About 18 months ago we launched Mr. Number to help you screen your calls and texts, with powerful call and text blocking and the most accurate Caller ID service on the market. We believe that you have a right to know who’s calling you and that you have a right to block unwanted messages easily. Over 4 million people have downloaded Mr. Number so that they can identify mystery numbers and block people who won’t take no for an answer, spam texts, telemarketers, and other pests. With your help and feedback Mr. Number has become the highest rated and most downloaded app of its kind in the Android Market.
Today we’re releasing a major update to Mr. Number. The new version gives you even more control over who you are communicating with and allows you to call, text, block, and identify mystery numbers in one simple app. We want to help you strengthen the relationships that matter to you and break the ones that don’t, and this brings us one step closer to that goal.
Call and Text with Mr. Number
We’ve brought back the full history of your calls and texts, in style. You can see all your inbound and outbound calls and messages in one screen, and swipe left or right to see just calls, texts, or blocked messages. For the first time you can now reply to calls and texts from Mr. Number. You no longer have to switch from Mr. Number to the dialer to make a call and switch back to find out who called you yesterday. We think calling and texting, ID, and blocking (and more features yet to come) belong together in one app. Your friends don’t have to use Mr. Number (though we hope they all do), and you don’t have to use it as your main calling and texting app. You can use Mr. Number for blocking and Caller ID and continue to use the native apps for calling and texting. It’s your choice.
Availability
Last year we introduced the idea of status or availability for calls and texts, so that you could get more calls from the people you actually like. Many people loved the idea, but we got a lot of constructive criticism too. You had to switch from the dialer to our app to set your availability or to see someone else’s, you had to ‘friend’ people before you could see theirs, and some of the settings were mysterious.
The new version is much simpler. Mr. Number shows what mode your phone is in (vibrate, ringer off, all calls going to voicemail, airplane mode). Anyone who has you in their contacts can see this, plus a message if you add one, unless you’re blocking that person. Turn off your ringer outside the app and Mr. Number simply shows that your ringer is off, instead of guessing that you are “Busy”. (Some people keep their ringer off all the time.) And if you use Mr. Number for all your calling and texting, your availability and your contacts’ availability are right in front of you.
New logo, new design, new website, new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
We’re really excited about this update … and we’ve redesigned the whole app and website. We hope you like it and we’ll tell you more about the new design in another blog post. We’ve also updated our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (for the first time in 18 months) so please take a moment to review those. You can download the new version of Mr. Number from the Android Market today and as always, we’d love your feedback!
From a Mr. Number user:
“Hi… I got a text sent to my Android that spoofed my own number. The call back number was 209-858-3634. How do I add them to my block list?”
I suggested that he add his own number to his Mr. Number blacklist. That way, if he receives another call from someone spoofing his Caller ID using his number, our app will send it directly to voicemail or, better yet — pick up and hang up immediately.
The party who called was allegedly representing a debt-collection agency. That’s a challenging job, but it’s against the law for them to call from a phony number.
Congress passed the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010 because many telemarketers, debt collectors and others were manipulating Caller ID info to make you more likely to pick up the phone.
 Nope, debt collectors can't spoof their Caller ID info. |
It is “unlawful for any person within the United States, in connection with any telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service, to cause any caller identification service to knowingly transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identification information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.”
The FCC issued rules that clarify TCIDA in summer 2011; Caller ID spoofing is allowed in limited cases, as long as the deception isn’t intended to cause harm or defraud. Examples:
- A sales rep works out of his home two blocks from your house, but he’s permitted to display the Caller ID info and name of his employer several states away.
- Residents of a domestic violence shelter show a different phone number/name on outbound calls to preserve their safety.
- An OB/GYN who takes a lot of late-night calls is allowed to spoof his office line when calling a patient back late at night.
Intelligence and law-enforcement agencies are also excluded, but the FCC “did not find any of these exemptions to be necessary or appropriate” for debt collectors.
If you receive a call from a collection agency using a spoofed number, file a complaint with the FCC. To back up your claim, snap a photo of the spoofed Caller ID.
If the FCC finds that rules were broken, they can levy fines as large as $10,000 for each violation and three times that amount for each day they continue to break the law, up to $1 million!
“The money will be used to scale … while keeping the service free”
“say you’re busy …or that you’re ready to hear all the latest gossip. ”
