iPhone:
Calls and privacy
This course explains how you can use some of the privacy features on your iPhone. You'll learn how to hide your number for outgoing calls, block nuisance callers, and claim some peace and quiet by using the Do not disturb feature.
Watch our animation by pressing the Play button below, or click on the handy chapters icon in the video playbar (it is the third icon from the right) to go straight to the information you want to see, such as how to:
- manage your Caller ID
- block nuisance callers
- use the Do Not Disturb feature
- schedule Do Not Disturb to turn on automatically at set times and days
- add exceptions to the Do Not Disturb feature.
Sign in to save your progress
Transcript
Welcome to the "iPhone: Calls and privacy" course. You'll learn how to protect your privacy by blocking nuisance callers, keeping your number private, and controlling who calls you and when. If your iPhone has a physical Home button, some of the steps might be slightly different, but you can still follow along. When you use your mobile phone to call another mobile phone, your number and sometimes your name will appear on their screen. This is known as Caller ID, which is short for caller identification. It's a useful feature that helps your friends and family know that you're calling them. But if you don't want others to know your number, you can turn this off. Here's how it's done. From the Home screen, find the Settings icon and tap it. Scroll down the menu, until you find Phone, then tap it to see some options. From the list, tap Show My Caller ID. The Show My Caller ID screen will open, with a switch at the top. Tap the switch so that it moves to the left and becomes white, to turn Caller ID off. Now that Caller ID is off, your number won't appear on the screen of the person you call. Switching off Caller ID only works for phone calls. If you send a message, the person will still see your mobile phone number. To turn Caller ID back on, tap the switch next to Show My Caller ID once more, so that it moves to the right and becomes green. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to return to the Home screen. Next, we'll look at how to block a caller.
If you're getting lots of nuisance calls from the same number, you can block them. This means they won't be able to call you again from that number. To get started, tap the Phone icon. On the screen that appears, look at the row of icons at the bottom, and find Recent. It looks like a clock. Tap on it. When Recent is selected, it will be blue. The Recent screen shows a list of all the people or phone numbers who have called you, with the most recent at the top. From the list, find the number that you wish to block. Don't tap it, as this will call them back. Instead, tap the blue I icon to the right of the number. Some options will appear. Scroll to the very bottom of the list, to find Block this Caller, which is red. Tap it, and a panel will pop up, reminding you that you won't be able to receive phone calls, messages, or FaceTime video calls from this caller, once you've blocked them. That's okay, so tap Block Contact. The panel goes away, and you can see that the option at the bottom of the list has changed to Unblock this Caller. If you change your mind, you can tap this to unblock them, and they will be able to call you once more. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to return to the Home screen. Next, we're going to learn how to use the Do Not Disturb feature, to temporarily stop your phone from receiving calls, texts, or emails.
Tap the Settings icon to see the Settings menu. The Settings menu will show the last screen that you were on. For this demonstration, we'll tap the Back arrow to return to the Phone screen. And then again, to return to the main Settings menu. Now we'll scroll back up, almost to the top of the main Settings menu. Find Focus, and tap on it. Now tap on Do Not Disturb, to see some options. Right at the top is the main Do Not Disturb switch. To turn this setting on, tap this switch so that it moves to the right and becomes green. Do Not Disturb is now switched on. This means that your phone won't be able to receive calls, texts, or emails. You'll only want to switch this on if you do not want people to be able to contact you. If you're just looking to silence your phone, you might be better to turn on Silent Mode instead, which will allow your phone to receive calls and messages without making any sound. If you miss a call or text message while your phone is on silent, you'll still receive a notification, so you'll know that someone was trying to contact you. When Do Not Disturb is switched on, on the other hand, your phone will not be able to receive calls or messages, and you won't even receive a notification if someone tries to contact you. Once you switch the Do Not Disturb setting off, your phone will receive notifications once more, and will catch you up on any calls or messages that you might have missed. If you want to turn Do Not Disturb off, just tap the switch again so that it moves to the left and becomes white. For this demonstration, we'll look at some other features first. You can schedule Do Not Disturb to automatically turn on and off at times and days of your choosing. Let's look at how to do this now.
Tap Add Schedule or Automation to see the options. Next, tap Time to go to the Time screen, and choose the times you want Do Not Disturb to be active. Tap From, and some time options will appear. Scroll up or down through the list to choose the time that you want the Do Not Disturb setting to automatically switch on. Once you've chosen the time, tap outside the Time options to set the From time. Tap To, and repeat these steps to set the time you'd like Do Not Disturb to automatically switch off. Below the Time options, the Repeat options let you choose which days of the week you want Do Not Disturb to automatically switch on. You can tap these individual days to switch them off and on, but for this demonstration, we'll leave this set to every day. When you're happy with your settings, tap Done on the top right of this screen, to return to the main Do Not Disturb screen. You can see your new schedule here, under Turn On Automatically. Do Not Disturb will automatically turn on between 7:00 to 9:00 PM every day. One of the best features of Do Not Disturb is that you can set exceptions. You can allow certain people to still be able to contact you while Do Not Disturb is switched on, so you can be unavailable to everyone except people of your choosing. Tap People to go to the Allowed Notifications screen. Tap the Add icon, which looks like a plus symbol in a circle, to open a list of your phone's contacts. Tap the name of a contact, and a blue tick will appear next to their name. Tap Done on the top right of this screen to add the contact to your list of Allowed People. Anyone whose name appears in this list will be allowed to contact you when Do Not Disturb is switched on. Now tap the Back arrow to return to the main Do Not Disturb screen. To turn Do Not Disturb off, tap the switch next to Do Not Disturb, so that it moves to the left and becomes white. Now that Do Not Disturb is switched off, your phone will be able to receive calls, text messages, and all notifications once more.
If you've created a schedule, Do Not Disturb will automatically turn on at the scheduled times, and you won't be able to be contacted during the scheduled times. Now, swipe up from the bottom of the screen, to return to the Home screen. You've reached the end of this course, and should now know how to block nuisance callers, keep your phone number private, and use the Do Not Disturb feature on your iPhone. If you're unsure about any steps, you can rewind the video or click the chapter headings to jump to the start of a chapter. If you're ready to move on, there are many other courses to explore on Be Connected.