Your Android phone can now identify spam callers

Unwanted phone calls can be a real nuisance. Remember running from bedroom to living room to pick-up your buzzing phone, just to realize that it's a spam call? Yes, that's what we are talking about. However, if you own a Nexus or Android One device, you can avoid such calls with spam recognition feature from Google.

The search giant has announced a new update to its Google Phone app that would automatically warn the Nexus and Android One smartphone owners about spam callers and let them block and report phone numbers associated with unwanted phone calls. This move suggests that the company will use data from users to recognize sources of spam calls.

Spam detection is a core part of Truecaller, a European startup that offers a smart caller app which is particularly popular in India and other emerging markets. Truecaller also provides caller ID for incoming calls using a directory of numbers that are ‘crowdsourced’ by its users.

Of course, Google is not the lone provider of such services. Apple is also getting in on the act with a feature inside the upcoming iOS 10 release that helps identify spam calls. This software is already available in beta for iOS users with a developer account but will be coming soon for everyone else.