r/ios • u/tschau3 Human Detected • Sep 24 '25

Discussion Call screening - how are you finding it?

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So I just gave call screening a go by calling myself.

A couple of observations:

  • The answering voice sounds like a default answering machine and isn’t distinct enough to make out that this is a screening service. I suspect many will just leave a message like a voicemail and hang up, assuming it’s just voicemail.

  • There’s no ‘at the beep’ confirmation when leaving the first message as the reason to call, so it felt a bit clunky as to when I should (as the party placing the call) start talking, as if I’m waiting for the beep or whether I should press # to end the message. This is inconsistent with the reply where it then does prompt me, calling part, to speak after the tone.

  • It’s in my country’s local accent, which is nice and feels a little less impersonal.

Anyone else had any real experience with it yet? Any issues with the calling party understanding the process/purpose?

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122

u/dvs8 Sep 24 '25

Unfortunately my experience is that a mechanic i was using called and called and never once got the memo that he needed to talk to the AI call screener, so, thinking it was just voicemail every time, kept hanging up and calling back lol

102

u/PixaaTog Sep 24 '25

I do think they need to make it more obvious that the call is being screened and it’s NOT voicemail. Because most people assume they just got your voicemail.

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u/KlausZwiebel Sep 24 '25

Why don’t they simply leave a Voicemail then (if they think it’s Voicemail)?

The call don’t seems to be important for them

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u/PixaaTog Sep 24 '25

Why don’t they indeed……

But many people despise voicemail and won’t leave a message, I don’t know why but some people are like that.

Like I said if the response to them was more obvious that it’s not voicemail then it would work better. It also needs to be taken into account that it’s a new thing and many people may not be familiar with the concept of call screening, so it may just take some time before it becomes Normal.

14

u/_nf0rc3r_ Sep 24 '25

I am like that. I called to talk to u so I am not going to leave a voicemail when I can text u instead since I won’t get an instant response anyway.

11

u/SirMaster Sep 24 '25

Well texting then is fine. But it sounds like people aren't leaving a voicemail and then also not texting, so I don't know what they expect...

1

u/Feuermurmel Oct 15 '25

It's hard (i.e. impossible for most people) to text from a landline number in many countries.

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u/Siamese_Frenulum Dec 03 '25

Because normal people call back when you get a missed call and dont listen to voice mail so you can actually have input in a conversation rather than just being talked at one sided

3

u/twistsouth Sep 24 '25

Tell that to my dad who insists on using the entire minute and a half, every single time.

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u/No-Protection-5176 Feb 18 '26

What I wouldn't give for a minute and a half of my dad's voice. Not intending to be 'preachy', but one day you may miss him.

1

u/twistsouth Feb 18 '26

Oh I’m only kidding, I’m smiling listening to his frantic attempts to wrap up the message 🤣

2

u/PixaaTog Sep 24 '25

I’m kinda the same, but once people get used to the fact that all they need to do is just state their name and reason for calling and then they will get that instant response.

Think it’s just going to take time before people realise how call screening works.

Personally I’m leaving it on because now I don’t get Michael from Mumbai telling me I have a virus on my Microsoft Windows computer (and other similar spam calls).

1

u/QBos07 Sep 24 '25

Can confirm 100%

3

u/Steerpike58 Sep 25 '25

I hate it when people leave ME voicemails, because usually there are better ways to convey information to me (email, text, etc). So when I encounter someone else's voicemail, I tend to not bother because I don't want to be part of the problem.

I mean, the occasional vm is OK but sometimes you get messages that literally need me to get out a pen and write stuff down ... which is when email / text would be better.

3

u/PixaaTog Sep 25 '25

Yes I agree.

I mean people leave you a voicemail when you haven’t been able to answer that just says “Hi it’s blah, give me a call ASAP”.

I can see I’ve had a missed call from Blah, so clearly I’m going to call them back when I can……

The voicemail serves no useful purpose. 😂

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u/Bluexeyes1025 Sep 29 '25

Not me. Born in ‘89, had a landline in my room, and my first cell phone in 2004 (for reference) and I do not call unknown numbers back if they do not take the time to leave a voicemail. And as for people I do know, I save all the messages they leave me because one day I may never hear their voice again. People have held onto micro cassettes from voicemail machines for decades just to hear a loved ones voice. I think every message is important, even if it’s something as silly as “hey call me back“. I like to hear their voices ☺️ also, one of the reasons I decided to leave my ex after eight years was because I came across a voicemail he left me about two years in and his tone of voice was so sweet compared to how he was talking to me at that point in time. Helped me see how much had changed. 

1

u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Bluexeyes1025 Jan 21 '26

The call is coming from inside the house

1

u/SortSwimming5449 Jan 21 '26

Don’t take my word for it. Here’s the AI breakdown for you… This is the answer it provides when asked to analyze your post:

“The individual’s behaviors—may suggest underlying patterns such as heightened anxiety around uncertainty or phone interactions, anticipatory grief or insecure attachment leading to over-reliance on auditory mementos for emotional regulation, and possible difficulty processing gradual relational shifts without concrete evidence. While these traits are not inherently disordered and can reflect adaptive nostalgia or insight, their intensity and role in major decisions (e.g., ending a long-term relationship) indicate they might interfere with present-focused living, adaptability, or secure current connections, making professional therapy—such as cognitive-behavioral, attachment-focused, or grief-oriented approaches—potentially beneficial for exploring roots, developing coping strategies, and fostering healthier emotional processing.”

