Google Adds Spam Call Protection to Nexus Phones

google nexus spam protectionSpam calls remain a huge source of irritation for consumers, with the USs Federal Communications Commission receiving more complaints over them than any other source. In fact the FCC recently told telecom companies that they should be blocking known spam numbers for free as part of their services.

Google may not be a traditional telecom (although it currently is operating a mobile virtual network as part of its Project Fi initiative) but it has decided to step in and help, enabling customers with Nexus or AndroidOne devices to block spam calls within the caller app.

If users have caller ID enabled on their device, spam or robo-calls will appear with a red screen and warning that labels them as “suspected spam caller”. Users can either answer or reject the call as normal, and following that, can block the number or report it to Google if it was flagged in error.

Even if a call isnt marked as spam, users will be able to report it via their recent calls screen. The data will feed into Googles My Business listings, and will require users to allow their smartphone to send information about their calls to Google.

Google is far from the first mobile manufacturer to add this feature to its devices. Samsung formed an alliance with Whitepages in February this year to add caller ID and spam protection to its Galaxy S7.

However, even with the protections added by Google and Samsung, customers are still vulnerable to spam callers using tricks like call spoofing, which will only be solved by telecoms taking the FCCs advice to heart and blocking them at the source.

Don’t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The final deadline for submissions is 5 August. More details here.