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Call Screening

Call screening gives you complete control over who can reach you by phone. Accept, decline, or block specific numbers and send others directly to voicemail.

What is call screening?

Your work days are busy enough without having to deal with nuisance or untimely callers. Your RingCentral account arms you with call screening service, empowering you to stop unwanted calls.

When a call comes in, caller ID details appear on your phone’s display, informing you who is on the line. You now have the choice to pick up the call, decline it, or send it directly to voicemail.

If you have people you never want to talk to, you can prevent their calls from ever connecting with you. Call blocking is an effective screening option for stopping unwanted calls.

Call screening is available on your desk phone, mobile phone, and RingCentral for Desktop. This service is included in all RingCentral MVP™ editions.

Benefits of screening calls

  • Caller ID information displays before the incoming call ever connects, giving you some context to decide how you want to respond to the call. You can answer it, decline it, or send it directly to voicemail.
  • Configure your account to have your phone prompt callers to announce their names before the call connects as an extra level of screening, so you know exactly who is on the line as well as which business they're calling from, drastically reducing nuisance calls.
  • You can also configure your phone to announce which department or extension is calling so you can decide how to respond.
  • When there’s too much going on to immediately take a call from an important contact, you can still respond quickly with prepared text-to-speech messages or type a custom message for the Virtual receptionist to announce to your caller.
  • Permanently block nuisance calls, specific phone numbers, entire area codes, or callers without caller ID, so they can never reach you again.
  • To further reduce unwanted calls, you can block every call, then create a short list of allowed phone numbers and area codes. Only the numbers you specify will be able to connect with you, and the rest will remain blocked permanently.
  • Choose a prepared courtesy message for your blocked callers to hear, or you can create your own.

Call screening FAQs

  • You can screen and block unwanted calls on your desk phone, mobile phone, and on your computer through the RingCentral for Desktop app.
  • When RingCentral for Desktop is open on your computer, a pop-up message displays when you receive a call, showing the caller ID and giving you response options to choose from. If you have voice prompts set up, you’ll hear the caller’s name broadcast through your computer speakers.
  • Yes, just set up your account for voice prompts and you can hear the caller’s name announced on your mobile phone before the call is connected.
  • Generally, this is the name, phone number, or other identifying information about the caller that shows up on your phone display.

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