So I have a problem where there is this freaky person who has somehow gotten my phone number and keeps calling me on my iPhone all the time! The first thing I wanted to do was block the number from calling my phone. That’s when I ran into my first problem!

So there is no simple way to block a number on your iPhone. It’d be cool if you could just select the number, press the little blue arrow next to it and choose BLOCK! But alas, life is never simple and nor is blocking a number. So what are your options?

You can call your carrier and get them to block the number

You can route your calls through a service like Google Voice and have it block the number for you

If you are already using Google Voice on your iPhone, this is probably the easiest way to go. Check out the video below to block a number in Google Voice. Visit: http://www.google.com/support/voice/bin/answer.py?answer=115089

If you are not using Google Voice and do not feel like transferring your number over to their service, then your only other option is to block a number through your carrier. Now this varies depending on the carrier. Sometimes it’s free, sometimes you have to pay, and sometimes they just don’t do it.

Below I will break down what options you have to block a number for each of the popular carriers.

AT&T

AT&T has a feature called Smart Limits that is $5 a month and lets you block up to 30 numbers.

You can also do all kinds of other stuff with Smart Limits since it is meant to limit the use of the phone by your children, however, it’s the only way to block a number on your iPhone. $5 a month is a little annoying, but not too bad. If you really have someone harassing you all the time, it is totally worth it. You can read more about the features here: http://www.att.net/smartcontrols-SmartLimitsForWireless

Verizon

The same way AT&T has Smart Limits, Verizon has Usage Controls, another feature set added for mostly children, but can be used to block a number on your iPhone.

Again, you can create time restrictions, allowances, etc in addition to blocking numbers. The price for this service is also $5 a month, so pretty much the same for either carrier. You can read more about Usage Controls here: http://wbillpay.verizonwireless.com/vzw/nos/uc/uc_home.jsp

Sprint

Sprint used to not have the ability to block phone numbers and therefore your only option was to use something like Google Voice. Now, however, you can log into My Sprint and block incoming and outgoing calls.

You can read the step by step instructions here on the Sprint website: http://support.sprint.com/support/article/Block__restrict_or_allow_voice_calls_using_My_Sprint/case-fk158645-20101105-114511

Note that you can also setup Google Voice and get a lot of other cool features in addition to blocking numbers and it works well with AT&T, Verizon and Sprint! So you now know all your options for blocking a number on your iPhone!

Enjoy!