.