Macworld - USA (2019-10-B)

IMAGE: AD HOC LABS OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 73

CALL BLOCKER

FIREWALL: ROBO

CALL BLOCKER: THE

APP EQUIVALENT

OF KRYPTONITE

AGAINST IPHONE

ROBOCALLS

BY J.R. BOOKWALTER

According to The New York Times (go.

macworld.com/48bl), upwards of 48 billion

Americans were hounded by robocalls in

2018, an increase of 56.8 percent over the

previous year. That averages out to

roughly 150 scam, telemarketing, and

unwanted calls annually for every adult

with a phone—a number expected to

balloon higher in the future.

That’s precisely why a cottage industry

flourishes on the App Store, supplying tools

to combat this menace. Unfortunately, most

call blocker solutions rely on outdated,

ineffective blacklists, or worse yet, require

users to do the heavy lifting by reporting

rogue numbers as they pop up. A new app