I have been using Phone app from Google mainly because it has a spam detection and blocker feature are you telling me that I can replace it with Yet another call blocker or how exactly would I make it work?
As you can see, in newer android versions the spam filter app for calls it's separate from the phone app.
Try using Yet another call blockee + simple dialer (I recommend the entire simple mobile suite actually). If you're not satisfied you can always go back (contacts are stored in your SIM or on your phone, deleting or changing the dialer app does not make your contacts disappear)
Quick correction: don't store contacts on your SIM (especially not without backups) this is considered by most phone software these days to be deprecated functionality since it dates back to payphones and flip phones without any writable memory. SIM cards are intended to be entirely disposable, and can fail at random with no warning
I wouldn't trust that. Play store is filled with ripoffs of foss apps with lots of ads and god only knows what. Also xtra blocks ads, which is a big no-no on the play store.