Telemarketer Battle - Looking For A Electronic Mod/Hack To Play Prerecorded .mp3 Through iPhone To Nix Telemarketers

[Toddson]

Since Apple isn't kind enough, wise enough, thrifty enough or smart enough to include a feature in iPhones that allow you to play a prerecorded message saved as an .mp3 file from your phone on a call from telemarketers I've been trying to think of a hack. Trust me, I'm already on the Do Not Call List since 2003 and have employed all the official measures to stop the calls and have tried various other methods including: hanging up, answering the call and giving them complete silence, not answering and adding the number to my block list (which currently sits at about 1,500 blocked numbers) etc, etc. I do not want to jailbreak the phone. I would rather come up with a simple hack.

I have a .mp3 file of the official "beep boop beep - We're sorry you have a reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service, if you feel you have reached this recording in error please check the number and try your call again". All that I want to do is to be able to play that digital recording through the phone to the caller.

I saw one idea on YouTube where someone bought a little digital recorder with an external speaker built in to it and would play the "this number has been disconnected" message to the caller from the loud speaker of his little pocket recorder/player device. But the caller would also pick up background sound with that method.

I have a bluetooth headset. When that connects to the iPhone I talk through the headset so obviously the iPhone allows external microphones for phone calls. The question is whether there is a way to directly connect a device to that mike line to play a digital message to the caller. Why Apple doesn't allow you to play a .mp3 file over a phone call is beyond me. How simple would that be? They could put the little handy button to play the file in the same live phone call menu that we have now.

I have seen external microphones for the iPhone besides just headsets like in the picture I attached. I was wondering, if you cut the wires from an external microphone and tie those wires to the wires of an aux cord and then connect the aux cord to a little .mp3 player, would that work? Or would an iPhone somehow detect that the microphone line has some type of different signal coming through other than the type of signal than it would be from a microphone and not let it pass through to the caller?

 

[rjenkinsgb]

A lightning to headphone adapter should work, and allow the mic signal to be wired in, according to reviews of it.
The 3.5mm socket takes a four contact plug, as used with Apple wired headsets,

eg.

Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter

The Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter lets you connect devices with an audio jack to Lightning accessories. Buy now with fast, free shipping, or visit an Apple Store today.

www.apple.com

 

[Toddson]

A lightning to headphone adapter should work, and allow the mic signal to be wired in, according to reviews of it.
The 3.5mm socket takes a four contact plug, as used with Apple wired headsets,

eg.

Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter

The Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter lets you connect devices with an audio jack to Lightning accessories. Buy now with fast, free shipping, or visit an Apple Store today.

www.apple.com

I actually already have one of those. I connect an aux cord from the adapter to a stereo aux port in my truck at work to feed music from my iPhone to the truck stereo.

The question is though, if I cut off the mic from a mic cord (like the one in the pic above) and then tie an aux cord to the mic cord, would I then be able to connect that modded mic cord to an mp3 player aux port and feed digital signal from an mp3 player run through the modded mic cord for the sound-in?

 

[rjenkinsgb]

No idea - it depends on where they put the tiny USB "sound card" type module; in the Lightning plug, or in the mic itself.

The genuine Apple adapters have it in the lighting plug.

Either way, the signal from your audio player must be analog audio, at an appropriate low level.

 

[Externet]

The way I do it is say nothing when a telemarketer calls. You can tell by the silent line. I keep doing my thing, noisy or not, with or without background sounds. They waste their time and hang up after asking if are heard a couple of times.
Other times I ask for their credit card number; when the why? comes, I tell I charge $60/min if they want to talk to me. Click.
Or ask... can you hold a moment? And keep doing my thing endlessly until they -click...
Of course all followed by the 'block number'
Have fun, tell me other ways !

 

[Lightium]

The best way to thwort telemarketers and the like is to NOT ANSWER the phone. if you don't answer after sometime they forget all about you.

 

[Toddson]

No idea - it depends on where they put the tiny USB "sound card" type module; in the Lightning plug, or in the mic itself.

The genuine Apple adapters have it in the lighting plug.

Either way, the signal from your audio player must be analog audio, at an appropriate low level.

I can't think of a way I could get analogue audio stored on a digital device. To my knowledge only magnetic tape and vinyl records store analogue audio. I don't get it. I don't understand how mics work either really. And I do know that digital audio must be decoded so now I doubt my whole idea about running digital signal through a mic cord will work. I know there's someone out there who can school me on the whole matter.

 

[Toddson]

The best way to thwort telemarketers and the like is to NOT ANSWER the phone. if you don't answer after sometime they forget all about you.

Problem with that is when I don't answer a call my voice mail picks up, which tells them the line is valid.

 

[ZipZapOuch]

Problem with that is when I don't answer a call my voice mail picks up, which tells them the line is valid.

I just let my voicemail fill up - and my message says, "if you need to talk to me, text me if you want me to pick up. "

 

[rjenkinsgb]

I can't think of a way I could get analogue audio stored on a digital device.

