Skip to main content

Set Up Call Guard

Ready for days without scam callers ringing your phone? Call Guard is Cloaked’s AI-powered call screening feature. It works at the carrier level to reduce spam and scam calls while allowing important calls to reach you.

This guide explains what Call Guard does, how setup works, and how to fix common setup issues.

What Call Guard Does

Call Guard uses a carrier feature called Call Forwarding. This feature allows unknown callers to be automatically forwarded to your personal Cloaked AI assistant for screening. This helps keep you free of scam callers.​

When Call Guard is active:

  • Calls from people in your contacts ring through to you normally

  • Calls from unknown numbers are forwarded to Cloaked’s AI assistant

  • The assistant asks a series of questions of the caller and determines whether the call should reach you by marking it as spam or legitimate

  • Spam and scam calls, and any callers you've designated to block, are stopped before they interrupt you

Because this happens through your mobile carrier, setup requires a few one-time permissions and settings on your phone.

Before You Begin (Requirements)

​Setup for Call Guard happens within the Cloaked mobile app.

Call Guard will only work if all of the following are true:

  • You are physically located in the United States

  • You are using a mobile phone (iOS or Android)

  • Your cellular plan includes voice calls and data

  • You have the latest version of the Cloaked app installed on the phone with the number that needs the protection of Call Guard (you can't protect a number of another phone)

  • You have the number you want protected on your Cloaked account

  • The number you want protected is set as your primary line

    • For Android 11 and up, you can protect your secondary line. Onboarding will allow you to select the correct number. Only the selected number will be protected; the number on your other line won't be

  • You do not have any additional call-blocking apps enabled
    ​

Carrier Support

Supported carriers (Simple and Compatibility Setup)

  • Verizon

  • AT&T

  • T-Mobile

  • Metro by T-Mobile

  • Mint Mobile

  • Xfinity Mobile

Supported carriers (Simple Setup only)

  • Airvoice Wireless

  • America’s Wireless

  • Assurance Wireless

  • AT&T Prepaid

  • Black Wireless

  • Boost Mobile

  • Choice Wireless

  • Consumer Cellular

  • FreedomPop

  • Patriot Mobile

  • Cricket Wireless

  • Gen Mobile

  • H2O Wireless

  • Klarna Mobile

  • Lebara

  • Lycamobile

  • Net10 Wireless

  • Pure Talk

  • Red Pocket Mobile

  • Republic Wireless

  • Safelink

  • Simple Mobile

  • Spectrum Mobile

  • SpeedTalk Mobile

  • StandUp Wireless

  • Straight Talk Wireless

  • Tello

  • TextNow

  • Ting

  • Total Wireless

  • Tracfone

  • TruConnect

  • Twigby

  • Unreal Mobile

  • US Cellular

  • US Mobile

  • Visible

  • Walmart Family Mobile

Not Supported:

  • Google Fi

How to Set Up Call Guard

iOS Instructions

1. Start Setup

Open the Cloaked app and navigate to Call Guard:

  • Tap the Guard icon located at the bottom of the home screen, or

  • Go to Menu → Call Guard Settings

  • Tap Complete Setup, then Set up Call Guard

2. Confirm your phone number.

This should be the verified primary phone number associated with your Cloaked account. Only U.S. phone numbers are currently supported.

3. Select your carrier.

We will automatically detect your carrier. Confirm it or select a different carrier.

If your carrier isn’t listed, we can’t guarantee that Call Guard will work properly with your carrier’s forwarding settings. You can try selecting another major carrier, such as Verizon, to see if it works.

4. Choose your call protection setup.

You will only see this step if your selected carrier is compatible with both unconditional and conditional call forwarding.

  • Simple setup (Recommended): Fewer steps, and works with most carriers. Best for most people.

  • Compatibility setup: Choose this if Simple setup isn't available for your carrier. It provides the same protection, just with a few extra steps.

You can switch protection types after set-up within Call Guard settings → Switch protection mode.

5. Grant Required Permissions

Simple Setup:

When prompted, tap each required permission to allow the following:

  • Push Notifications: Allow Push Notifications so you can see call activity.

  • Full Contacts Access: Select All Contacts
    ​​This ensures people you know always ring through without being screened.

  • Microphone Access: this enables Cloaked to transmit audio on calls you answer

Compatibility Setup:

  • Turn Live Voicemail OFF

  • Set Screen Unknown Callers to SILENCE

If your settings are already correctly configured, these steps will be skipped.

6. Enable Carrier Call Forwarding

This is the most important step.

  • Tap Place the call

  • Your phone’s dialer will open with a pre-filled activation code. Press call to enable call forwarding

  • Wait a few minutes; sometimes carriers take some time to adjust forwarding settings settings

  • Return to the Cloaked app and confirm whether or not the setup call went through. If it failed, you'll have the option to retry with the same carrier and settings, switch your protection type, test your forwarding call, or contact support.

  • Finally, you'll receive a test call. Please decline it if your phone rings:

Once complete, you'll see a successful set-up confirmation message and will be routed to your Call Guard settings.

