How to set up iPhone call screening (and where it stops)

On iOS 26, Apple's call screening is one setting with three possible answers. It's called Screen Unknown Callers, it sits in Settings under Apps and then Phone, and it decides what happens when a number that isn't in your contacts calls you. Apple's guide for the newest release, iOS 27, shows the same path and the same three choices.

Below: the steps in order, what each choice does to a call, how to switch it off, and the filter and block settings that live next to it. After that comes the part that matters if the iPhone in your pocket is also your business line.

Turn on call screening

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Apps, then tap Phone.
3. Scroll to Screen Unknown Callers.
4. Tap Ask Reason for Calling.

From then on, when an unsaved number calls, your iPhone answers without ringing and asks the caller for their name and why they're calling. Once they've answered, the phone rings and shows you what they said, and you decide whether to pick up. Siri does the asking, in your iPhone's default language.

What each choice does

• Never. Screening is off, and a call from an unsaved number rings like any other call.
• Ask Reason for Calling. The caller is asked for more information before your iPhone rings.
• Silence. The call doesn't ring at all. It's sent to voicemail and shows up in your Recents list.

"Unsaved" is Apple's word for any number that isn't saved in your contacts, and that's the whole test. Apple's advice is to add the numbers you can't afford to miss to Contacts, so you always see those calls.

Switching screening off

Go back to the same place: Settings, Apps, Phone, Screen Unknown Callers. Tap Never, and calls from unsaved numbers ring normally again. The same tap undoes Silence if that's the one you'd picked. If unknown calls still don't ring after that, our guide to turning off call screening on iPhone goes through the other settings that silence calls.

Filter unknown and spam calls

Further down the same Phone settings page are two filter switches. They're separate from the screening choice, and you can use either one with it:

• Unknown Callers takes calls from unknown numbers out of Recents and puts them on an Unknown Callers list. Missed calls and voicemails from those numbers move there too.
• Spam silences calls your carrier identifies as potential spam or fraud, sends them to voicemail and moves them to a Spam list.

To read either list, open the Phone app, tap Calls (or Recents, in the Classic layout), tap the Filter button, then tap Unknown Callers or Spam. If someone on the Unknown Callers list is a person you want to hear from, tap Mark as Known next to their call, and their future calls stay out of that list.

Block one number

In the Phone app, tap Contacts, tap the person, then tap Block Contact. To undo it, open Settings, tap Apps, Phone, Blocked Contacts, then Edit, and unblock the number.

On iOS 18 it's a single switch

On iOS 18 the setting was a switch called Silence Unknown Callers, in the same Settings, Apps, Phone menu. With it on, you're still notified of calls from your contacts, numbers you've called recently and Siri Suggestions, and other unknown callers go to voicemail. The carrier spam setting there is Silence Junk Callers, under Call Blocking & Identification, and it only appears with certain carriers.

When your iPhone won't screen a call

Apple lists a few cases where screening doesn't run, and one that's easy to forget:

• You're roaming. Calls aren't screened then, whatever the setting says.
• You've called emergency services. Screening switches itself off for the next 24 hours.
• The number is saved in your contacts. Screening only ever applies to unsaved numbers.

Apple also notes that standard calling and data rates may apply to screened calls.

Where it stops for a business

On a personal line, Ask Reason for Calling is a good setting, and we'd leave it on. Saved numbers ring as usual, strangers get asked who they are, and you read the answer before you pick up. The gaps show up when the same phone is how customers reach your business. Our call screening page walks through how we handle a call from start to finish; here's the short version, point by point.

It's a setting on one phone

Every step above happens in the Settings app on your iPhone, and the screening happens there too. VettedCalls screens on our side instead. Your cell forwards every call to your VettedCalls number first, so screening is done before any phone rings. With Team answering on Pro, your teammates' phones ring at once with yours when a caller gets through, and whoever answers first takes the call.

Every new customer is an unknown caller

Apple sorts calls with one question: is the number saved in your contacts? A customer calling for the first time never is. So the homeowner with a leak and the car-warranty robocall get the same treatment. Both are asked why they're calling, and both wait while you read the answer. For spam, the iPhone goes by what your carrier flags.

We answer unknown callers in your business name and ask who's calling and how we can help. An AI reads the answer and notes the caller's name and topic, whether it's a priority call, and whether it looks like spam. A caller who stays silent or sounds like spam, and then doesn't press 1 or 2 when asked, picks up a flag on a spam registry we share across every VettedCalls customer. At 10 counted flags the number is blocked for all of them, and one account's flags count at most once per 24 hours.

An emergency gets the same question

With Ask Reason for Calling, a burst pipe and a sales pitch go through the same step. Priority Passthrough lets customers who say one of your selected priority words ring straight through to you, regardless of the time of day. Your priority words are six that apply to everyone (urgent, emergency, help, asap, right now, today), defaults for your trade, and up to 20 of your own. The call skips the text question and rings you right away for up to 40 seconds, on every plan.

When you can't pick up

Apple's screen collects a name and a reason and hands them to you. On our Receptionist plan, a call you don't answer goes to an AI receptionist. During business hours your phone rings for 12 seconds first; after hours, callers who pass screening go straight to it. It gets the caller's name and reason, confirms their callback number by its last four digits, asks what days work, and tells them someone from your team will reach out to set a time. Priority calls and saved contacts that you miss go to voicemail instead. Pro has no AI receptionist: a call rings you for up to 25 seconds, then goes to voicemail, and you get the transcript by email. Pricing lays out what each plan includes.

Setting up VettedCalls on an iPhone

You keep the cell number your customers already have. We give your account its own VettedCalls number, and your cell forwards calls to it. Setup is four steps:

1. Install Cloud Softphone, free from the App Store. Your VettedCalls extension runs inside it.
2. Open the VettedCalls welcome email on the phone and tap Activate VettedCalls. The app sets itself up, with nothing to type and no QR code.
3. Allow Microphone, Notifications and Contacts, then turn on Background App Refresh for Cloud Softphone.
4. From the regular Phone app, dial your carrier's code to forward all calls: **21*NUMBER# on most carriers, or *72NUMBER on Verizon and carriers that run on Verizon. ##21# or *73 turns it off.

After that, every call goes to VettedCalls first, and your cell itself shouldn't ring. Calls that get through ring in Cloud Softphone with the caller's real number showing. When you answer, you hear their name and reason, then a beep, then the caller.

One thing to know if you're used to Apple's screen: the contacts on your iPhone don't carry over by themselves. Add or import the ones who should skip screening, because saved contacts skip it and ring you 24/7. Some prepaid and MVNO plans can't forward calls; if yours can't, you get a full refund within the first 14 days. Our iPhone setup page covers each step in detail, and features lists everything else the app does.

Screening on other phones

On Android, it depends on who made the phone. The Android call screening guide goes brand by brand, and there are separate walkthroughs for Google call screening on a Pixel and Samsung call screening. If your business number is a Google Voice number, Google Voice call screening works differently again.