Verizon Now Offering Free Call Filtering to Block Telemarketers

I just installed the app on my iPhone. No option for a free service. I can try it for free but if I don’t cancel it I will be charged $2.99/mo.

The Verizon app has a free tier, while Hiya doesn’t.

Are you a Verizon postpaid customer? It’s not an option for pre-paid customers. Did you follow the instructions in the article? They push the subscription pretty hard, but I promise that there’s a free tier.

I think Hiya is still available for free; you just don’t get lookups for numbers that belong to individual people unless you subscribe to the premium service.

I am looking at my bill due April 8 and it covers 3/17 to 4/16.

I follow the instructions. I do not see “Turn on for Free.” It very clearly offers me “Try it for free” and “Subscribe Now.”

If I go to Settings and click on Subscribe the options are “Subscribe now” and “Cancel” The text assures me that I will be charged $2.99/mo.

.

I didn’t have that at all. Are you installing the same app that I did?

That was my initial suspicion. I just double-checked and followed the link from the article to the app store on my iPhone. Same up, version 2.1 released a week ago. I feel like I have an older version on my iPhone.

Deleting it and installing again.

Launched it, so far matching the article for setup.

It checked my Verizon subscriber status.

And the options again are “Try it free” and “Subscribe now” for $2.99/month.

I just unsubscribed and restarted the app. At the very top when I open the app, there is a message next to a shield icon that says “You’re not protected” with a button that says “Turn on for free”. Tap that and I get a new screen that says “Get free spam protection” with “Yes” and “No thanks” buttons. Tap “Yes” and after a minute you get a banner “Activating free spam protection - This may take up to an hour to complete”. Tap Ok on that and the top now says “You’re protected” next to an icon of a shield with a check mark in it.

I never get the “Your not protected” message.

And version 2.1 advertising itself as free spam protection.

I wonder if it has something to do with my subscription status. I see it checking on that issue before trying to sell me a subscription.

I recently told a friendly cashier that I didn’t like giving out my phone number to get a discount. She suggested I try <local_area_code>-867-5309. (Search the number if it doesn’t ring any bells.) I’ve used it a few times since, and it has always worked.

If the telephone number links to any kind of account that accumulates benefits, you might try redeeming them periodically (before Jenny does).

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Thanks. Now I have that song stuck in my head.

I’ve given this one and had telemarketers immediately hang up on me.

That was back when I would sometimes actually answer a call from one of these vermin.

ver 2.2.1 now, when you go to the app window that shows ‘start your free trial’ or option for paid version @$2.99, did you click on the ‘start your free trail’ ? When I do this, I get a new window that says you get full access to the premium version for the trial period of 10days. “you will not be automatically subscribed after the trail ends.” Presumably @Doug Miller subscribed to the 10-day trial of the premium service and then unsubscribed? I get the same issues as PaulC does when trying to find the supposed free service, after installing app and and then piece by piece enabling permissions to use notifications & then later access to my contact list-for which I trust Verizon about as much as Equifax>>> still not showing the icon D.Miller says showed on his iphone?

I’m using old iOS 10.1 though, on ip6…so maybe compatibility of the Call Filter app linking capabilities limited w/older iOS vs current (wouldn’t surprise me if Verizon has it not working for all iOS versions/ip models supposedly supported)

I d/l’d v2.2 just now from the iOS App Store and my only choice is “Try it free” and “Subscribe now.” No option to “Use it free” and no “You’re (not) protected.”

This seems like a step in the right direction. But what I’d like to know is this: If I enable it access to my contacts, does that give Verizon the opportunity to collect/ingest/copy the contents of my contacts database (to use as they please), or does the CallKit framework prevent that by, for example, limiting the access to simply the answer to the question, “Is there a match to this number in there?”

To me, that’s a huge privacy concern.

Same as cotty (above reported): I d/l’d v2.2 just now from the iOS App Store and my only choice is “Try it free” and “Subscribe now.”

Same here. Just a 10 day free trial… seems to have been advertised in version 2.1 as free but in 2.2 now shows a free 10 day trial or pay for premium.

Strange. Well, Verizon has an info page about this. See https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/how-to-use-call-filter/

Scroll down to the section “Free Spam Protection” and try doing the steps they suggest in the My Verizon page online or the My Verizon app on your phone.

iPhone 6
iOS 12.1.4
app version 2.2.3

I wonder if this is a iPhone version issue beause I also don’t see any thing but the Free 10 day trial. When I start, this is what I see: