What Egidio actually does — and why it needs Android
Egidio doesn't block numbers on a list. It connects what's happening across several channels at once — a call, a text, a WhatsApp message received a few minutes apart — to recognize that they're all part of the same attack, calibrated per country across 183 apps. This cross-channel engine is the core argument of the product, detailed in our tech sheet. It runs 100% on the device, and to do that it needs a level of system access that, today, only one mobile OS grants to a third-party app.
iOS's locks, no mystery
No NotificationListenerService
Android lets an authorized app read other apps' notifications on the device, without sending anything elsewhere. iOS has no equivalent: no third-party app can read a WhatsApp or Telegram notification. So no one can detect a scam there — no one, not even us.
CXCallDirectoryExtension only
Third-party call filtering on iOS goes through CallKit: number lists supplied to the
system in advance, supplemented since iOS 18 by a server lookup at the moment of the call
(Live Caller ID Lookup). Either way, it's number-based —
never anything but that: never on-device behavioral analysis, never correlated with the
text or message received just before.
Sandboxed ILMessageFilterExtension
iOS lets an app filter texts from unknown senders — but this extension only ever sees that one text, in isolation. It can't connect it to yesterday's call or to the WhatsApp message that will follow. The channels exist in silos: correlation is structurally impossible.
So why not just another blocklist app?
What iOS does allow — number-based blocking — isn't even a gap anymore: Apple already covers it natively, and well. "Silence Unknown Callers" has existed since iOS 13. Filtering for messages from unknown senders too. And since iOS 26, the iPhone can answer on its owner's behalf, ask the unknown caller for their name and the reason for the call, and only then let the phone ring — all processed on the device.
Shipping "Egidio for iPhone" that would, at bottom, be just another blocklist app on top of an already solid layer: no differentiating reason to exist. That would be true on iOS just as it would have been true on Android if we'd brought nothing more than the filters already built in.
An app that can't keep the promise of its name shouldn't exist. That's our only disagreement with the App Store: we can't get in there whole. So we don't get in.
What we'll do the day the door opens
We'd like to be on iPhone. Not to put one more list there — to extend the real protection: cross-channel, per-country calibration, the 183 apps. The day Apple opens up the access needed for cross-channel behavioral detection, Egidio will be a candidate. No date, no "coming soon" — and whole, or not at all.
Have an iPhone? Here's what actually helps, free, right now
- Turn on unknown-caller filtering. Settings → Phone → Unknown & Spam Callers, then choose "Ask Reason for Calling" or "Silence".
- Turn on unknown-message filtering. Settings → Messages → Filter Unknown Senders.
- Keep iOS updated — the native protections (Silence Unknown Callers, message filtering, iOS 26 Call Screening) improve with every version.
The single most effective habit stays the same no matter the device: learning to recognize manipulation mechanisms before they work on you — and your family on Android can be protected today.
Frequently asked questions
Does Egidio exist on iPhone?
No. What Egidio actually does — correlating a call, a text, and a WhatsApp message as a single attack — requires access that iOS doesn't grant to any third-party app. What that access would let us do instead, the iPhone already does natively.
Is an iOS version planned?
No date. The day Apple opens up the access needed for cross-channel behavioral detection, Egidio will be a candidate — but only to arrive whole: cross-channel, 183 apps, per-country calibration. Never a stripped-down version.
Why do Truecaller and other blockers exist on iPhone?
Because they do number-based blocking — the only thing iOS allows a third-party app to do. No app on iPhone does cross-channel behavioral detection.
What can I do to protect myself on iPhone today?
Turn on the unknown-caller and unknown-message filtering already built into iOS, keep your iPhone updated, and learn to recognize manipulation mechanisms — the best protection stays the same regardless of device.
Can I protect my family on Android?
Yes. Egidio's Family mode protects up to 4 people on Android under a single subscription. An iPhone in the household can't be protected today, but your family's Android devices can.
On Android, this protection already exists
The reasoning holds both ways: native layers — Apple's, Google's, device makers' — cover number-based filtering well. Nowhere do they cover cross-channel behavioral understanding. On Android, that missing layer can be built: that's Egidio, free for life for calls.
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