Google Phone app brings Spam filters on Nexus and Android One smartphones

Google has started to roll out an updated Phone app for stock Android devices like the Nexus and Android One smartphones. The new Phone app comes with the ability to detect and warn when a spam number calls you.

Now, Google has stepped in with its solution to the problem. The company’s Phone application in the Nexus and Android One devices is now being updated with built-in junk filter. Google’s Phone application already has a comprehensive directory of various commercial numbers. If a number with the previous history of spamming gives a call, the new phone application will display a huge red banner marking the number as “suspected spam caller”.

Then, you will have the option to confirm it as junk call and block the number. From the next time onwards, calls from the number will be blocked automatically without user intervention. On the other hand, you may also mark the number as ‘not spam’. This should help many stock Android users to block natively spam or junk calls without the need to install any third party application.

The 4.0 version of the Phone App brings the new spam filter feature. Till now there is no word from Google about the release of this application for Android smartphones other than the Nexus and Android One.

Apple is also presumed to bring some kind of spam detector or filter in the forthcoming iOS 10. The iOS 10 is now exclusively available to beta users with a developer account and will release soon for the public.

Spam calls have filled the telephone industry. Only a handful of countries has some type of “do not call” registry which is officially prepared by the authority of the government to regulate and block unsolicited activity through the cellular medium. Numerous other countries only have laws to prohibit unwanted junk calls or messages. The laws only exist in papers and a very little is done to implement them effectively. Even if enforced, the laws have meager sentences which fail to deter spammers.

Various applications like Truecaller, Call Blocker, Mr. Number, etc. have sprung up to save mobile users from spam. These applications maintain an extensive directory of numbers having a history of spamming from several countries around the world. This database is regularly updated with user inputs. The users have the ability to flag new spam numbers which are undetected by the applications. When some users flag the same number, the number is automatically added to the spam database of the application.

About the author

Nitin Agarwal

Nitin started PC-Tablet because of his keen interest in space research, technology, and gadgets. He is an avid reader, technology enthusiast, and like to explore new places. His passion for knowledge keeps him running all the time.