Spam and scam calls are an ever increasing nuisance, so a reliable caller ID service – and particularly one that can flag or auto block known scam numbers – is near essential. Sadly, this isn’t something Apple offers natively, and while there are some third-party caller ID services, these can be quite hit and miss, or cost extra. But finally, Apple is taking the first steps towards such a service.
The company has announced (via Engadget) that, next year, it will allow businesses enrolled in Apple Business Connect to register for Business Caller ID. With this, their company name, logo, and department will appear on the incoming call screen when they contact customers.
This should make it a lot easier to differentiate a legitimate call from a spam call since, if there’s no logo shown, there’s a high chance that it’s an unwanted call. If there is a logo, you can judge based on the company that’s calling whether it’s likely to be something you want to answer.
Some Apple Business Connect tools, including Business Caller ID (Image credit: Apple)
A good start
This still isn’t a perfect solution – companies will need to enroll, and we can imagine many smaller ones won’t, though it as at least a free service, so there’s not too much of a barrier to entry. And, of course, this only applies to businesses, not personal numbers, so not all genuine calls will be identified.
This system also isn’t designed to specifically flag or block spam and scam calls, so these will still ring on your phone.
Still, it’s a big and overdue step in the right direction from Apple, and one that anyone who frequently gets calls from unknown numbers will probably be very happy about.
It’s not clear exactly when next year this Business Caller ID service will launch, but the sooner the better as far as we’re concerned.
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