There's good news and bad news about unsolicited calls and texts.
The good? Unwanted robocalls are down 10% in 2024, according to YouMail's Robocall Index, as marketers run up against smartphone call blockers.
The bad news? Unwanted text messages are up.
And with the presidential election season now in the final stretch, you might receive political messages at all hours of the day urging you to vote for former president Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris.
The worst is when these texts distract you from something you should focus on, such as cooking dinner or driving.
How do they even get your number? Typically, they find you via your voter records, according to RoboKiller, an app that blocks both spam phone calls and texts.
"When you register to vote, your voter file is public record," Guilia Porter, who handles marketing for RoboKiller, told us. "Usually you provide your phone number, and it is available to campaigns."
Simple ways to stop political texts
Porter says the easiest solution is to text the word "stop" back to the sender, assuming it is a legitimate Trump or Harris text and not a scammer. (You don't want to reply to scam texts, because it alerts the scammer that yours is a live number.)
"So it is OK if you feel this is a real political campaign, then, reply and ask to be removed from the list," Porter said.
Legitimate campaigns have agreed to remove anyone who asks to be taken off their calling or text lists.
Meantime, if you have an iPhone, you have a built-in text-blocking feature. ZDNet explains how to use it.
On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Messages and toggle the switch that says "filter unknown senders."
You will only receive texts from people in your contact list.
What about phone calls?
You should be noticing fewer calls this year, as AT&T, Verizon and other providers build call blockers into their networks.
But if you are still getting both spam texts and calls, consider an app like Robokiller or NoMoRobo for a few dollars a month.
It might be worth it from now until Tuesday, Nov. 5, the date of the 2024 election.
As always, don't waste your money.
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