Caller protection

Every call you take costs you something. Your carrier bills you for the call, your AI provider bills you for the conversation, and the call counts towards your processed minutes. Caller protection stops the calls you do not want from running up those bills: robocalls, sales pitches, pranksters, abusive callers and the same number ringing all day.

It has four parts:

Blocked callers: a list of numbers you block, restrict or always allow.
Settings > Caller protection: business-wide rules for AI call length, withheld numbers and repeat callers.
Caller screening: an AI voice agent can spot an unwanted caller and flag, restrict or block them for you.
A Caller protection choice on each phone number: use the business settings, give the number rules of its own, or turn it off for that line.

Before you start

Anyone on the team can block or restrict a number.
Only Owners and Administrators can allow a number, change or remove a rule, open Settings > Caller protection and set up caller screening on an AI agent.

The three rules

Rule	What the caller gets	What it costs you
Block	The call is refused before it is answered. The caller hears a busy tone, or a short message if you chose one.	Nothing. No processed minutes, no AI usage.
Restrict	The call is still answered, but never by an AI voice agent. It goes where you send restricted callers: voicemail, a call queue, a short message, or it is turned away.	No AI usage. The call itself still counts.
Allow	The caller is never limited, restricted or screened, whatever other rule would apply. Use it for your best customers, suppliers and your own team.	As any normal call.

Restrict is the gentle option. A caller who may be genuine still reaches a person or leaves a message, but cannot keep an AI agent talking.

Blocked callers

Open Contacts and choose the Blocked callers tab.

Add a number

Enter the number
- Type the number with its country code, for example +14155550123.
Pick a rule
- Block, Restrict or Allow.
Choose how long
- 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, 90 days or Until removed. When the time is up the rule ends by itself and the number is treated like any other caller again.
Add a reason (optional)
- A short note for your team, such as "Sales calls every morning".
Also add to the do-not-call list (optional)
- Tick this to keep your campaigns from ringing the number too. See Do not call list.
Save

Import a list

If you already keep a list of nuisance numbers, click Import CSV. Put the numbers in a column named phone, or in the first column. You can add a rule column (block, restrict or allow) and a reason or note column. Rows with no rule are blocked. You confirm the count before anything is added, and the import runs in the background with its progress shown above the list.

Reading the list

Each row shows:

The number and its rule.
Added by: someone on your team, an AI agent (through caller screening) or an import.
The reason. When an AI agent added the number, the reason links to the call so you can hear or read what happened.
When the rule expires, or Until removed.
How many times the number has called since the rule was added.

Search by number, filter by rule, and sort by Newest first, Oldest first, Most calls or Latest call.

Change or remove a rule

Owners and Administrators can remove a rule with the bin icon on its row; removing asks you to type CONFIRM. To change a rule, open the call or contact and use Change rule.

Block from a call or a contact

You do not have to visit the list. The same Block caller, Change rule and Remove rule actions sit on:

a call's detail page, so you can block the number that just rang;
a contact's page.

To block many at once, tick contacts in the Contacts list and choose Block callers in the selection bar: block until removed, block for 30 days, or restrict for 7 or 30 days. It runs in the background and shows its progress above the list.

In the mobile app, open a call and tap Block caller.

Settings > Caller protection

Owners and Administrators open Settings > Caller protection. These rules apply across your whole business.

AI call length

Setting	Options	Default
Longest AI call	5, 10, 15, 30, 60 or 120 minutes	15 minutes
Hang up after silence	15, 30, 60 or 120 seconds	30 seconds

As a call nears the limit, the AI agent starts to wrap up and offers to take a message, so the caller is not cut off mid-sentence. No AI call runs past 120 minutes, whatever you choose. A silent line, such as a caller who put the phone down without hanging up, ends after the silence time instead of running up your bills.

You can give one AI agent a different limit on its own page (see Per AI agent limits).

What a blocked caller gets

Busy tone (the default). The caller hears a busy line, as if you were on another call.
A short message. Type what they hear before the call ends.

Restricted callers

Where a restricted caller goes instead of an AI agent:

Voicemail (the default)
A call queue, to reach a person
A short message, then the call ends
Turn away, the call ends

Withheld numbers

Callers who hide their number:

Answer as normal (the default)
Treat as restricted: they are answered, but never by an AI agent
Voicemail
Turn away

Repeat callers

Off by default. Switch it on to limit how much one number can call:

Calls per number, per hour, day or week.
Time with AI agents (minutes) per number, per hour, day or week.

You can set either limit or both. A caller over the limit goes to voicemail, a call queue, a short message, or is turned away, as you choose. Numbers with the Allow rule are never limited.

A sensible start

Turn on repeat callers with a generous limit, for example 10 calls a day. Genuine callers rarely reach it, and a robocaller that rings every few minutes is stopped by lunchtime.

Per AI agent limits

On the Basics tab of an AI voice agent:

Longest call (minutes)
Hang up after silence (seconds)

Leave them blank to use your business default from Settings > Caller protection. A booking agent that never needs more than five minutes can have a tighter limit than a support agent.

Caller screening

Caller screening lets an AI voice agent deal with unwanted callers for you. Open the AI agent, go to the Tools tab and find Caller screening.

What the AI agent does when it spots one

The AI agent looks for callers who waste time, are abusive, are a robocall or are a sales call. You choose what happens:

Option	What happens
Do nothing (off)	Screening is off. This is the default.
Flag for my review	The contact is tagged `flagged` and Owners and Administrators are notified. Nobody is turned away.
Keep them off AI agents for a while	The number is restricted for the number of days you set (7 by default). Later calls skip your AI agents.
Block them	The number is blocked for the number of days you set. Enter 0 to block until removed.

Start with Flag for my review for a week or two. Once you trust what the AI agent flags, move up to restricting or blocking.

Fine-tune it

Screening guidance. Tell the AI agent in your own words what counts as unwanted for your business, for example "Recruiters and SEO agencies are sales calls. Patients asking about prices are not."
Never screen contacts tagged. List tags such as customer or vip. Contacts with any of them are never screened.
End the call politely after flagging. On by default. The AI agent closes the call courteously once it has flagged the caller. Switch it off to let the call carry on.

The AI agent never accuses the caller of anything. Screening also never applies to calls your business places, such as outbound campaigns.

Reviewing what the AI agent did

Owners and Administrators get a Caller flagged notification. It is on for the web by default and off for mobile; change it in Settings > Notifications. See Notifications and alerts.
The call's detail page shows what the AI agent reported and what it did. If it got it wrong, remove the rule right there.
In call history, the Screened by AI filter lists every call an AI agent screened.