
Ask HN: Looking for Beta Testers for CallStop, a 100% Effective Robocall Blocker - davidajackson
Hacker news recently requested a solution to the robocall epidemic. I&#x27;ve created one that is 100% effective and uses number forwarding, temporary PINs and whitelist requests. The app is called CallStop and will be released on iPhone first.<p>I&#x27;m looking for Beta testers. The app takes 30 seconds to set up and will block 100% of all robocalls forever. It can be easily toggled to let anyone reach you whenever you want. You can also set and manage direct PINs from within the app which you can then throw in your email footer, Slack, or wherever people reach you from the most.<p>You can drop an email in the form here and I&#x27;ll send out invites in the near future:
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.callstop.com&#x2F;<p>In case you&#x27;re curious, here&#x27;s the default message unknown callers here when calling you once CallStop is set up:
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gainsboro-flounder-4736.twil.io&#x2F;assets&#x2F;Default_Placeholder.wav<p>This is easily customizable from within the app and you can record your own personalized message. The product has a similar interface to WhatsApp.<p>There&#x27;s no cost to try or use CallStop right now, but I may have limited Beta spots. I want great feedback and to keep improving it.<p>It&#x27;s just like Adblock, but for phone calls. See the comment section for a brief technical explanation, and try it out by calling: 650-300-0574<p>Thanks everyone.
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greenyoda
It looks like this app is based on whitelisting. While this would indeed be
100% effective at stopping spam calls, it would also be 100% effective at
stopping urgent calls from numbers that you're unfamiliar with. For example:

\- A hospital or police department calling to tell you that your spouse has
been injured in an accident.

\- Your doctor calling you back from one of several outgoing lines in her
office whose number you don't know.

Do you want to rely on these callers being able to figure out how to get
through your spam blocker in an emergency? They're calling from landlines, so
they also can't text you or receive a text from your app.

~~~
davidajackson
To solve this issue, I've included:

The ability to set PINs, which means people who know your number but aren't
whitelisted can reach you at any time (think doctor, police, school, etc).

When you list your number on any form just include a PIN. You can add as many
PINs as you want and include a description for each.

When calling a CallStop number, an unknown caller hears this default message:

"You have reached a phone number protected by CallStop. If you know this
person, press 1 to send a whitelisting request with a quick note. If you have
a PIN to reach this person directly, press 2 and enter the PIN."

~~~
greenyoda
How would the police who pulled your spouse from a car wreck know your PIN?

How would someone store your PIN in a contacts list that didn't include a
field for a PIN?

This system places obstacles in the way of someone who may need to reach you
urgently. Is that a good tradeoff to make for not receiving spam calls?

~~~
davidajackson
>>How would the police who pulled your spouse from a car wreck know your PIN?

You need to let organizations know a PIN. Later on, automated channels and
PINs can be created that each user opts into--like whitelists for public
services (police, government etc.). Those could work with automatic
notifications/updates for those organizations. You could also opt in to
whitelist certain numbers on signup (like public services) once SHAKEN/STIR is
ready (so that commonly whitelisted numbers aren't spoofed). I understand I'm
describing a long term solution and I'm being very idealistic here.

>>How would someone store your PIN in a contacts list that didn't include a
field for a PIN?

PINs are for organizations and groups to store. Contacts are to be used more
in scenarios with whitelisting. You may be able to store contacts with PINs
that you can dial, but I haven't had time to play around with the pause
functionality in Apple contacts yet. I think organizations will easily store
PIN info.

>>This system places obstacles in the way of someone who may need to reach you
urgently. Is that a good tradeoff to make for not receiving spam calls?

More than half of all calls are spam calls. In my mind it is. I used to get
5-10 spam calls every day. But, that's part of the reason I'm running this
test :)

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askafriend
iOS 13 has a setting built-in that if it's on, it only allows calls through if
they're in your contacts. Otherwise the calls go straight to voicemail and
still show up in your recent calls.

I hope you know this. You can see this in the Beta builds.

~~~
davidajackson
I do. I've talked to lots of people and the problem with that solution is that
if you work with large groups of people, they can't get through. That's why
the PINs feature is useful. Lots of people work with supplies, business
networks, etc so they can't just reject non-whitelisted people.

Also, whitelist requests are effortless with CallStop. I don't think Apple's
solution has any concept of that.

There's a lot more that could be added to CallStop too. Think about limiting
the number of times a certain number could call you (think your internet
provider, etc.) and also automatically implementing time based rules (you can
only be reached for work between hour x and hour y daily).

------
joshuaellinger
I'm curious how it works technically. I thought Apple did not allow Apps
access to the phone functionality.

~~~
davidajackson
It doesn't need to have access to Apple's functionality.

Try pulling out your phone and dialing *72 followed by another number. It will
forward your device calls to the number you dial.

That's the key here. You forward your device number to CallStop, which uses
VOIP Pushkit to receive calls. In that way, each CallStop user can set code
level rules on who can reach them and when. It's like a firewall for phone
calls.

Here's a sample number you can call to try this out: 650-300-0574

You should be able to get a good idea of how the service works by selecting
different options when calling it. Try pressing 1 and check out the text you
get to add a whitelisting note, or 2 and try entering a PIN. CallStop users
get push notifications for whitelist requests and rejected calls.

One of the cool implications if a service like this is adopted is that phone
numbers for anyone can be public and it will no longer matter.

~~~
NonEUCitizen
Will *72 forward SMS messages as well?

~~~
davidajackson
No, just phone calls. With CallStop: You receive incoming calls through
CallStop. You can make outgoing calls as normal through the Apple app, and
also I've added outgoing calling functionality into CallStop. Texts are not
forwarded, though this is something I'm researching for future features. Text
spam is the second thing to eliminate here.

