Hatred of spam calls and robocalls is one of the few certainties of life you could put right up there with the inevitability of death and taxes. They’re universally despised, while also metastasizing into a nearly out-of-control problem, which is why spam call-blocking mobile apps and services have begun to proliferate — and even the carriers are, slowly, starting to step up.
Verizon, which said today it estimates customers will have been spared from more than 1.5 billion robocalls this year thanks to its help, is the latest.
Now that the Federal Communications Commission has said definitively it’s ok for carriers to block suspected spam calls by default, Verizon says that customers starting today will be auto-enrolled in the carrier’s free spam blocking service.
Verizon’s Call Filter service will be available first for Android users, managed through a companion Call Filter app (iOS users, you need to install that app and then opt-in to the service). At that point, users can enjoy the serenity of most suspected spammy calls going straight to voicemail, so you don’t have to even worry about them at all.
There's a Call Filter app available for iOS devices that can be downloaded today. Verizon says that 'most' Android devices come preloaded with the Call Filter app and a 10-day free trial of the. With my Verizon purchased Pixel 3 I can't even see the app in the play store. A VZW rep sent me the play store link to the app but it says it's not compatible with my device. If I go to Call Filter through the My Verizon app I only have the paid version available. So, no work here either.
There’s also a premium version of the service, Call Filter Plus, that costs $2.99 per month and comes with extra features like showing the caller name and the ability to create lists of spam callers. As far as the free version of the service goes, however, this is what Verizon says you can expect:
- If you get a call from a number that’s been reported as spam, that call will be blocked and sent to voicemail.
- You might also see calls labeled as “Potential Spam,” in comparison to the certainty of the first kind of spam calls we just mentioned above. In this case, instead of a name showing up on the screen, you’ll see the words “Potential Spam” and the option to turn on blocking for such calls.
Download the Call Filter app for Android here. iOS users, head here.
If you have a modern smartphone, there's a good chance you deal with spam on a fairly regular basis. Indeed, for some, 'robocalls' and other similar scam calls are a daily (if not hourly) annoyance.
Some phone makers, such as Google, have rolled out protective measures to help customers better detect these fake calls on the phone software side, but similar free options on the carrier side are beginning to crop up now.
Today, Verizon rolled out a free 'Call Filter' service to both iOS and Android users. In short, the Filter will warn you ahead of time that a given call might be spam - if it detects such a call, you'll be given options to block the number, report it, or ignore the warnings and take it anyway.
It should be noted that the specific capabilities of Call Filter will vary from phone to phone. As you can see above, the iPhone XS Max offers 'spam lookup' functionality whereas Samsung's Galaxy S10e does not.
As robocalls become increasingly common, features like Call Filter from major US carriers will become all the more important. The fact that this feature is completely free is a nice touch, and hopefully, it will prevent Verizon users (particularly those who aren't as tech-savvy as others) from getting scammed quite as often.
Interested in trying Call Filter out? Just download its dedicated iOS or Android app to do so.