Android: Samsung and Pixel

Android varies by who made the phone, so find your maker below. If it isn't a Samsung or a Pixel, try the Samsung steps first: most Android phones use Google's Phone app, and the menus are close.

The words in bold are exactly what's on the screen.

Checked in October 2026 against Samsung's and Google's own help pages. Samsung's scam detection during a call needs a Galaxy phone running Android 16 with One UI 8.5 or newer. Google's needs a recent Pixel. An older phone may not show every menu on this page, and that's the phone, not you.

Samsung Galaxy

Caller ID and spam protection

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Tap More options, the three dots in the corner, then Settings.
3. Tap Caller ID and spam protection and turn it on. You'll be asked to agree to terms first.
4. Turn on Block spam and scam calls, then choose one: - Only block high-risk scam calls. The gentler option, and the one to start with. - Block all spam and scam calls. Blocks more, including some calls you wanted.

What it costs you. The labeling depends on your carrier, and Samsung says outright that the feature "may not be available on all carriers or models." A call wrongly marked as spam is blocked without ringing.

Scam detection, on newer Galaxy phones

Newer Galaxy phones listen during the call and warn you with a tone or a vibration if it sounds like a scam. It's in the same Settings menu in the Phone app, under Scam detection.

Unlike Google's version, this one is on by default on the phones that have it. Worth knowing, because the two are often described as the same feature and they behave differently.

What it costs you. Samsung doesn't publish whether this listening happens on the phone or somewhere else. Google says plainly that its own version never leaves the device; Samsung makes no such statement, so we can't tell you it does. If that matters to you, that uncertainty is the cost.

The setting to think twice about

Block calls from unknown numbers lives under Settings, then Block numbers, in the Phone app.

It does exactly what it says: every number not in your contacts is blocked, with no screening and no question asked. That includes the clinic calling with your results, the hospital, a new pharmacy, and your grandson's new phone.

We'd leave it off, and use the screening options instead. If you do turn it on, put every number you care about in your contacts first, and check your blocked list weekly.

Google Pixel

Pixel can listen during the call and warn you while somebody is talking to you. The newest Galaxy phones can too, as the Samsung section above describes.

Scam Detection

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Tap More, then Settings, then Scam Detection.
3. Turn it on. It's off until you do.

Google's own words on where the listening happens: "No conversation audio or transcription is stored on the device, sent to Google servers or anywhere else."

What it costs you. Both sides hear a beep at the start of the call and every few minutes after, which is the phone announcing itself. If nobody warns you, the beeping sounds like a fault, and a legitimate caller may ask about it. Google also says plainly that it "is not 100% accurate," and that scammers change tactics constantly.

Google's version works only on Pixel phones, only with a SIM from certain countries, and only while you're in one of them.

Call Screen

Has the phone answer unknown callers for you, transcribe what they say in real time, and hang up by itself on a spam call.

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Tap More, then Settings, then Spam and Call Screen.
3. Tap Call Screen and choose a protection level.

What it costs you. Google says it "won't always fully understand and transcribe what a caller said," and that screened calls are not forwarded if you use call forwarding. Like Apple's version, it doesn't run while roaming.

Caller ID and spam

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Tap More options, then Settings, then Caller ID and spam.
3. Turn on See caller ID & spam.

This one is already on by default.

What it costs you, and it's a real difference from Scam Detection above. Google's words: "If someone outside your contact list calls you, or you call them, that phone number is sent to Google." The number leaves your phone. The conversation does not. Both statements are true, of two different features, and they are easy to mix up.

Text messages

In Google Messages: tap your profile picture, then Messages settings, then Protection & Safety, then Spam protection.

It's already on.

What it costs you. For messages that aren't encrypted, Google says spam detection "may ephemerally process the contents" and that links in a message are uploaded to Google to check them. So this is not a feature where everything stays on your phone, and you shouldn't assume it is.

What none of this does

A call faking a number you know still rings. Google has a limited feature that flags impersonated contacts, but it needs several Google apps and a messaging feature switched on, and it only covers callers reachable that way. Treat a familiar number on your screen as no proof at all.

And put your real numbers in your contacts, whichever settings you choose. The doctor, the pharmacy, the bank. It's the difference between a filter that helps and a filter that quietly costs you something.

Back to the series, or read how the call goes.