I wish I could block all calls from UK. Since brexit all spam calls that comes through are from there sadly

So true! Area codes (and first three digits) used to indicate where you were. Now, more often than not, they indicate where you bought your first cell phone, i.e. where you lived around the year 2000 for us oldsters.

It was closer to 50% for me since there were two (overlaid) exchanges in my neighborhood. I still remember about a dozen phone numbers of friends from when I was growing up.

I've been using Number Shield since long before Begone existed, so I can't really comment on their comparison.

...though the creator of Begone will hopefully realize that every entry in its version-history starting with that same rant about fake ad campaigns is making it look more sketchy than ignoring the issue would.

I didn't want to over-promise, having only used it inside the USA's phone system. :D

From a user perspective it’s similar to content blockers for Safari.

Settings > Phone > Call Blocking & Identification

You can give it access to your contacts so it'll exclude them, or whitelist specific patterns if you want.

Not that I know of? The privacy statement on that App Store page says it collects usage data and diagnostics, and that neither are linked to you personally.