Today I finally got fed up with intrusive ads on my phone. So I went through alll my apps and deleted the ones I don’t use, and any recently installed sketchy apps.
Also of importance here, it bugged me that my lobby phone would not go to voicemail if I missed it; it just hung up. Then, during the app purge process, I came across the option to make sure it DID go to voicemail. I don’t remember how it was worded, but yes I checked the box.
You know where this is going, right? The next time I got a call from the lobby phone, it went straight to voicemail without even ringing.
I have spent more than 6 hours today trying to figure out how to lift this self imposed curse. Anybody got a helpful clue?
This is on a Pixel 8 Pro, but it should be the same.
I went into my phone app (just the default Google one), and selected contacts at the bottom. Then I went to a contact, and scrolled to the bottom. There is a section called “Contact settings” which lets me block a number or (un)route it to voicemail.
If you are having trouble with spam, from the phone app, press the three horizontal dots in the top right, and go to Settings. The two things to look at are “Caller ID & spam” and “Call Screen”. Under the spam setting I have it set to identify business and spam numbers. Sometimes I’ll get a call that IDs as “Spam”.
Under Call Screen, you can have it automatically screen calls, where a robot will ask who it is. I have mine set at medium protection, and it very rarely sends desired calls to spam.
What intrusive ads are you talking about? Absent a virus, I don’t see how an app is going to cause you to see ads unless you are in the app. And if you have a virus, all bets are probably off, and deleting apps isn’t going to fix it.
The majority of apps I’ve downloaded will spawn notifications trying to get you to use the app–which I always turn off. I could see some apps using that to advertise other items as well.
It also would be possible for an app to serve ads if you allowed certain permissions when you installed it–like the ability to draw over other apps.
And, finally, the app could be something pre-installed on the phone that serves ads. I haven’t seen that, but I did have something on my phone that would install a ton of apps I didn’t ask for, which then were ad supported.
Advice for significantly cutting down on the ads you see, even inside apps:
Go to your settings, and type in Private DNS in the search box. Assuming the setting shows up, choose the option with the text box, and enter dns.adguard-dns.com as your new Private DNS and save.
This doesn’t work for every app. But it works for a whole lot of them. If an app still shows ads, you can go to Settings > Applications > Appname and clear the cache for that app, and that may fix it. But don’t bother with apps like YouTube, as it doesn’t work there.
(Those instructions in the last paragraph are for Android. But there is probably something similar on iPhone.)
For IOS and IpadOS you need to download and install a profile from adguard. There are multiple things to click on, but it isn’t difficult; follow the step by step instructions on that page.
If you do use the DNS method to block ads on Android or iPhone, you may occasionally have to turn it off. The most common instance is when joining a WiFi network that has a “captive portal” login you have to go through before joining the internet. For Android, just set the private DNS to off or automatic, and for IOS, disable (not delete) the profile. Once through the portal, you can re-enable the DNS ad blocker.
I do recommend using a DNS ad blocker on mobile layered on top of an adblocking browser.