Quick Links
Unwanted calls are a pain. Whether they’re scam calls from fake firms or even genuine sales calls from insurance companies or phone carriers. Thankfully, there’s a way around it. You can block numbers on manyAndroid phonesthese days, and the process of doing so is very simple.
So whether it’s a number you don’t recognise persistently calling you, or just a sales call you couldn’t be less interested in, follow the steps below.
With a few manufacturers using their own phone app, the process can be slightly different depending on which phone you have, but it’s largely similar. Regardless, we’ve broken down a few of the more popular brands below.
How to block a call on most Android phones
If you have aPixel,OnePlusor other Android phone like an affordable Nokia or Motorola phone that largely uses Google’s own stock apps as the defaults, your process is easy.
After you’ve blocked it, you’re able to view your blocked numbers in the Phone app by tapping the three dots in the top corner, choosing ‘Settings’ and then ‘Blocking settings’. In this next screen, you’ll see ‘Blocked numbers’. If you’ve added one by mistake, and need to remove it from the list, just press the ‘X’.
Block a number with a Samsung phone
If you havea Samsung, you may not be using Google’s own phone app, you’ll be using the one Samsung has designed and developed for its own version of Android.
To view your list of blocked numbers, tap on the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner of the Phone app’s main screen. Select ‘Settings’ and then ‘Block numbers’.
Block phone numbers with Huawei or Honor phones
Huaweiand Honor phones use Huawei’s own EMUI software built on top of Android, and the process is similar, but just a little different. Follow the steps below to block numbers on your EMUI phone.
If, for whatever reason you need to see a list of your blocked numbers, all you need to do is open the phone app and tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner and select ‘Blocked’, now tap the settings cog icon in the top corner. The next screen has ‘Blocklist’ on it. Tap on this and you’ll see a list of any blocked numbers.
Block numbers with Oppo and Realme phones
While newer Oppo phones (fromAndroid 11onwards) use Google’s phone app, older models don’t. They have their own built into their own ColorOS skin, as do Realme phones, and so the process is different again. In the older versions of ColorOS, the process is as follows:
To then view your blacklist or blocked numbers list, open the phone app and tap the two-dot menu in the top corner. Select ‘Block & Filter’ and now you’ll see any blocked calls or messages. Tap the two-dot menu icon in the top corner again, select ‘Set rules’ and then ‘Blacklist’.
How to block your own number
You now know how to block incoming calls, but what if you want to block your own number when you’re calling someone else? Obviously, this is a different use case, you’re not trying to stop your call from going through, just not having your name/number show up on the other end.
If you’re in the US you can block your own number by dialling *67 before the number you want to call. So dial that first followed by the usual digits of the phone number you’re trying to contact.
When you do this you’ll simply show up as No Caller ID, Private or Blocked on the phone you’re calling.
*67 is a free service to use, though it might not work everywhere. In the UK, for example, you’ll need to dial 141 instead of *67.
How to block spam calls automatically
As well as blocking specific numbers on your Android phone you can also tweak some settings to reduce some of the nuisance spam calls you’ve been getting. You can do this by filtering spam calls and tweaking other settings:
If you go to the main settings on your phone you can also look for “default caller ID and spam app” settings under apps > default apps. There are other apps you candownload like the Truecaller appthat can help filter spam calls and minimise your misery.
How to unblock a number
If you’ve blocked a number but it was a mistake, not to worry as you can reverse it and unblock the number. To do this:
It’s worth noting that here you can also to “block calls from unidentified callers” if you are fed up with unwanted calls from unknown numbers.