Not storage: Output.

In other words an analog audio connection, not S/PDIF or other digital audio link. When connecting separate devices or modules, it's the external formats that matter, not internal.

Anything that uses a normal speaker or earphones etc. is an analog output device.
Likewise, anything you hear, or a mic picks up, is analog.
(The lightning port is digital, with external conversion for analog audio connections).

I'd suggest such as an SV-DY17F module; tiny and very cheap, with storage for audio files up to around 4MB total.
The have both a speaker out and stereo line outputs.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DollaTek-DY-SV17F-Player-Trigger-Download/dp/B081JPC7DS/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=mp3+module&qid=1694325906&sr=8-5

(Or somewhere around a pound / dollar from Aliexpress).

As shown in this diagram, each switch would trigger a different file to play, 00001 - 00008.mp3
You would only switches for the number of different files you wanted to use, plus a power switch.

 

[Inquisitive]

Would this tone help?

Special information tone - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Toddson]

Not storage: Output.

In other words an analog audio connection, not S/PDIF or other digital audio link. When connecting separate devices or modules, it's the external formats that matter, not internal.

Anything that uses a normal speaker or earphones etc. is an analog output device.
Likewise, anything you hear, or a mic picks up, is analog.
(The lightning port is digital, with external conversion for analog audio connections).

I'd suggest such as an SV-DY17F module; tiny and very cheap, with storage for audio files up to around 4MB total.
The have both a speaker out and stereo line outputs.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DollaTek-DY-SV17F-Player-Trigger-Download/dp/B081JPC7DS/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=mp3+module&qid=1694325906&sr=8-5

(Or somewhere around a pound / dollar from Aliexpress).

As shown in this diagram, each switch would trigger a different file to play, 00001 - 00008.mp3
You would only switches for the number of different files you wanted to use, plus a power switch.

Now we're getting somewhere. That's the stuff I need to know.

In the pic below I have a Sandisk mp3 player attached to a iPhone via iPhone 3.5 aux cord adapter to-aux-cord that delivers output signal. As I said above, that white adapter-to-aux-cord (minus the mp3 player) is what I use to connect the iPhone to the truck stereo at work to get sound from the iPhone through to the truck stereo aux port.

That's a genuine Apple adapter and you said above the sound module is in the lightning plug end . Since the sound module is in the lightning end of that adapter and that adapter delivers output signal, there's no way that adapter will accept an incoming analogue signal from the Sandisk mp3 player. And I tried that. I tried to record a new voice mail greeting from the mp3 player to the iphone with some random mp3 file I have on the Sandisk. No joy

But according to what you're saying, the output signal from the mp3 player is an analogue signal? So then it might work if I cut the mic end off of the external mic to lightning plug (in the op pic above) and then cut off one end of a male 3.5 to male 3.5 aux cord and tie those wires together? Since that sound module in that mic cord is for input signal. Right?

Is your board in the pic above powered through the USB connection? If so I would have to rig up a USB-to-battery source for portability.

Would this tone help?

Special information tone - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That is most excellent my friend. It has the sample tones and everything. I can copy that to my PC. This is the one I need right here:

 

[Toddson]

Check this out. This is the digital recorder that you can connect to your PC and record sound from a mp3 files playing on your PC. That device has basically the same kind of board as the one posted above, except it's in a convenient battery operated package.

YouTube Video - Digital Recorder

Amazon - EZSound Box

Instead of holding that device up to the external speaker of the iPhone, where the caller could pick up background noise, what if I drilled a little hole in the bottom of the device and connected the lighning cord mic wire to the speaker wires of that device (the speaker wires are delivering analogue output signal), to have a neat little background noise free connection from that device to the iPhone?

 

[Toddson]

Old School telemarketer zapper. I got this back in the late 90's. I think I bought it at a hardware store when I was looking to buy some longer telephone line for my pre-cell phone era landline phone.

You plug the incoming telephone line from the wall to the zapper, then plug the other end to your phone. After you answer, if it's a telemarketer, you press the little button and the red LED light comes on and it plays a digital recording "Boop.. Boop, I'm sorry, this number does not accept these type of calls. Please regard this as notice to take this number off your list" , then repeats one more time then automatically hangs up on the caller. It worked well. At a certain point I hardly ever got any telemarketer calls anymore.

If that was battery powered and had a lightning cord end on it that would be premium. If someone would come up with a little device like that to connect to cell phones they could probably make a million dollars off of it. I doubt there's anyway I could convert this one to a lightning cord connection.

And it runs off landline phone voltage:

Here's the zapper board. I can't see anything on there that recognizable to me as a memory chip. The only odd thing I see that might be the memory is the thing with the red arrow pointed to it.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

That's a genuine Apple adapter and you said above the sound module is in the lightning plug end . Since the sound module is in the lightning end of that adapter and that adapter delivers output signal, there's no way that adapter will accept an incoming analogue signal from the Sandisk mp3 player. And I tried that.

