Automatic Greenlisting or Greylisting.
We are often asked about contacts, contact information, and onboarding to imp. What is the difference between Greenlisting Automatically versus Greenlisting Manually? And what is Automatic Greylisting? Can I onboard without sharing contact information? Can I limit the information other Users see? The aim of this article is to address some of these questions.
Greenlisting Automatically
Greenlisting Automatically means that SOME information about all your contacts is added to the Greenlist. “SOME information” is just the individual or business name and phone numbers and nothing else. It also means that SOME information about any new contact you add to your smartphone after setup is added to the Greenlist automatically. This option is the easiest option for imp box operations.
Greylisting Automatically
The alternative is to automatically add SOME information about your contacts to the Greylist, and then manually select contacts to add to the Greenlist. At setup, you can go through a list of your smartphone contacts to make these selections. After setup, you can manually manage list assignments on the app, under the Lists tab. This option is sometimes referred to as Greenlisting Manually.
What does “Automatic” mean anyway?
If you make a change to one of your contacts in your smartphone, imp will “Automatically” pay attention to the change. New phone number for a best friend? No problem. New BFF? No problem. imp will add their name and number to your lists.
Onboarding without sharing contact information
We have been asked if there is a way to not share contact information with the imp box. The short answer is no. imp depends on Caller ID information to sort calls into the Greenlist, Greylist, and Redlist. Without knowing the phone number of your wanted or unwanted callers, imp simply cannot sort the calls.
Can I limit the information other Users see?
We have been asked if there is a way to not share contact information, or limit the sharing of contact information, with other users of the imp box. The short answer is sorta.
While imp gathers both the name and phone numbers of your contacts, imp does NOT display that information to other users. Other users only see the names of your contacts. Other users cannot see the phone numbers of your contacts.
Sure, if you’re golf buddies with Bill Gates, other users on the box will see the name Bill Gates in the list, but they would not be able to access his phone number or any other contact info.
We are working on a systems architecture that would still allow imp to function with LESS information, but that is for a future release.
We highly encourage our imp customers to select Greenlist Automatically
Especially if managing the imp for another person and double especially if you have more than one user. Greenlisting Automatically really helps the system stay in sync between different users and lists.
In a case where you, and several siblings, are managing your Mom’s phone, it might seem strange to have all of your, and your siblings’ contacts being Greenlisted on your Mom’s phone. But, if one person chooses to Manually Greenlist/Automatically Greylist and another chooses to Automatically Greenlist, it is really easy for conflicts to occur on list assignments between common contacts. Does your Automatic Greenlisting of a contact overrule your brother’s Manual Greylisting?
We have found that the opportunities for confusion here are very large. And while it is strange to have your accountant on the Greenlist for your Mom, the chance that they will ever call your Mom is nearly zero.
Your sibling will not be able to connect with your contacts via imp. They might know you are golf buddies with Bill Gates, but they won’t be able to ring him up.
Finally, the ease of simply adding a contact to your smartphone, and knowing they will propagate to your Mom’s imp, makes it really easy to build up and maintain her list of wanted callers. That list of wanted callers will change and grow over time, and Automatic Greenlisting really is the easiest way to keep things lined up.
As noted, we are working on a systems architecture that would still allow imp to function with LESS information, but that is for a future release.
Finally, there are a few points we’d like to throw your way to try and help you overcome any worries you may have about sharing contacts with your imp box, or on boxes with multiple users.
- The imp network has the highest level of security against cyber threats. We use military-level encryption and security to protect our imp customer’s information. We have security policies in place for our team and our operations.
- It’s My Phone, Inc (imp) does not buy, sell, or share your contact information, or that of your contacts. See our Privacy Policy and EULA for the details.
- The imp app does not display phone numbers for contacts. Phone numbers are shared for inbound calls, but not contacts. If you have multiple users on the box, other users are not able to see phone numbers for your contacts.
- When uploading contacts, the imp does not upload emails, addresses, or other identifying information or notes that you may have stored in your contact book. The only thing that is uploaded to the imp is the name and phone numbers of a contact. The only thing displayed on the lists in the imp app is their name.
Finally, if you really do not want to share all your contacts with imp, but really do want to use imp to manage a landline phone, you might think about using a secondary mobile device. You can manage imp from an Android or iOS tablet or second phone and only include the contacts you want to upload to imp on those secondary devices. Several customers have reported this method as effective for managing their imp boxes.
We hope this guide has helped clarify some of the frequently asked questions and concerns we have had about contact lists.
We also encourage you to double-check your list of assignments from time to time as a general rule of thumb. Just general good housekeeping to double-check and avoid inadvertent or mistaken list assignments. This is particularly true in systems with multiple users.
If you have any thoughts or questions about list assignment and Greenlisting settings, please don’t hesitate to reach out M-F during East Coast business hours at 800-374-0056 or by emailing help@joinimp.com.