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Hate spam calls? Try the new Google Phone app beta
- There is a new Google Phone app beta that will give you early access to new features.
- The most prominent new feature is that suspected spam calls will no longer make your phone ring at all.
- While the beta does have new features, it is considered unstable until an official rollout.
Back in 2016, the Google Phone app began warning you of a suspected spam caller by flashing the screen bright red and labeling the call as “Suspected spam caller.” However, you still get the call and have to decide whether or not to answer.
Google plans to eliminate those last few steps entirely with the next official rollout of the app, via 9to5Google. In the upcoming version, you won’t get notified at all; when a suspected spam caller contacts you, it will go straight to voicemail. The phone won’t ring, and you won’t be alerted at all that someone is calling you.
However, you’ll still be able to see that the call happened by checking out the call history, and the voicemail (if the robot system even leaves one) will still show up when you visit the voicemail tab.
It will be some weeks before this feature makes it out to the general population, but you can try it right now by signing up for the Google Phone beta. This beta program is new and gives you early access to all the recent upgrades. However, the app could be unstable so don’t use it if you are not ready for a bug here and there.
If you own a Pixel, Nexus, or Android One device, you already have the Google Phone app as your default dialer. If you want to use the Google dialer instead of the dialer that came with your non-Google device, click the button below. And if you want to be a beta tester for the app, click here.