How to block calls by area code

Using smartphone features or ad hoc apps, you can block calls coming from specific numbers. Here's how to do it

The problem of unwanted calls is one that never goes to rest, mainly for two reasons: the calls come from always different numbers or, even worse, they are automated (so-called robocalls). Blocking all unwanted calls, therefore, is the dream of many smartphone users. Both Android and iOS.

But how do you do it? The available options are many, but without a specific app designed precisely to block unwanted calls we won't be able to do much, neither on Android nor on iOS. In particular, in fact, it's very difficult to block all calls coming from a specific area code. Yet it would be useful to do so, given the cyclical return of old scams such as calls from Tunisia, Kosovo and other foreign countries. Rings to which you should never answer with a call, or we will be charged very high costs and very often also subscriptions to premium paid services that we have never asked. So here's how to block calls from a single unwanted number and how to block all calls coming from an area code.

Find out directly on these sites, which home internet provider allows call blocking.

How to block calls coming from a single number

If the annoying calls always come from the same number, or from a few numbers that are always the same, then paradoxically we are lucky because we can block them quite easily without installing any third-party app. Both Android and iOS, in fact, integrate specific features to do so. On Android we'll have to look for the number calling us in the list of received calls, tap on it and then tap on the menu with the three dots in the top right corner. Here we will have to choose "Block numbers" and then confirm with "Block".

On iOS, however, we have to open the dialer and then go to "Recents" and tap on the "i" next to the number we want to block. Then we need to select "Block Contact". If the annoying numbers are few, we can get rid of them in a few minutes on both Android and iOS.

How to block all calls coming from a prefix

Different is the case when the calls are robotized: usually, in fact, the number always changes and it is therefore impossible (as well as useless) to block these calls with the procedure just described. What usually does not change is the prefix: all spam calls come from numbers with the same prefix, usually foreign. In this case you need to download and install a third-party app that can filter out all numbers with a prefix of your choice.

The most famous app in the world for doing this is TrueCaller, it's available for both iOS and Android and has only one major flaw (and it can't help having one): if you use it to filter out numbers with a certain prefix, then legitimate calls coming from a number with that prefix will also be blocked. Since we are dealing with foreign prefixes, and moreover with countries with which Italians have few relations, this is usually not a big problem. But it should still be considered before activating an area code blocker on Android or iOS with an app.