A normal stereo 3.5mm (TRS jack) cable will be connecting the audio OUT on the MP3 player to the audio OUT on the iphone adapter.

A TRS plug shorts the external mic in to ground.

You need to connect the audio source to the appropriate points on a TRRS plug, like this; you can ignore the headphone outputs if you don't need to hear the incoming audio:

Or, use a PC headset adapter cable - that splits out the four contact TRRS plug to two separate TRS plugs, one for headphones and one for mic. The audio would go to the tip and body (gnd) of a TRS plug.

eg.

PC35-PH35 - PC Headset to Smartphone/iPhone Adapter - Dual 3.5mm to Single 3.5mm

PC Headset to Smartphone Adapter Use a Higher Quality Headset with Your iPhone, Smartphone or Tablet with Our Dual 3.5mm to Single 3.5mm Adapter!

www.headsetbuddy.com

Look on Amazon or ebay etc. as well - just be sure it has one TRRS plug and two sockets for mic and headphones; there are reverse ones to use TRRS phone accessories on PCs that have two separate connections.

 

[Toddson]

A normal stereo 3.5mm (TRS jack) cable will be connecting the audio OUT on the MP3 player to the audio OUT on the iphone adapter.

A TRS plug shorts the external mic in to ground.

You need to connect the audio source to the appropriate points on a TRRS plug, like this; you can ignore the headphone outputs if you don't need to hear the incoming audio:

View attachment 142723


Or, use a PC headset adapter cable - that splits out the four contact TRRS plug to two separate TRS plugs, one for headphones and one for mic. The audio would go to the tip and body (gnd) of a TRS plug.

eg.

PC35-PH35 - PC Headset to Smartphone/iPhone Adapter - Dual 3.5mm to Single 3.5mm

PC Headset to Smartphone Adapter Use a Higher Quality Headset with Your iPhone, Smartphone or Tablet with Our Dual 3.5mm to Single 3.5mm Adapter!

www.headsetbuddy.com

Look on Amazon or ebay etc. as well - just be sure it has one TRRS plug and two sockets for mic and headphones; there are reverse ones to use TRRS phone accessories on PCs that have two separate connections.

Thanks. That's worth trying. I'm gonna get the adapter and see if it works.

 

[Toddson]

A normal stereo 3.5mm (TRS jack) cable will be connecting the audio OUT on the MP3 player to the audio OUT on the iphone adapter.

A TRS plug shorts the external mic in to ground.

You need to connect the audio source to the appropriate points on a TRRS plug, like this; you can ignore the headphone outputs if you don't need to hear the incoming audio:

View attachment 142723


Or, use a PC headset adapter cable - that splits out the four contact TRRS plug to two separate TRS plugs, one for headphones and one for mic. The audio would go to the tip and body (gnd) of a TRS plug.

eg.

PC35-PH35 - PC Headset to Smartphone/iPhone Adapter - Dual 3.5mm to Single 3.5mm

PC Headset to Smartphone Adapter Use a Higher Quality Headset with Your iPhone, Smartphone or Tablet with Our Dual 3.5mm to Single 3.5mm Adapter!

www.headsetbuddy.com

Look on Amazon or ebay etc. as well - just be sure it has one TRRS plug and two sockets for mic and headphones; there are reverse ones to use TRRS phone accessories on PCs that have two separate connections.

Hey I found this.

https://www.amazon.com/Headset-Buddy-Line-Level-Soundboards-iPhone-Mic-Line/dp/B00OAW85ZG/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=headset+buddy&qid=1694371572&sr=8-3

This looks like what I'm looking for. It's a mic line in 3.5mm 4 conductor TRRS Male to 3.5mm TRS Microphone Input Jack with built-in Attenuator. Do you think that will work with the white iPhone lightning adapter that I already have? Or do you think the iPhone needs to detect a "headset" type setup with headphones and a mic since it's a headset that might be "allowed" to be used on a phone call on an iphone. The iPhone might detect just a line in only setup like the Amazon one for like recording only and not for phone calls.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

That should work for mic in audio, but I don't know if you would be able to hear the incoming audio??

If may "see" the headphone contacts as open circuit (no connection) & still use the phone speaker, but I'm not sure on that...

I suspect that's more for use with audio recording apps?

 

[Toddson]

That should work for mic in audio, but I don't know if you would be able to hear the incoming audio??

If may "see" the headphone contacts as open circuit (no connection) & still use the phone speaker, but I'm not sure on that...

I suspect that's more for use with audio recording apps?

Yeah, I think the iPhone needs to detect specifically a headset (line-in + line-out) to allow input audio on a live phone call. Which is what I'm looking for.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Here's the zapper board. I can't see anything on there that recognizable to me as a memory chip. The only odd thing I see that might be the memory is the thing with the red arrow pointed to it.

View attachment 142722

Have you got a picture of the other side of the board?, there's perhaps a SM (or COB) chip on that side. The device pointed at by the arrow appears to be an opto-coupler, hence the heatshrink crimped round it.