Teacher
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12 Messages
Active Armor Mess
My wife and I have had identical iPhones and a joint wireless plan for years that automatically comes with Active Armor. We didn’t want it, we have never used it, and we never downloaded the Active Armor app. A few months ago my wife noticed some phone calls going straight to voicemail. I spent months trying to fix this, checking all settings, reinstalling the iPhone, etc. This got bad because she was waiting for important calls and she would miss them because they would go straight to voicemail. After tying to fix this again we realized that all calls were going straight to voicemail except those people listed as Emergency Contacts in the iPhone. My calls would ring on her iPhone, but if she removed me as an Emergency Contact then my calls would go right to voicemail. I called Apple for help and they could not figure out the problem and told me to contact my carrier.
I had already looked at our AT&T account before but went ahead and did that again. I saw where it said we have Active Armor as part of our plan but we don’t use it and haven’t downloaded the app. I then saw where we could opt out of Active Armor. I had not seen that before so I opted out for both our iPhones. That fixed the problem! Calls are now ringing on my wife’s iPhone.
We didn’t want Active Armor, never tried to use it, and never downloaded the app, but Active Armor still was responsible for sending all calls to my wife’s iPhone straight to voicemail except for people who were an Emergency Contact. This caused us a lot of problems and wasted a lot of time trying to figure out the problem. Hopefully this post will help someone else with similar problems and get them to turn off Active Armor.
formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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118.4K Messages
11 months ago
Active armor blocks calls that are determined to be spam, or unidentified. It would not limit her phone calls to emergency contacts only. But do not disturb does.
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jeffzacharias
Teacher
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12 Messages
11 months ago
Active Armor was in fact sending all calls to voicemail except for those people on the Emergency Contact list. It was in fact a problem with Active Armor. It was not due to anything on the iPhone. To be clear, here is a list of some things tested multiple times and proven not to be the problem.
Opting out of Active Armor immediately fixed the problem without any changes to the iPhone.
This was definitely proven to be a problem due to Active Armor.
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hqlane
2 Messages
11 days ago
I have been (and am still) in (Edited per community guidelines) with my iPhone on AT&T since mid-April 2024. It is now late June 2024.
I am convinced that my issues are all the result of ActiveArmor, which, like the OP, I never activated on any of our phones but which, soon after an ios update, seemed to be the culprit for the very situation the OP describes, plus delayed texts coming through for 2-factor authentication, calls not connecting when calling out, callers not being able to connect to my phone at all (never rang through), calls dropping randomly.... This is my personal and business phone (and August is my busiest work season of the year). I had an iPhone 13 purchased in 2021. We have four other phone on our account: 2 iPhone 8, 1 iPhone X, and another iPhone 13. None were affected except if they were trying to call me or calls dropped while we were connected.
When everything started happening, I went to an AT&T location and the rep who helped me identified the issue as being related to ActiveArmor. He downloaded the app and we could see all the blocked calls. He turned off the blocking, checked on some other phone settings, and sent me on my way for 2-3 days of bliss with my phone working as it always had -- correctly. I won't go into all the details, but will say that the following steps were taken to correct the issue; each "fix" worked for a short time and then the trouble would start again:
1. Visited AT&T store; discovered Active Armor issue. 10-minute drive to store + 30 minute wait time (busy store), resolved issue for 2-3 days.
2. Spoke with AT&T via phone; asked for ActiveArmor to be completely disabled (at the time, it was the only thing you could do -- the opt out didn't exist). Rep also told me to replace my SIM card. On hold for 15+ minutes, 15 minute call, resolved issue for 1-2 days.
3. Went to AT&T store where a skeptical rep replaced my SIM card. Drive to store + 20 minute wait, resolved issue when tested in the store with issues resuming 1 hour later.
4. Called AT&T tech support and spoke with an agent for 1.5+ hours while we went through countless settings, tried multiple restarts, tried resetting the network connection. 15+ minutes on hold, 1.5+ talking to rep, resolved issue 1-2 days.
