Introduction

A front desk is only acceptable if the people you love and the people you work with never have to talk to it. Favorites is that list. A favorite calls, your phone rings, and the screen tells you who it is before you say hello. No greeting, no questions, no waiting.

What Favorites do

When a favorite calls

  1. The call is forwarded to PhoneShield like any other
  2. The number matches your Favorites list
  3. PhoneShield rings the app at once
  4. The screen shows the name: “Mom”, or “Dr. Miller’s office”
  5. You accept, and you are talking

What they skip

  • The front desk greeting and questions
  • The intent classifier
  • Every block list, including the shared one
  • Do not disturb: favorites ring anyway
  • Your assistant: Nora never answers a favorite

Adding a favorite

  1. Open the Shield settings page

    Scroll to the Favorites list.

  2. Add a name and a number

    The name is what the call screen shows. Use the full number with country code, for example +1 555 123 4567.

  3. Save

    It applies to the next call. Remove a favorite the same way.

You can also promote a caller from their call in call history: open the call and add the number to Favorites from there.

Favorites versus contacts

The Shield settings page has both a Favorites list and a Contacts list. They do different things:

Favorites

Always ring you straight through, in every mode, with their name on the screen. A short list of people who should never be screened.

Contacts

Names for numbers you know. Call history, messages and the call screen use the name instead of the raw number, and your assistant knows who she is talking to. Contacts still meet the front desk.

A plumber you use twice a year is a contact. Your sister is a favorite.

Favorites in every mode

Open

Everyone vetted by the front desk rings you; favorites ring you without the vetting. The difference you notice is that a favorite’s call connects a few seconds sooner and the screen shows a name you chose.

Do not disturb

Nothing rings except favorites. This is the mode where the list earns its keep: an evening with the phone quiet, and still reachable by the five people who should be able to reach you.

Receptionist

Nora answers everyone else. Favorites never hear her; they ring you directly. If you miss a favorite, that is a missed call on your phone, and you call them back like you always did.

Seeing favorite calls in history

A favorite’s call appears in call history as RANG YOU with the reason “favorite”. Because the front desk never spoke to them, there is no transcript, no message and no notification; there is nothing to summarize.

Best Practices

Keep the list short

Favorites skip everything. If the list is your whole address book, the front desk is not doing anything. Family, the school, the doctor, your best customers.

Add both of their numbers

Mobile and landline, or office and cell. A favorite calling from a number you did not add meets the front desk like anyone else.

Name them the way you say it

The call screen shows the name you typed. “Mom” is better than “Margaret Ellison (mobile)”.

Test with one of them

Ask a favorite to call you. The app should ring with their name and they should hear no front desk. If they meet the front desk, check the number matches.