- Filters and blocking are free, take a few minutes and work on both iPhone and Android, but they only hide calls. In the 2026 lead study, marketing contact often resumed from new numbers after a block.
- The National Do Not Call Registry is free and never expires, but it stops sales calls from real companies that follow the law, not scammers, and it can take up to 31 days.
- Reporting a call at DoNotCall.gov or ReportFraud.ftc.gov helps investigators and does not stop your phone ringing.
- The fix that removes the cause is a separate number for every site that asks for one. Calls forward to your own phone, and a number that leaks can be burned in one tap.
iPhone, Android and the root fix
How do you stop spam calls? Filter, block, and stop handing out your real number.
Turn on your phone's spam filter and unknown-caller silencing, block the numbers that get through, and keep your real number off every form. ExpressNumber handles that last step: each site gets its own named number that forwards to your phone, so there is less to filter in the first place.
$0 todayEvery outside fact on this page was read on the organization's own page, linked at the foot.
These are the six fixes and what each one stops and misses.
The first row removes the cause for every new form. The next three clean up the number that is already on lists, and the last two do not change what rings.
| Fix | What it stops | What it misses | Cost | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A separate number for each site | Spam that comes from the number you gave out. Burn the one that leaks and that caller is cut off for good. | Callers who already have your real number. | Free for 7 days, then $9.99 a month | About 5 |
| iPhone: Screen Unknown Callers | Every call from a number that is not in your contacts goes to voicemail without ringing. | Real callers you have not saved, such as a doctor or a delivery driver, go to voicemail too. | Free | About 1 |
| iPhone: Call Filtering. Android: Filter spam calls | Calls that your carrier or Google identifies as likely spam are silenced or filtered. | New spam numbers that nobody has reported yet, and any call that is not labeled. | Free | About 2 |
That one number, for good. | The same caller from a new number. In the lead study, contact often resumed from new numbers. | Free | Under 1 | |
Sales calls from real companies that follow the law, once up to 31 days have passed. | Scammers, and political, charity, debt collection and survey calls. | Free | About 3 | |
Nothing on your phone. Reports help the FTC and the FCC find illegal callers. | Everything else. A report does not block a number. | Free | About 3 |
You can stop spam calls on an iPhone with three settings in the Phone app.
Open Settings, tap Apps, then Phone. Set Screen Unknown Callers to Silence, turn on the Spam filter under Call Filtering, and turn on call identification. Calls from numbers you have not saved go to voicemail, and calls your carrier flags as spam or fraud are silenced.
- 1Open Settings, tap Apps, then tap Phone.
- 2Tap Screen Unknown Callers and choose Silence. Calls from numbers that are not saved in your contacts are silenced, sent to voicemail and listed in Recents. Ask Reason for Calling makes the caller give a name and a reason before your phone rings.
- 3Scroll to Call Filtering and turn on Spam. Calls your carrier identifies as likely spam or fraud are silenced, sent to voicemail and moved to a Spam list. Turn on Unknown Callers to move unsaved numbers to their own list.
- 4Tap Call Blocking & Identification and turn on Business Call Identification or a caller ID app you trust.
- 5To block one number, open the Phone app, tap Recents, tap the number, scroll down and tap Block Caller. A blocked caller can still leave a voicemail, but you will not get a notification.
9:41
Phone
Screen Unknown CallersSilence
Call Filtering
Unknown Callers
Spam
Call Blocking & Identification
Blocked Contacts
Outlined rows are the ones to change
Spam list
(212) 555-0166Silenced and sent to voicemail
Call screening does not work while you roam, and it turns off for 24 hours after you call emergency services, Apple says.
Sources: Apple: Screen and block calls on iPhone · Apple Support: Manage unknown callers on iPhone · Apple Support: Block phone numbers, contacts and emails on your iPhone
You can stop spam calls on Android from the Phone app's settings.
Open the Phone app, go to Settings, then Caller ID and spam, and turn on See caller ID & spam and Filter spam calls. Filtered calls skip your notifications but stay in your call history, so you can still check them.
