The automatic number identification function is undoubtedly very convenient. It is hard to believe that not so long ago people picked up the phone without knowing who was calling them. Caller ID for landline phones was a luxury, but on mobile phones the incoming number is displayed automatically. However, today it is not enough to just see it. It is also important to know who the number belongs to. In the era of spam, phone scammers and social engineering, this is especially important.
The company has added automatic number identification to its Yandex iOS app. The app compares the incoming call number in real time with the Yandex.Directory database, which contains 70 million phone numbers. Number identification also works for missed calls. The call history saves numbers with the name of the calling company.
In 2025, Yandex’s caller ID service learned to identify fraudulent and unwanted calls on iPhones with 93% accuracy.
Previously, the number databases were stored on users’ devices and were limited to 2 million records, which required frequent updates. Now the service checks each call in real time by sending an anonymized encrypted request to the online database. This does not delay the call and immediately provides information about the number.
Once activated, the system not only identifies numbers, but also automatically blocks calls from scammers and advertising services.
If the number is not in the database, Yandex will try to determine the purpose of the call based on user reviews. This will make it possible, if not to find out the name of the organization, then at least to determine its type of activity. On the screen, the user will see the characteristics: “Delivery of goods”, “Bank” or similar. The program cannot determine the names of individuals.
For a more in-depth analysis, a machine learning algorithm is used. It studies people’s reviews, their frequency, as well as the number and duration of calls from this number, and other factors. Information from Yandex will appear next to the number: “Possibly advertising”, “Possibly useful” or “Possibly unwanted”.
How to Enable Unknown Caller ID on iPhone
1. Install the Yandex app from the App Store .
2. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone, go to Apps , and open the Phone app options .
3. Select the Call Blocking and Identification menu .
4. Set the switch ” Yandex – Caller ID ” to the ” On ” position.
The free program will be useful for those who are wary of spammers and prefer not to waste time communicating with callers from unknown numbers. But in the Android version of the application, this functionality was added by Yandex back in April 2018.
