I Was Sick of Spam Calls So I Made This iPhone Shortcut to Help

Quickly identify harassing calls: use shortcuts and ChatGPT to intercept suspicious calls

Tired of answering marketing calls that claim you have had an accident that is not your responsibility? This article will introduce a clever way to quickly identify and process incoming calls from unknown numbers using iPhone shortcuts and ChatGPT.

Google searches for harassing calls take too long and often cannot complete the search before the incoming call hangs up. While shortcuts can help, unfortunately, iPhones cannot automatically trigger shortcuts on incoming calls. So I had to find a different way, using the tap on the back gesture to trigger my shortcut, checking the call number through ChatGPT.

Google search for harassing calls is inefficient

Receiving calls from unfamiliar numbers is always frustrating. It can be a spam call or a big call from a doctor or energy provider that you don't want to miss.

But the reality is that if you answer, it is likely to be a spam call; if you don’t answer, you may miss an important call.

So when an unrecognized number appears, I quickly google it to see if it has been reported as a harassing call. The problem is that the phone often hangs up before I search for the number and read the results.

Create shortcuts to automate processes

I've encountered this situation again recently and I started thinking about whether I could automate this process so that my iPhone would automatically check the number every time I receive an incoming call from a non-contact number.

I know that it is possible to create an iPhone shortcut that performs web searches. It looks like it should be possible to create a shortcut to help me check the number so that it can quickly determine if it is a spam call or a legal call.

Shortcut command cannot be triggered when incoming calls

However, I quickly encountered obstacles. Ideally, I would like to be able to trigger my shortcuts every time the iPhone calls. This way, whenever the phone rings, the shortcut will run, extract the phone number, search for relevant information, and see if it comes from a number with spam phone records.

The problem is that while automation can be triggered on iPhones in a variety of ways, shortcuts cannot be triggered on iPhone calls at this time. This is a shame because it will be a very useful trigger; you can create many useful automations based on this. I had to find another way.

Use the gesture of tapping the back

If the shortcut cannot be triggered when the iPhone starts ringing, my only option is to start the shortcut manually. I can use the action button on the iPhone 15 Pro, but I have used it for other purposes and there is no shortcut action that can be used to change the function of the action button when the phone rings.

So I decided to trigger the shortcut by tapping the back gesture. This is an accessibility gesture that can be used to perform actions on your iPhone, such as opening the camera or control center by tapping the back of the iPhone two or three times. One of the options for tapping the back gesture is to run the shortcut, so once the shortcut is created, I can run it three times by tapping the back of the iPhone when the phone rings.

Plan shortcuts to check incoming call numbers

The final step is to create a shortcut to check the incoming call number when it is incoming calls. I can use the web search, but this still requires me to check the results to determine if the number is a spam call. I think the quickest and simplest way is to ask ChatGPT.

I need to pass the incoming call number to ChatGPT. Since the number will appear on the screen on incoming calls (unless the number is hidden), I can let the shortcuts take a screenshot. I can then use the "Extract Text from Image" operation in the shortcut application, which uses optical character recognition (OCR) to extract text from the image.

After extracting the text (including the phone number), I can pass it to ChatGPT and ask it to search for the number online and tell me if it might be a spam call.

Create shortcuts

Now that I know all the steps required in the shortcut, it's time to start building it. This shortcut requires only three operations to work.

Open the Shortcuts app and click the “ ” icon in the upper right corner to create a new shortcut. Click "Search Action", enter "Screenshot", and select "Search Screenshot". Search for Extract and select Extract text from image. This will extract text from the screenshot, including the incoming call number.

Search for "ChatGPT" and select "Ask ChatGPT" from the results. You can choose the model you want to use; I chose GPT-4. Click on “Message” and enter something like this: “Search for the phone number in this text and tell me if it is safe or spam. Set the first word of the response to “SCAM” or “SAFE” and keep the response short.”

Click "Text from Image" above the keyboard, which will add the text extracted from the screenshot to your message. Click the arrow and turn off "Continuous Chat" so that ChatGPT only gives you a single reply.

Click the shortcut name at the top of the screen and select Rename. Take a easy-to-remember name for your shortcut and click "Done" to save.

Assign shortcuts to Tap the back gesture

After creating the shortcut, the last step is to assign it to the tap back gesture. You need to do this through accessibility settings.

Go to Settings > Accessibility. Under Physics and Movement, select Touch. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and select Tap the Back. Select Double Click or Three Click. Scroll down and select the shortcut you created. Your shortcut is now set to Tap Back gesture.

Use shortcuts when incoming calls

Now that I have set my shortcuts to run whenever I use the tap back gesture, I have a better chance to check if the caller is a spam call before the caller hangs up. When I call and I don't know the number, I will tap the back of the iPhone three times and the shortcut will run. After a minute or two, ChatGPT will tell me if the call is a spam and I know if I want to answer it.

Shortcuts are not perfect, but they help

This approach is not ideal and has some major drawbacks. The biggest problem is that the caller hides their numbers. There are no numbers to check, so shortcuts become useless. It’s frustrating that some legal calls also hide their numbers, so you’re back to the starting point.

Another problem is that this method does not take effect immediately. When incoming calls, you have to pick up your phone, perform a tap-to-back gesture, and wait for ChatGPT to check the number. If you are not fast enough, the caller may hang up before you complete the process.

However, in many cases it works enough to enable me to answer before a legal incoming call hangs up.

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Without the possibility of triggering shortcuts when the iPhone starts ringing, using the tap-back gesture is the best thing I can do with the iPhone native tools. However, my next plan is to see what I can make with Home Assistant. For Android phones, there is a "phone_state" sensor that changes when the phone rings, but this doesn't exist on the iPhone, so it seems that another workaround is needed.

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