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For a while now, my iPhone has been automatically blocking callers without my knowledge. This has caused me to miss important calls. For example, I was wondering why a local PC repair shop was not returning my calls regarding a laptop I sent in for repair. After further investigation, I found the repair shop's number under Blocked Contacts and several voicemails from them under Deleted Messages. I am 100% certain I did not block that number, especially considering that I was expecting a call from them.

While I do have the Silence Unknown Callers option turned on, my understanding is this feature is not supposed to actually block such callers. However, I have manually blocked a lot of spam callers in recent years. Does iOS use the Blocked Contacts list to train its spam detection system? And is there a way to disable this "feature"?

For the record, I am using an iPhone 13 Pro Max with iOS version 17.5.1 currently installed.

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  • I don't think iOS has any built-in spam call blocking, you need third-party apps like RoboKiller.
    – Barmar
    Commented Jun 11 at 21:28
  • This is weird because I've also seen users on the official Apple forums reporting this issue. Could this be due to a bug in iOS?
    – Danny
    Commented Jun 11 at 21:51
  • Who is your cellular carrier? Do they offer this as a service on your line?
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Jun 12 at 9:12
  • @bmike I use Verizon Wireless. They do offer a service called Verizon Call Filter that automatically blocks spam calls, but that requires a separate app, which I do not have installed.
    – Danny
    Commented Jun 12 at 17:26

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No, iOS has a block unknown callers feature that should send them to voicemail and show the call in recents.

To turn on Silence Unknown Callers, go to Settings > Phone, then scroll down, tap Silence Unknown Callers, and turn on the feature. Calls from unknown numbers are silenced and sent to your voicemail, and appear in your recent calls list.

It’s up to them to leave a voicemail or not, so you might only see missed calls. I would contact your carrier to understand how they have this set up carrier side and which of their call blocking services are enabled on your device.

Clean up your contacts and watch closely would be my advice.

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