Apparently, iOS 12 has included several new features that Apple didn’t talk about on the WWDC 2018 Keynote, with the latest being the ability of handling spam messages and calls, what I mean by that is that developers can now create an app extension that allows users to report unwanted messages and calls as spam that can be enabled via the Settings app. (Via 9to5Mac)
How does it work?
Once it’s enabled, users can swipe left on an item in the Phone app “Recents” tab to display the new Report option. In third-party messaging apps, messages can be reported by making a similar slide or long press on the thread itself. And when it’s reported, these apps must launch an extension to gathers additional information from the user, and then decide whether to report or block it.
To report SMS messages and calls, the user must enable an Unwanted Communication extension in the Settings app. They can only enable one Unwanted Communication extension at a time.
In order to report calls, the user swipes left on an item in the Recents list and selects Report. For SMS messages, they press the Report Messages button when it appears in the Messages transcript. Users can also select messages by long-pressing a message and selecting additional messages, then selecting Report Messages.
When the user reports an SMS message or call, the system launches your Unwanted Communication extension. Your extension gathers additional information from the user, before deciding whether to report or block the number, as shown in Figure 1.
What needs to be noted here is that this is not Apple’s first-party feature, instead, it’s Apple’s already implemented and desired capability that expect third-parties to do so.
Image Via Apple
