Spam Calls

Google Voice has to be considered one of the strangest services that the company provides. It’s been in existence forever and has a few deeply devoted users, but somehow it feels like the type of product that’s always on the hit list, threatening to vanish at the whim of Google.

A huge part of that is due to how much of an afterthought Voice is, and while we every now and then see it pick up a brand-new ability or multiple features, it’s nothing short of infuriating to see Google’s Phone app add functionality after feature while Voice is left out. Thankfully, Google is finally catching up, giving Voice the potential to notify users about spam calls.

We can’t really blame you if you can’t recall a moment when Mobile didn’t notify you regarding calls from numbers associated with spam, as the app has done so since the mid of 2016, preceding even the original Pixel phones.

Whilst Google should be intimidated that it has taken this long to introduce these very same features to Voice, we’ve learned to appreciate what we can get from this app.

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Google says it is indeed applying the same techniques for Voice as it does for Mobile spam call recognition, so we don’t presume to see a substantial change in false positives/negatives, and, for what it is worth, the current system has performed very well. However, if that fails, people can always manually select a number as not spam, also Voice will recall that preference.

You can send these calls directly to voicemail using the “filter spam” alternative in Voice settings, and even if you don’t, Google will display “Suspected spam caller” to notify you when you receive a call from questionable numbers.

The availability officially starts today and is expected to reach all Voice customers by mid of January, although we’re already seeing spam or unwanted messages in our Voice call logs, back a few weeks.