Android Instructions

Step 1. Open Call Guard

Open the Cloaked app and navigate to Call Guard:

  • Tap the Guard icon located at the bottom of the home screen, or

  • Go to Menu → Call Guard Settings

  • Tap Complete Setup, then Set up Call Guard

Step 2: Grant Permissions

Cloaked needs access to your phone to protect your calls. When prompted, allow:

  • Push Notifications: enables real-time notifications about incoming calls

  • Contacts: enables Cloaked to identify known callers

  • Phone: enables Cloaked to screen so Cloaked can screen incoming calls

Step 3: Set Cloaked as your default phone app, and your default spam app

Follow the on-screen prompt to set Cloaked as your device's default phone app and spam app. This allows Call Guard to screen calls before they reach you.

Step 4: Select your carrier.

Choose your mobile carrier from the list. This ensures call forwarding is configured with the correct forwarding codes for your carrier.

Step 5: Choose Simple or Compatibility Setup.

  • Simple setup (Recommended): Fewer steps, and works with most carriers. Best for most people.

  • Compatibility setup: Choose this if Simple setup isn't available for your carrier. It provides the same protection, just with a few extra steps.
    ​

Step 6: Enable Call Forwarding

Cloaked will provide a dial code to enable call forwarding on your number. Dial the code when prompted and wait for confirmation.

Step 7: Complete Test Call

Cloaked will run a quick test call to verify everything is working correctly. Follow the on-screen instructions to switch back to your default Phone app so Call Guard can continue protecting you in the background.

Finally, you'll see a confirmation that Call Guard is active. Your number is now protected from spam and unwanted calls.

If you already use another spam blocking service, it will need to be turned off for the test call to succeed.

If your carrier is Verizon, for example, please make sure their Call Filter app is disabled.

It's important to note that many carriers silently turn on spam blocking services on your behalf, so we recommend triple checking this.

Troubleshooting Common Setup Issues

Setup or Test Call Fails

If the Call Forwarding step fails, you can try to manually set up forwarding by finding your carrier below and dialing the code associated with it along with the phone number of your Call Guard AI assistant, which you can find by tapping Copy Forwarding Number during the set-up process:

Tip: Copy the code into Notes if you need to edit the forwarding code before dialing. The long string of numbers after the forwarding code is your Call Guard number.

Verizon (and Verizon-based carriers):

  • *72 + Your Call Guard number (Simple setup)

  • *71 + Your Call Guard number (Compatibility setup)

Example: *711234567890

AT&T and T-Mobile (and MVNOs):

  • AT&T: *21* Your Call Guard Number # (Simple setup)

  • AT&T: *004* Your Call Guard Number *11# (Compatibility setup)

Example: **004*12345678900*11#

T-Mobile

  • **21* Your Call Guard Number # (Simple setup)

  • **004* Your Call Guard Number *11# (Compatibility setup)

Example: *004*1234567890*#


​

Dual SIM or eSIM users:

Paste the code manually and select the SIM you want to protect.

Only one number can be protected per Cloaked account.

App Says Setup Is Incomplete, but Your Calls Are Being Screened

This can happen if the final test call fails.

  1. Manually disable call forwarding by dialing the following codes into your phone app.

    • Verizon: *73

    • AT&T: ##21# (Simple setup) or ##004# (Compatibility setup)

    • T-Mobile: ##21# (Simple setup) or ##004# (Compatibility setup)
      ​

  2. Restart the Call Guard setup flow from the beginning.

Not Receiving the Final Test Call

The test call can take up to 10 minutes and may not appear if Do Not Disturb or Focus modes are enabled.

If the app confirms setup is complete, Call Guard is active.

Accessing Your Contacts

The goal is ONLY unknown callers to be screened by Call Guard and NOT your contacts. We make sure of that by asking for full access to your Contacts.
​

This makes sure that:

  • Contacts bypass the AI assistant

  • Only unknown callers are screened

If contact access is missing or incomplete, known contacts will also be screened by Call Guard if you miss their call.
​

Fixing Contact Access Issues

To give the Cloaked app access to your contacts, you can do the following:

iPhone

  • In your phone Settings → Apps → Cloaked → Contacts → ON

  • If already on, toggle OFF, wait a few seconds, then turn ON again

Android

  • In your phone Settings → Apps → Cloaked → Permissions → Contacts → Allow

  • If already allowed, deny briefly, then re-allow

After resetting this permission, navigate back to the Cloaked app and retry Call Guard setup.

Using the Troubleshooting Checklist

If you're unsure what's causing the setup issue, you can use our Troubleshooting Checklist. In the app, open the Call Guard Settings, then scroll to "Troubleshooting Checklist."

Family and Couples Plans

Call Guard cannot be configured remotely.
​

Each plan member must:

  • Accept their plan invite

  • Create their own Cloaked account

  • Install the app on their own phone

  • Complete Call Guard setup on their device

Always Allow List

You can add certain phone numbers, area codes, or phone number patterns to your Always Allow List. Calls from these numbers will always bypass Call Guard, even if they aren't listed in your contacts.

Navigate to Settings → Call Guard and tap Always Allow List under Your Info. Tap the + icon to add a number or pattern to bypass Call Guard.

To remove a number from your allow list, swipe to the left on the number and tap the red trash icon.

You can also add a caller that was previously identified as spam to your Allow List by navigating to your Spam call history, tapping on the desired call, and then tapping Allow Caller.

Did this answer your question?