- 1Open the Phone app, tap More options, then Settings, then Caller ID and spam. Some phones call the menu Spam and Call Screen.
- 2Turn on See caller ID & spam, which is on by default, then turn on Filter spam calls.
- 3To block a number, open the Phone app, tap the call in your history, then tap Block / report spam. The phone declines a blocked number automatically, and with visual voicemail on it cannot leave a voicemail.
- 4To stop private and unidentified numbers, go to More options, Settings, Blocked numbers and turn on Unknown. Numbers that are not in your contacts will still ring.
- 5On phones with automatic Call Screen, spam autoblocking is one of the Call Screen settings in place of Filter spam calls.
9:41
Caller ID & spam
See caller ID & spam
Filter spam calls
Blocked numbers
Unknown
Add a number
Outlined rows are the ones to change
Filtered calls
(415) 555-0142Filtered as spam, still in your history
Sources: Google Phone app Help: Use caller ID and spam protection · Google Phone app Help: Block or unblock a phone number
How to block spam calls for good is hard, because blocked callers return from new numbers.
Turn on your carrier's free spam filter as well as your phone's. The biggest phone providers told the FCC in 2021 that they offer free call-blocking services, but a block has a ceiling: in the 2026 lead study, marketing contact often resumed from new numbers after the researchers blocked it.
Look for "spam", "scam" or "call protection" in your carrier's app or on its website. Some services are free and some charge a fee, the FTC says, so check which one you are turning on.
Labeling is not blocking. A labeled call still rings with a warning such as "spam" or "scam likely", and you decide whether to answer. Blocking stops the call before it rings. Turn on both if your carrier offers both.
The study measured it. Every opt-out method cut contact volume, phone-based opt-outs the fastest, but none fully stopped it. Callers also copy your area code, which makes each block less lasting.
If a call gets through, hang up and do not call back. Do not press a number: the FTC says that will probably only lead to more robocalls.
FCC unwanted-call complaints
41% of the complaints were about a recording, and 75% came from people on a cell phone.
- Prerecorded call41% · 51,301 complaints
- Live caller26% · 33,189 complaints
- Text message15% · 19,314 complaints
- Kind not stated17% · 21,563 complaints
125,367 complaints, October 2025 to September 2026. FCC open data, read November 4, 2026.
Sources: FCC Second Report on Call Blocking (DA 21-772) · FTC: How to block unwanted calls · Vekaria, Demir, Kollnig and Shafiq: Understanding Data Collection, Brokerage, and Spam in the Lead Marketing Ecosystem (2026) · FTC: Robocalls · FCC open data: CGB Consumer Complaints Data
The Do Not Call list stops sales calls from real companies, not scammers.
Registering your number at DoNotCall.gov is free and never expires, and sales calls from companies that follow the law should stop within 31 days. It will not stop scammers, who ignore the list.
You can register up to three numbers at a time online, or check whether a number is registered by calling 1-888-382-1222 from it. A number shows up on the registry the next day, but it can take up to 31 days for sales calls to stop.
Some calls are still allowed: political, charitable, debt collection, purely informational calls and surveys, as long as they do not also include a sales pitch. A company you recently did business with, or gave written permission to call, can still ring you, and if you ask a company not to call, it has to stop.
A sales robocall is illegal unless the company has your written permission, registered or not, so a recorded sales pitch is worth reporting.
The National Do Not Call Registry
What registering stops, and what it does not.
It stops
- Sales calls from real companies that follow the law
- Live calls and robocalls alike, once the 31 days have passed
It does not stop
- Scammers, who ignore the law and the list
- Political, charity, debt collection, survey and purely informational calls
- A company you recently did business with, or gave written permission
Free, never expires, and sales calls can take up to 31 days to stop.
Sources: FTC: National Do Not Call Registry FAQs · FTC: Robocalls · DoNotCall.gov
Reporting a spam call takes three minutes and does not stop your phone ringing.
