Tip of the Week: Android Makes it Easy to Block Telemarketers

Everyone gets unwanted calls from unsolicited numbers on their smartphone. It’s a part of life. What matters, though, is how you deal with these callers. While a pretty comprehensive solution to this problem can be contacting your provider, some more recent models of Android smartphones have the ability to blacklist phone numbers built right into the device.

Depending on the Android device, there are several different ways to block a number. Most recent devices will have a similar way of going about it, while other older devices won’t have any way of doing it at all. For the Samsung Galaxy S5, however, you shouldn’t have any trouble figuring it out. Plus, you have us to show you how to do it! Here are three ways you can block calls natively on your Android smartphone.

Block All Incoming Calls
Again, we’d like to emphasize that these steps could vary depending on which version of Android you’re using. First, you’ll want to open the Phone application. Next, tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of the screen. Select Settings and choose Call. You’ll see the Call Rejection option, select it.

You’ll see the option for rejecting incoming calls. By selecting Auto reject mode, you’ll be taken to a whole other menu with even more options. By default, Auto reject mode will be selected, but you can turn this setting off if you want to. If you select All incoming calls, it will block all calls from connecting to your phone. This is a pretty neat feature if you need to get a sizable amount of work done, but there are other ways to block specific numbers, too.

Block Specific Numbers
As you saw previously, the numbers that your phone blocks are pulled from the Auto reject list. You can find this list right beneath Auto reject mode. Select the plus sign (+) in the top-right corner, and you can enter in a number that you want to block. There’s also an option to block any unknown caller, but you don’t want to miss a potentially important call. Adding numbers to the auto-reject list helps you avoid time-wasting phone calls by eliminating them altogether, not unlike a spam filter for your email solution.

You can add numbers from your Recent Calls to the auto reject list, too. All you have to do is select the number, then tap the three-dot menu. Select the option to Add to Auto reject list, and you’re all set.

Blocked-Call Messages
If you’ve blocked someone’s number for whatever reason, you can set your device up so that it will deliver special text message responses to the blocked number. Whether you’re at the movies, eating dinner, or are simply too busy to answer your phone, a Rejection Message can be an effective way of saying, “I’m busy, but I’ll get back to you.” To create messages or view currently available messages, select Rejection Messages, right underneath the Auto reject list.

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