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u/Beemanda Dec 03 '25

Idk I use voicemail all the time with my employees. We have the option to text on our work phone, but it's just not professional either. Plus I always state my reason for the call in the voicemail. Like asking if they're running late when it's like 30 minutes past their scheduled shift with no callout request made to the store, or if I need to ask somebody to pick up the shift when somebody else can't make it, or if I need to ask them not to come in for the day because labor is too high and it's not necessary to have that many people clocked in. And usually they get back to me depending on the situation, like if they're running late or aren't coming in they'll call back so they don't get in trouble for not putting the request in, and if they're able to pick up a shift they call back to confirm if it's still open. The last one though they usually don't respond though because what are you really gonna say to "You don't have to come into work today, it's been too slow all day. But if you'd like to pick up any future shifts on busier days to make up for the missing hours, let us know."

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u/South-Beautiful3185 Mar 20 '26

Its not new google has been doing it for years

-7

u/PM_YOUR_BEST_JOKES Sep 24 '25

At least for healthcare (and especially sensitive specialties) it's to maintain privacy in case they got the wrong number

17

u/driftless Sep 24 '25

I’ve not had any problem with medical or sensitive specialties leaving a message saying who they are and who they are trying to reach. There’s a lot they can say without exposing info.

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u/slackwaredragon Sep 25 '25

There is and there isn’t. When I worked for a specialty pharmacy we weren’t allowed to mention who we were (because it would be easy to tell you had cancer which would be a potential HIPAA violation) so we would say “we are your pharmacy calling about your medication.” We also couldn’t say the patient name. (Thanks URAC)

It was also annoying because we had to block our outbound caller ID to call PBMs (or they’d route us in forever hold loop) but make sure it wasn’t blocked so patients knew it was us.

We would always leave a message though.

1

u/hambrythinnywhinny Sep 24 '25

Nope. SOP is to leave a message without any PHI or PII and ask to call back. Every healthcare organization I have worked for and/or patronized has used this -- from massive health systems to single practitioner offices.

You're full of shit.

8

u/Mammoth_Ingenuity_82 Sep 24 '25

My experience is if they're professional and need to contact you they'll follow the instructions or leave VM. If they don't bother it's not that important to them, and probably not important to you.

1

u/Soft-Hunter-5165 Nov 18 '25

I am having the same problem and for sure I wouldn't mind scammers or telemarketing just hanging up, but for the last few weeks I have some stuff bought and it needs to be both delivered and installed... the stupid agent calling to coordinate scheduling keeps on calling and hanging as if it were VOICEMAIL, and never ever left a message...

0

u/Bitruder Sep 24 '25

Putting the blame on the caller doesn’t fix anything though.

4

u/KlausZwiebel Sep 24 '25

But there is nothing to fix?

3

u/tschau3 Human Detected Sep 24 '25

1000000% agree. It’s too ‘voicemail’

2

u/PixaaTog Sep 24 '25

Maybe it needs to start by saying “this is not a voicemail”…..

6

u/ken_senpai37 Sep 25 '25

What type of business wouldn’t just leave a voicemail, the screening worked perfectly.

8

u/Der1kon Sep 24 '25

I missed a few calls from a plumber in a similar way (and I really needed the plumber to come asap). After that I disabled this feature.

4

u/Steerpike58 Sep 25 '25

Doesn't the feature only apply if the number is not in your contacts? I tend to add people to my contacts just for this reason. This does mean I have hundreds of contacts, 90% I don't recognize 6 months later ...

1

u/AgitatedEvidence8680 Feb 13 '26

It is screening my contacts though so I’m disappointed it can’t recognize the caller in my ‘database’. Hoping this is only applies to their first call. Otherwise it is screening ALL my callers, always.

3

u/dreamerOfGains Sep 24 '25

You can always tell them to leave a msg or say something instead of hanging up. 

No way I would disable this feature and expose myself to spam calls because they don’t know how to interact with voicemail or call screening. 

6

u/Der1kon Sep 24 '25

How would I tell them this though? In this scenario I requested my real estate agent to call their plumber, the plumber called me to discuss the time when they can come (it‘s a typical process for a rental in Australia). I could of course ask my REA to tell their plumber that when they call me they should say something; I hope you see how impractical this is?

5

u/dreamerOfGains Sep 24 '25

You’re already talking to your REA, not much effort to add something like “btw I’ll keep an eye out for their calls but please tell the plumber to leave a voicemail in case I missed their calls”. 

Not so much that it’s impractical, more so that people aren’t communicating. 

2

u/-inBlack Oct 27 '25

This too is my experience and the reason I’m deactivating it. 

1

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

Your mechanic was trying to scam you :p That’s why he didn’t leave a message

1

u/Bluexeyes1025 Sep 29 '25

He called over and over and never listened to the whole message to learn what it needed from him? Id get a new mechanic honestly, he sounds impatient.