Callblock

@oldestlivingboy @rocketship, @callblockapp, @adblockfast Where do I get such a list of the numbers to block from? I could seriously use some telemarketer blocking in my own startup which generates customer calls to local businesses all over, but has the sad side effect of bringing oodles of telemarketer calls along with it. I don't have an IOS app, I just use Twilio for call forwarding. This would be very helpful. PRETTY PLEASE AND IT'S ACTUALLY MY BIRTHDAY. :)

@zak_kinion The telemarketer directory is something of Callblock’s secret sauce, but we have a few bits about how we compiled the entries in our faq: https://callblockapp.com/#faq Happy birthday! 🎂

@oldestlivingboy Thanks for the bday wishes! Yeah, I imagined it was something like that. One could screen scrape sites those "number lookup" sites that are seo spammed all over and then of course add to the list from private sources and especially from customers "reporting" numbers by tapping that its a telemarketer. It'd be near impossible to grow up that kind of db organically from scratch. You should know that the ability to build and continuously improve a db like that, that can be used across many different solutions is probably far more valuable than just an iOS app. Something to keep in mind. Best of luck to you.

@zak_kinion True (re directory value), but we don’t want to make money by collecting and selling user data.

@oldestlivingboy Not your customer/contact data, that'd be a terrible thing to do. :) I was referring to the unique ability to create a constantly updated and most importantly accurate db of telemarketers. Think more along the lines of: all the white listing and black listing that used to go into spam email filtering, but applied to phone numbers instead. That alone, is very powerful.

@meadowcottage13 The app is free for a month – you don’t have to pay till then (and only if you remain a user).

@abdur No! Callblock doesn’t use your Address Book at all. (We compile the app’s directory of telemarketers ourselves not from users.)

@oldestlivingboy Just signed up... :)

@abdur Awesome, send any feedback our way. 😁

@_jacksmith exactly, just like hiya / nomorerobo

@_jacksmith (1) Check the explanation out at https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/0... and (2) I can’t remember – I’ll try to track the answer down.

@oldestlivingboy #1 : Truecaller launched that same feature the same day as your article was published: https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/0... in the post you link to, techcrunch doesn't say that you're "the first app" it says "Callblock will be among the first" #2 : cool

@_jacksmith They announced vaporware after we got some press the day before – and were already distributing this app: https://venturebeat.com/2016/09/... Callblock was then in the App Store when iOS 10 launched (http://www.loopinsight.com/2016/...), a month and a half ahead of Truecaller (https://blog.truecaller.com/2016...) – but, again, iOS was too buggy.

@_jacksmith Multiple call-directory extensions (like Callblock) should be compatible, with the first enabled taking precedence to act on common callers. (I am finding recent iOS bug reports about conflicts, though.)