jason

Callblock - The first app to block telemarketers automatically in iOS

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Ben Tossell
cc @rrhoover Do you still get multiple ones a day?!
Ryan Hoover
@bentossell I've been using Truecaller for a while now. It covers ~20% of telemarketers, which isn't great. Maybe I'll switch to this.
Brian Kennish
Our team likes to block annoying stuff! (See also https://www.producthunt.com/post....) When we caught at WWDC that programmatic call screening might be possible in iOS 10, we jumped. Alas, the new VoIP parts of iOS were too buggy at launch to screen telemarketing calls. We’ve been helping Apple debug since, though, and are glad to be able to share Callblock now that you can actually use the app to block telemarketers – more than 3,000,000 in the version we’re releasing today. App Store guidelines prevent us from offering a Product Hunt–only discount, so we’ve made Callblock free for everybody to try for a month instead. Tell us what you think!
Zak Kinion
@oldestlivingboy @rocketship, @callblockapp, @adblockfast Where do I get such a list of the numbers to block from? I could seriously use some telemarketer blocking in my own startup which generates customer calls to local businesses all over, but has the sad side effect of bringing oodles of telemarketer calls along with it. I don't have an IOS app, I just use Twilio for call forwarding. This would be very helpful. PRETTY PLEASE AND IT'S ACTUALLY MY BIRTHDAY. :)
Brian Kennish
@zak_kinion The telemarketer directory is something of Callblock’s secret sauce, but we have a few bits about how we compiled the entries in our faq: https://callblockapp.com/#faq Happy birthday! 🎂
Zak Kinion
@oldestlivingboy Thanks for the bday wishes! Yeah, I imagined it was something like that. One could screen scrape sites those "number lookup" sites that are seo spammed all over and then of course add to the list from private sources and especially from customers "reporting" numbers by tapping that its a telemarketer. It'd be near impossible to grow up that kind of db organically from scratch. You should know that the ability to build and continuously improve a db like that, that can be used across many different solutions is probably far more valuable than just an iOS app. Something to keep in mind. Best of luck to you.
Brian Kennish
@zak_kinion True (re directory value), but we don’t want to make money by collecting and selling user data.
Zak Kinion
@oldestlivingboy Not your customer/contact data, that'd be a terrible thing to do. :) I was referring to the unique ability to create a constantly updated and most importantly accurate db of telemarketers. Think more along the lines of: all the white listing and black listing that used to go into spam email filtering, but applied to phone numbers instead. That alone, is very powerful.
nuro
Was really looking forward to using this as I get a tonne of spam calls every day. But having the app free to download and then do literally nothing until you pay for the monthly subscription. That is not free. Shame....
Brian Kennish
@meadowcottage13 The app is free for a month – you don’t have to pay till then (and only if you remain a user).
Paul Shapiro
The big competitors here are: Free: - Truecaller - Hiya/Mr. Number (same app/company) Paid: - Nomorobo
Abdur Chowdhury
Does this app require me to all them to download my address book? Been using TrueCaller like Ryan and it is not great. Just installed Hiya this weekend because TrueCaller is so bad again it wanted my address book. BTW, Really happy people are working on this problem, it is a giant user need!!! Fingers crossed they nail it. :)
Brian Kennish
@abdur No! Callblock doesn’t use your Address Book at all. (We compile the app’s directory of telemarketers ourselves not from users.)
Brian Kennish
@abdur Awesome, send any feedback our way. 😁
Jack Smith
@oldestlivingboy : 1) in your marketing email you say "Callblock is the first app that blocks telemarketing phone calls automatically in iOS". but I've been using Truecaller to automatically block calls for a while now, could you explain more? 2) can this work alongside Truecaller, or is it an either or?
Hal Gottfried
@_jacksmith exactly, just like hiya / nomorerobo
Brian Kennish
@_jacksmith (1) Check the explanation out at https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/0... and (2) I can’t remember – I’ll try to track the answer down.
Jack Smith
@oldestlivingboy #1 : Truecaller launched that same feature the same day as your article was published: https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/0... in the post you link to, techcrunch doesn't say that you're "the first app" it says "Callblock will be among the first" #2 : cool
Brian Kennish
@_jacksmith They announced vaporware after we got some press the day before – and were already distributing this app: https://venturebeat.com/2016/09/... Callblock was then in the App Store when iOS 10 launched (http://www.loopinsight.com/2016/...), a month and a half ahead of Truecaller (https://blog.truecaller.com/2016...) – but, again, iOS was too buggy.
Brian Kennish
@_jacksmith Multiple call-directory extensions (like Callblock) should be compatible, with the first enabled taking precedence to act on common callers. (I am finding recent iOS bug reports about conflicts, though.)
Brian Alvey
I am getting two spam calls per day on my iPhone these days. Just a few months ago it was one per week. It's like cell phone numbers are suddenly fair game. I had to start using Do Not Disturb because I have a NY number but live in SF now so the robocalls begin at 4:30am here. Installing this now. Thanks!
Gregg Housh
Thank you! I need this to block at least 10 calls a day. Draining my productivity. Thanks @oldestlivingboy
Alex Fishman
Thanks. I started get way too many of these call recently. Will give it a try.
Chad Whitaker
I received a spam call at least ten times a week; sometimes multiple calls per a day. While the onboarding and design of the app could use a little polish, if it works as advertised, it will be well worth the subscription. I'm excited to see the results this week 😄
Daveyon Mayne
How do you handle withheld (private) callers? Is your app for a specific country? UK love?
Brian Kennish
@mirmayne iOS doesn’t allow calls with no ID to be blocked (but most telemarketers don’t block their caller IDs). Callblock works in the UK and over 100 other countries (you can see all the supported countries at https://callblockapp.com/#faq).
Paul Arterburn
@oldestlivingboy if you're open to the idea, you might check out @dustin's Open Office Hours to get some help thinking through the UX on your app. I've been confused a few times not realizing there are two big settings and not knowing what to click to toggle them.
Glenn Berkshier
How does it work with a Google Voice number? I have a work cell with my personal number on it through Google Voice. I get more calls from telemarketers on my personal number than I do for my work number. Is the integration there for GV calls?
Brian Kennish
@grberk Callblock filters on the incoming number, which is what Google Voice displays (by default), so should work as expected.
Glenn Berkshier
@oldestlivingboy Cool. I'll give it a try. Thanks.