If you lost no money, report the call at DoNotCall.gov. If you lost money or know who called, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Reports help law enforcement and investigators go after illegal callers, but they do not block anything on your phone.
Include your own number, the number on your caller ID even if you think it is fake, any number you were told to call back, and the date and time of the call.
You can also file an unwanted-call complaint with the FCC's Consumer Help Center. Those complaints are public data, and spam calls by area code shows what 125,367 of them look like.
Sources: FTC: How to block unwanted calls · FTC: National Do Not Call Registry FAQs · ReportFraud.ftc.gov
The one fix that works before the calls start is a number you can burn.
Every filter above works after your number is already on a list. The fix that works before is to stop handing out your real number: give each form, listing and sign-up its own ExpressNumber number, which forwards calls to your phone and can be burned in one tap when it starts to attract spam.
Each number is named after the place you give it to. Calls forward to the US or Canada mobile you confirmed, and texts land in your web inbox under the number's name. If the number named Marketplace ad starts to ring with spam, you know where it came from, and you burn it. Burning is permanent.
Numbers are receive-only: they take calls and texts and never make them. Use them for listings, sellers, dealers, quotes and deliveries, and keep your real number for your bank and the people who call you every day.
Basic is $9.99 a month with 5 numbers, and the first 7 days are free. Why you get so many spam calls shows where callers find a number in the first place. The disposable phone number guide covers the burn, and how to stop spam texts covers the messages.
How a separate number works
The caller dials the number you gave them, not yours.
A caller dials the number on the formIt is named after the place that got it, such as Insurance quote.
Forwards
The call forwards to your mobileTexts land in your web inbox under the same name.
If it leaks
Spam on one name? Burn that numberOne tap, permanent. Your real number never changed.
These are the questions people ask first.
Open Settings, tap Apps, then Phone. Set Screen Unknown Callers to Silence, turn on Spam under Call Filtering, and turn on call identification under Call Blocking & Identification. To block one number, tap it in Recents and tap Block Caller.
Open the Phone app, tap More options, then Settings, then Caller ID and spam. Turn on See caller ID & spam and Filter spam calls. To block a number, tap the call in your history and tap Block / report spam.
Because the caller changes numbers. In the 2026 lead study, marketing contact often resumed from new numbers after a block, and callers often copy your area code so the new number looks local. A filter catches more than a block, and a separate number for each site stops the supply.
It works on sales calls from real companies that follow the law. Your number shows up the next day and sales calls can take up to 31 days to stop. It does not stop scammers, and political, charity, debt collection and survey calls are still allowed.
Hang up and do not call back. Do not press a number, because that will probably lead to more robocalls. Report the call at DoNotCall.gov, and if you lost money or gave out details, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
No single setting stops every call. The practical answer is layers: the spam filter and unknown-caller silencing for the number you already have, the Do Not Call Registry for legal sales calls, and a separate number for each site that asks for yours.
The biggest phone providers told the FCC in 2021 that they offer free call-blocking services. The FTC says some carrier services are free and others charge a fee, so check the one you are turning on.
There are more pages on the same problem.
Every outside fact on this page comes from these sources.
Read November 4, 2026. The complaint counts are the FCC's open data, as read on the date printed beside them.
- FTC: How to stop unwanted calls
- FTC: How to block unwanted calls
- FTC: Robocalls
- FTC: National Do Not Call Registry FAQs
- DoNotCall.gov
- ReportFraud.ftc.gov
- FCC Second Report on Call Blocking (DA 21-772)
- Vekaria, Demir, Kollnig and Shafiq: Understanding Data Collection, Brokerage, and Spam in the Lead Marketing Ecosystem (2026)
- Apple: Screen and block calls on iPhone
- Apple Support: Manage unknown callers on iPhone
- Apple Support: Block phone numbers, contacts and emails on your iPhone
- Google Phone app Help: Use caller ID and spam protection
- Google Phone app Help: Block or unblock a phone number
- FCC open data: CGB Consumer Complaints Data
Stop handing out the number you need to keep.
Hand out a number you can burn. Keep the one your family calls.
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