Google Android Phone App Update To Include Spam Call Detection, Blocking

Google has released an update to its Android phone app for Nexus and Android One devices that alerts users whenever they receive a spam call.

Spam calls have been a major complaint amongst smartphone users for a while now. However, not much has been done to solve the problem, aside from Samsung's efforts in spam protection software which is only available for the Galaxy S7.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has already told telecom companies to block spam calls for free, but this has not yet been implemented.

Luckily, Google's update to the phone app will take this problem head on by making it easier for users to detect and block spam calls.

Users will simply need to enable their caller ID in order to take advantage of the feature. When the user receives a spam call, a red screen will pop up warning the user that it's a "suspected spam caller," according to Engadget.

After rejecting or accepting the call, the user will be able to block that number indefinitely. The user could also report it to Google, after determining if it's a legitimate spam call or a system error.

If the feature fails to identify a spam call, users will still be able to report it to Google and block the number, according to Google's support page.

Reporting the phone numbers of spam callers will help Google gather enough data to potentially block spam calls automatically in the future.

As of the moment, the update to the phone app will only be rolled out officially to Nexus and Android One devices. 

"If you already have Caller ID turned on, spam protection will be available on your phone once your app updates to the latest version," the company said on its Google+ post.

Users who don't want to wait can sideload the APK as long as they have Android 6.0 Marshmallow running on their device.