I’ve discovered the call blocking feature of Sailfish OS in the specific settings of the call application and read the usage hints scattered across multiple posts here in the forum.
It looks weird like being based on regex but apparently without the benefit of really using them (while we have known regex-based configuration to avoid commercial automated calls for France : SpamBlocker pour le téléphone | Pascal's weblog )
I’m all +1 for a UI interface that would allow to type the necessary characters to actually use the feature.
Ok, looking into this, there are two types of hidden number cases (at least, as far as I’ve been concerned with):
the caller is presented with a line id anonymous,
the caller is not presenting any line id.
In the first case, the phone log is writing anonymous and since it’s the line id, using the string “anonymous” in any of the ignored or rejected list will work (tested). Even doing it with the UI by selecting “blocking this number” should work.
In the second case, the phone log is writing private number and the entry is disabled (gray out). This I cannot test because my operator is always presenting the anonymous line id when I ask for a call without number presentation. Looking at the code, I guess that putting the empty string in the ignored or rejected list may work, something like: dconf write /sailfish/voicecall/filter/ignored-numbers "['^+33162', '^+33163', '^+33270', '^+33271', '^+33377', '^+33378', '^+33424', '^+33425', '^+33568', '^+33569', '^+33948', '^+33949', '^+338060', 'anonymous', '']"
@Siltaar tell me if you need more information, or your feedback if you have the opportunity to test.
Many thanks for the development, this filter feature is great!
I sometime had important calls, IIRC from medical, delivery or state offices, with “Private numbers”. I suppose they chose this option to not be flooded by users. Questionable, but well…
Just to warn, in order that no one misses an important call.
Any form of telephone is now unuseable. Over 50% of landline calls here in UK are now malicious spam calls . Even if no ID calls are blocked on mobile/landline spammers use visible alternate numbers. Once answered your number is put on an active list opening the floodgates to more calls. Your mobile number once entered on a website is retained as the key identifier used to track all your online activity across multiple devices. Why do you need to enter a phone number to open a Google account - can you call them, do they ever call you ? Apple cloaks their intent by saying it is for account recovery. Yeah. Texts 2FA are not secure. One alternative is a voip phone system. If you can find a provider that only charges the advertised cost. There are Mesh networks. Threema provides messaging voice and video calling without storing any data on any server
Is it at all legal for a state office or public service maintained by taxpayers to hide their identification, for whatever reason? It’s probably illegal to do so, so if you experience such things I would advise to inform your authorities. I have “Private numbers” fully blocked at operator level and that’s it, somehow I manage to cope with it
Here in Finland they now always add the sentence “the call will come from an unknown number”. I just realized why they do that!
But afaiu caller ID is easily spoofed and that’s probably the reason why they don’t even use it - a caller with nepharious motives could easily spoof their ID to be “Medical Clinic” or some such, and people might be inclined to trust that more.
Following such reasoning one might eventually conclude that caller ID is a dangerous feature per se and all calls should be anonymous so that no one can spoof the ID.
