Screening iPhone Calls – A Few Golden Tips

Screening your calls has been around since the recorded phone message.

People don’t always want to be available to everyone, so they let their phone calls go to their answering machine.

After all, the person on the other end doesn’t know whether or not you’re at home.

These days, things are a bit different. If you’re a frequent iPhone user, for example, the people in your life know that you’ve probably got a phone around you all the time. So when you don’t answer, they get a little suspicious. Is something wrong? Are you ignoring them? Since obviously you have your phone around you 24/7, why won’t you talk to them?

Add the fact that many people get suspicious when you opt out of answering a call and send someone to their voicemail - they know the phone should have rang a few more times. You can avoid these social issues with a few good tricks that won’t only put you back in control over your communications, but back in control over your time and lifestyle. Here are a few tips for screening calls on your iPhone.

Simply turn all sounds and buzzing off when you don’t want to be distracted.

If you’re sleeping and you use your iPhone as an alarm system, use the “alarm only” feature so that you won’t be woken up by a phantom phone call at 5 a.m. When you’re in a social setting or a movie theater and you don’t want to be disturbed so that you don’t offend anyone around you, just keep the phone off! Your iPhone is recording your messages and phone calls and they’ll be there for you once you glance at it again.

This method naturally avoids sending someone to voicemail and possibly offending them or letting them know that you’re not interested in talking to them. Presumably, you’d rather look busy than standoffish, so instead act busy and turn that phone off!

Use Google Voice for iPhone.

One of the great call screening technologies available, Google Voice not only allows you to see your voicemails transcribed to text, but it gives you a different phone number that allows you to keep more of your privacy. With Google Voice for iPhone just recently released, you’ll be able to use the application directly from your iPhone and never worry that your calls aren’t being controlled in some way when you're away from your phone.

Granted, that’s not everyone’s worry. But if you really do have issues about being disconnected from the world, try this simple idea:

Don’t answer phone calls after a certain time each night.

That’s it. Just shut off your iPhone. Do something else. Read a book. Watch TV. Work out. Do something other than worry about your phone. If you have a certified iPhone 4 addiction and can’t resist looking at your phone to see who’s been calling or texting you, this might be a bigger dose of reality than you imagined.

This won’t only help you to realize that screening your calls is a possibility - putting you back in the driver’s seat in your own life - but it will help you capture more of your free time back. When you’re not at your phone’s beck and call at every moment, you’ll feel a freedom that people haven’t had since...well, before the invention of the phone.

Don’t be afraid to offend people sometimes.

Heck, sometimes screening your calls is a part of life. Don’t be afraid to offend some people, especially if they’re people who only want your input or work without ever offering anything in return. Employers don’t qualify, of course, since they are offering you a paycheck in return. But if a friend only calls when they want free professional advice, don’t be afraid to send them directly to voicemail.