Telephone Preference Service: The free app that lets you block all nuisance calls

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Whether they’re trying to scam you, sell to you or advertise, nuisance calls are exactly that.

And many people don’t know there’s a way to stop yourself getting one ever again.

Much like having a ‘no junk mail’ sign on your post box, you can register your phone number - be that a landline or mobile - with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and stop receiving marketing calls.

Once you register, companies are required by law not to cold call you.

The TPS Protect app is free to download, but you have to pay 99p after the first 60 days to unlock extra features.

It’s the official central opt-out register on which you can record your preference not to receive unsolicited sales or marketing calls.

The app also allows you to report scam callers directly.

Every time a call comes in, the app shows the phone number’s rating, from one to five based on trustworthiness. The user decides which level of call they want to receive.

Each time a call is blocked or reported, that will affect the phone number’s trust score.

John Mitchison, Head of TPS at the DMA, said: “When scam calls get reported, their trust score drops. So your voice matters.”

Millions of cold calls go unreported every year, and the TPS Protect app aims to help catch the people and companies behind the phone numbers.

In 2016, just 22 firms paid penalties for nuisance calls.

The trouble is, however, that many of the companies simply keep changing their phone numbers, and so the TPS Protect app does have its critics.

“Call blocking bad numbers is an ineffective approach,” David Hickson of the Fair Telecoms Campaign told The Sun Online.

“A wise cold caller keeps changing their number.”

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