5. Called AT&T tech support but was connected to an Asurion rep who told me that I needed to activate an eSIM, which he was confident would fix all the problems. 15 minutes on hold, 25 minutes for call, resolved issues for 1 night.
6. Called AT&T on a Friday and spoke to super helpful rep, Shameem FOR 2+ HOURS. Tried all the same stuff; she had me remove the physical SIM card (the prior rep had not told me to do this and set up new eSIM cards twice. About an hour in, she let me know she was going to also connect with a senior tech agent to help; she relayed info back and forth. That tech kept blaming the issues on my connectivity and service at home -- despite me letting him know that no other phone in our house were affected and the fact that I traveled across three states and it happened everyplace I went on that trip and every place I go locally. Finally, Shameem told me she had been directed to have me talk to the senior tech directly. I was sent a text (which miraculously came through) with a "special number" and PIN. Then, my (old) cordless house phone battery died and I had to wait 20 minutes to get hold of one of my kids' phones. Called the number, gave the pin, sat on hold, got a new tech and had to fill him in on the history because the notes the various reps were adding to my file were incomplete, told to backup my phone and reset it entirely and if that didn't work, to put in an insurance claim for a replacement because of a hardware issue. 35 min on hold; 2+ hour call; 30 min on hold; 30-min call; 45 min backing up and restoring my phone. issue not resolved.
7. On Monday, called Asurion and was told my deductible to replace the phone was $275, close to half the current value of the phone. 30+ min on hold, 10-min call. Hung up and...
8. Called AT&T and ordered aniPhone 14. Paid off my iPhone 13. Asked for Active Armor -- which continued to show up on the account for my phone) to be fully deactivated. 15+ min on hold, 40+ min on call, 3 day wait for new phone, 45 minute to set up new phone. ISSUE STILL NOT RESOLVED.
9. Received new phone three days ago and set it up 2 days ago -- while more calls are coming through and the text issue seems to be better, the phone is still dropping calls, sending some calls directly to VM, and requiring dialing multiple times to connect.
10. Last night, went back into AT&T app and saw that Active Armor WAS STILL ACTIVE ON MY PHONE, despite the many times I requested it be deactivated. By chance, I came upon the opt out option. Opted out, restarted phone, and can finally see it's no longer active on my phone (according to the app), but had for missed calls that went straight to VM or didn't ring through to me and four call drops during 2 phone calls, including one with my boss.
It's now Friday again. I have wasted SO MANY hours on this, paid money to pay off my phone, spent time setting up a new phone -- ONLY TO STILL HAVE THESE ISSUES. I feel like ActiveArmor has somehow glommed onto my phone number and that I won't be able to fix the problem without getting a new phone number -- which means changing the number I have had for 11 years and every medical record (family of 6, two with chronic illnesses that required a lot of care coordination)-- in other words, spending more of my time on trying to get have the service I pay for actually work so I can do my job and manage my personal and household needs. I will be transferring myself to an iPhone 11 we have to see if the issues continue. If they do, I think there's no way to deny that it's the phone number, so I will put in for a new one -- probably have to pay a $35 activation fee for the privilege -- and start making changes to vital accounts and records to update my number. The rep Shameem gave me a $15 credit on my account for my troubles and the rep at the AT&T store comped me a $7 SIM card. All the rest of the cost and resources are on me -- well, and my husband who has had to listen to all my frustrations, poor guy.
For the record, all but one of the reps I dealt with were clearly sympathetic and trying to help. The other just kept trying to tell me it was an issue with my home location and service (I do live in a mountainous state at the bottom of a hill where we get no service unless we use wifi calling, but remember: multiple phones in my house on the same account without issues and I traveled across three states and the issues persisted on my phone alone) or that I damaged it but didn't want to tell them (not true -- and why wouldn't I just then go through insurance or trade it in??).
BEWARE! If you see ActiveArmor on your phone, OPT OUT! I would have spent far less time fielding every single spam call in the world than the time, energy and aggravation I have spent on this -- all because of a "service" I never activated or cared about.
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