this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2026

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Open source spam blocker that actually works, and it's FOSS! (f-droid.org)

submitted 3 months ago by Krusty to c/android@lemmy.world

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've been getting over a dozen rando calls a day. Basically have had to put my phone on permanent DnD and then allow my contacts to bypass. No more!

This app is successfully blocking those annoying virtual numbers via STIR attestation.

Unfortunately it doesn't fully block SMS. It blocks the notifications, but they still appear in your SMS app needing to be manually deleted.

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[–] artyom@piefed.social 14 points 3 months ago (7 children)

I've given up on spam blockers and just blocked all unknown numbers and it's been great.

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[–] Krusty [S] 6 points 3 months ago (6 children)

That hasn't worked for me. The numbers aren't private or unknown. They're just randomized, basically. And if you call them back you'll get an out of service message. I've tried every setting in my (Google) phone app with no luck.

Best case, I was getting silent notifications telling me i had 6-12 missed calls daily. that's with DnD enabled:

With spamblock working, no notifications, no missed calls, no ringing, no going to voicemail. It rejects them completely (notice top 4 calls are simply blocked.)

I've heard some carriers offer better apps than mine and they support blocking these fake numbers... For the rest of us... Try spamblock! So happy.

Interface is a little strange but not too bad.

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[–] artyom@piefed.social 6 points 3 months ago (5 children)

That hasn't worked for me. The numbers aren't private or unknown. They're just randomized, basically.

It shouldn't matter if they're private or spam or anything else. The only thing that should matter is if they're on your contacts. If your phone is not blocking them I'd recommend trying a different app.

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[–] Krusty [S] 10 points 3 months ago (4 children)

I'm looking for employment. Real numbers pass STIR attestation. :)

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[–] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 3 months ago* (3 children)

I don't know what any of that means. Your potential employers don't have email? Or text? If you don't want to block all unknown numbers then why are you doing it?

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[–] Krusty [S] 11 points 3 months ago* (2 children)

This is very simple. I'll explain one more time. Lol.

STIR attestation is when my carrier can confirm yours.

If it fails, the call is considered "unverified" and therefore blocked.

If my carrier can verify your carrier, my phone will ring. This blocks spoofed calls primarily.

Real people and companies who are not in my contacts but can pass attestation will ring my phone. That means my insurance can still call me even when they use random numbers. That means genuine businesses can call me. That means I can put up a flyer and say my dog is lost please call me if found. And if a real person finds my dog they can call me and my phone will ring and they can tell me they found my dog. Etc.

That's the dream!

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[–] artyom@piefed.social -2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

Its not simple at all. The vast majority of spam calls I get are from legitimate institutions that I'm sure would pass whatever a STIR is.

Its great that your insurance providers can call you, what's to stop an insurance provider who is not yours from calling you?

A legitimate caller for one person can often be a spam caller for 100 other people. That's why there exists no way to possibly differentiate one spam caller from another.

If my insurance provider calls me from an unknown number, they leave a voicemail and I call them back later, or send them an email.

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[–] Krusty [S] 4 points 3 months ago

Well mine aren't!

Cool. To each their own.

Legitimate business will generally respect the do Not call list. I don't have any problem with that. I don't get any fucking calls from actual fucking businesses trying to call me with an actual number I can call back and I don't get out of service errors.

How much more of my time would you like to waste with your stupidity? Blocked.

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[–] Thatuserguy@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago

Been running this one since finding out about it a few months back and it's made such a difference blocking stuff that nothing else is catching for some reason.

They were still leaving me voicemails annoyingly, but I found out that when this app blocks numbers it does so by treating it like I'm busy on another call. So now I just redirect all busy calls to a voicemail number that doesn't exist, and poof, no more voicemails either!

[–] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 5 points 3 months ago (1 child)

Definitions help here, I think. STIR attestation will stop many (maybe most) scam calls (think, fake Microsoft support or fake Amazon sales), but it might not do much for spam (think, that annoying salesperson from that one company you gave your phone number to in order to get a free tesco sandwich voucher). Nevertheless, you seemed to have accomplished more than the carriers, so nice job.

One suggestion, simplify the settings. Maybe have 3-4 default presets to choose from, then an advanced custom option. As is, this is too complex for most users.

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[–] Krusty [S] 7 points 3 months ago

This isn't self promotion. I've been searching for an app to block these numbers for about a year... Some limited success. AI powered whatever. Subscription fees. Duck that... So I tried some various f-droid stuff and this one finally works almost exactly perfectly.

You seem to not be cognizant that legitimate companies actually have block lists and respect them because you can report them and they will be fined.

The scammers use virtual numbers that are virtually untraceable and there is no fine there is no penalty they are scammers they are exploiters they are criminals these are not legitimate businesses. They should be put to death. Amen.

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[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

Good grief, just make spoofing phone numbers go away. I get why businesses need it but fuck em.

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[–] Krusty [S] 3 points 3 months ago

Businesses don't. Criminals do.

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[–] greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 months ago

Saving this, I'm going to need this soon. Thank you.

[–] Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

How the hell do you use this app? I've had it favorited in my f-droid client for ages but never figured out how to actually use it 😅

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[–] Krusty [S] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I ensure contacts are allowed and high priority. I don't block non contacts.

I check "include unverified" in the STIR setting. (The killer feature, imo!)

I give 30 days for call backs. (Not sure if needed but just in case?)

That's it for me! Plenty of other stuff. There's a GitHub page with some instructions but really the app explains itself pretty well. Tap those little question marks to get an explanation of what these things do.

Then there's the test feature (bottom right green button) but it doesn't test the attestation (it's carrier specific). But it does use most of the other settings(if you enable them). And sure if their carrier doesn't support the attestation that is going to be unverified and get blocked, unless they're a contact(I believe.) I'm fine with that. I live tested it with a neighbor and they called me and my phone rang.

I haven't even had this thing installed for 24 hours so I am by no means an expert.

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