Collection agencies may be noticing an uptick in the number of calls going unanswered in the past week or so, and it could be related to the new operating system Apple released for its iPhones which might be too good at blocking purported spam and robocalls, according to a published report.
Apple released its latest version of its operating system, iOS 13, last week. Users can open their settings app, navigate to “Phone” and then select a feature “Silence Unknown Callers.” When engaged, the feature automatically directs any caller — except for those users have previously called, numbers saved in the phone’s contact list, and those that Siri suggests — to voicemail.
But the feature might be working too well, according to the report. When engaged, the feature redirects every call it does not recognize to voicemail. That includes offices and companies that may use multiple phone lines and numbers. The report describes an individual not receiving a call from her “significant other” because the call was placed using an office line that was not saved in the individual’s contact list. As well, calls from delivery services, like FreshDirect, are being re-routed to voicemail because the individuals do not have the numbers of the delivery persons saved in their phones.
A growing number of carriers, phone manufacturers, and software developers are rolling out tools to try and keep robocalls from being connected
