Smart telephony systems and methods

A telephonic system for alerting a called phone of an importance level of a call, comprising a first processor, a caller module comprising a caller user interface configured to be provided on a caller device and to allow a caller to assign from the caller device an importance level to a call and instructions when executed cause the first processor to first initiate transmission of a data message from the caller device to the called phone that, when received by the called phone, advises the called phone of the importance level of the call incoming, to determine, by the caller device, whether sufficient time has passed for the data message from the caller device to be received by the called phone, and, based on the determination of whether sufficient time has passed for the data message from the caller device to be received by the called phone, to then initiate the call from the caller device to the called phone;

• and a second processor, a called phone module comprising a called phone user interface configured to be provided on the called phone and to receive the data message from the caller device, and including instructions when executed cause the second processor to determine the importance level of the call based on the data message and provide a signal to the called phone user interface concerning the importance level of the call.