How do I block unwanted calls on my Nokia Windows Phone?

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There will be a time in life when you need to block someone, be it a cold sales contact or someone who may be harassing you. Unfortunately, Windows Phone 8 doesn't currently have a built-in blocking feature to prevent numbers from sending messages to your smartphone, nor can the operating system halt calls in their tracks. But Microsoft did make tools for manufacturers to enable this feature, should they want to make it for their customers.

This is where Nokia came in with its 'call + SMS filter', which launched on Windows Phone 8 last year for Lumia devices (Samsung has it in their ATIV line of Windows Phones too).

We'll quickly walk you through how to set everything up, just in case you've yet to fire up the filter settings area for the first time.

The filter is not enabled by default, so you'll need to turn it on. Luckily, everything can be found under your phone's Settings.

call + SMS filter (for Nokia Lumia phones only)

1. Swipe right to the app list
2. Scroll down until you find 'Settings' (tap)
3. System
4. Scroll down until you find 'call+SMS filter' down the list, then tap to open

If you haven't accessed the feature yet, you'll have to accept the terms of use and privacy policy, which will be displayed with an option to accept or cancel. Hint: if you wish to use the filtering system, hit accept.

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To add contacts to the block list

1. Head into phone history (Phone) or messaging (Messaging)
2. Long press on a contact or message
3. On the pop-up dialog, select 'block number...'

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Back to the filter settings area. Selecting 'advanced' will open up some handy options to configure the blocking of withheld numbers automatically, enable/disable the Live Tile and toggle toast notifications. It's all simple stuff. Pinning the Live Tile to your Start screen is a convenient way to monitor what's being blocked, as well as providing quick access to the settings area.

Advanced settings for call/message filtering

1. Settings
2. System
3. call+SMS filter
4. advanced
5. Enable/disable 'Block withheld numbers'
6. Enable/disable 'App Live Tile'
7. Enable/disable 'Notification'

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Limitations?

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to pre-block someone through your People hub (aka contacts), so you'll have to wait until they call or message you first before filtering.

Are you utilizing this feature on your Lumia Windows Phone?