There may be times when you need to temporarily pause Call Guard. Whether you’re troubleshooting an issue, expecting an important call, managing your subscription, or simply prefer to turn it off for a period of time, this guide walks you through how to do it safely.
Call Guard is designed to screen calls from numbers that aren’t saved in your contacts. If you’re expecting a call from someone new, like a contractor, doctor, or potential employer, we recommend pausing Call Guard briefly to ensure the call comes through without interruption.
Important: Call Guard works by changing a setting with your mobile carrier.
If you delete the app without disabling Call Guard first, your calls may continue to be forwarded and you could miss them.
Pause vs. Disable: What’s the difference?
Pause Call Guard (temporary)
Pauses screening for your desired period of time
No carrier changes required
Automatically resumes after the pause window ends
Disable Call Guard (recommended for stopping permanently)
Fully turns off call forwarding with your carrier
Restores normal calling and voicemail behavior
Required before canceling your subscription or deleting the app
You can re-enable Call Guard at any time from the app. Your previous call history and voicemails will still be there.
How to Pause Call Guard
If you'd like to temporarily pause Call Guard, follow these steps.
Open the Cloaked app
Tap the Profile icon on lefthand sidebar. Select Settings, then Call Guard
Tap Pause Call Guard at the top of your screen
Choose how long to pause. Options are 30 minutes, 1 Hour, 2 Hours, 4 Hours, Until tomorrow, Until next week, or a custom date and time.
Tap Save.
Resume at any time by tapping Resume Call Guard from your Call Guard Settings.
How to Disable Call Guard
This is the safest way to disable Call Guard and works in both Basic and Advanced Mode.
Open the Cloaked app
Tap the Profile icon on lefthand sidebar. Select Settings, then Call Guard
Under Troubleshoot, select Deactivate Call Guard.
Follow the on-screen instructions to dial the carrier code provided
You must complete the dialing step. This is what tells your carrier to stop forwarding calls through Call Guard.
Once finished, you should see or hear confirmation from your carrier, and calls will begin routing directly to your phone again.
Important: update your phone settings
Disabling Call Guard in the Cloaked app alone is not enough to fully return your phone to normal behavior. You must also update your device settings:
On iOS
Turn Live Voicemail back on
Turn Silence Unknown Callers off
On Android
Remove Cloaked as the default Spam and Caller ID app
If these settings are not updated, calls may continue to appear blocked, labeled, or filtered even after Call Guard is turned off.
After completing both the Cloaked app steps and your phone settings, your calls should behave normally again.
Manual Disable (if you can’t access the app)
If you already deleted the app or can’t log in, you can disable call forwarding manually.
Open your phone’s dialer and enter the code for your carrier:
Verizon / Spectrum / Xfinity:
Dial *73
AT&T:
Dial ##004#
T-Mobile / Mint / Boost:
Dial ##61#
If that fails, try ##004#
Most other carriers:
Dial #21#
If you’re unsure which network your carrier uses, try all of the above codes. These commands cancel conditional call forwarding on your line.
Restore phone settings after disabling
After disabling Call Guard, you may want to revert device-level settings:
iPhone
Turn Live Voicemail back ON (optional)
Turn Silence Unknown Callers OFF (optional)
Android
Open Settings
Go to Apps → Default Apps
Select Caller ID & Spam app
Choose None or Phone
Frequently asked questions:
What happens to my call history and voicemails?
Nothing is deleted. Your Call Guard history and voicemails are simply hidden while the feature is off. If you re-enable Call Guard, everything will reappear.
I’m canceling my subscription. Do I still need to do this?
Yes. Canceling billing does not disable call forwarding.
You must follow the steps above to fully restore normal calling and voicemail behavior before canceling or deleting your account.