More than half of Americans reported receiving at least one scam call per day in 2024. To combat the rise of sophisticated conversational scams that deceive victims over the course of a phone call, we introduced Scam Detection late last year to U.S.-based English-speaking Phone by Google public beta users on Pixel phones.
We use AI models processed on-device to analyze conversations in real-time and warn users of potential scams. If a caller, for example, tries to get you to provide payment via gift cards to complete a delivery, Scam Detection will alert you through audio and haptic notifications and display a warning on your phone that the call may be a scam.
Part of the reason I haven’t yet moved away from Google services on my pixel is because of the call screening and anti-spam features. I screen unknown callers pretty much all the time so Google is listening if they call me anyway. I’m fine with that, knowing A. That the callers get a heads up that they’re talking to an AI and being recorded and B. That the ones who are human and trying to scam me generally don’t call back once they know the line is being actively recorded.
There’s no feature parity for this on any of the roms I would move to. Taking it a step further is unnecessary for me, and I’ll probably opt out. But I can fully understand why someone might want it (for their elderly family members for instance).
So far as I know, if your device uses their Gemini Nano LLM, it doesn’t reach back to their servers at all unless you OPT IN to the ‘Help service inprove’.
This feature though and a few other calling features has made me switch from iPhone single handedly, I was receiving 6-10 spam calls a day, now I see none because they’re screened in the background. It’s fantastic. I’m hooked on these Pixel features and only hope more move to becoming on device features with the ability to opt in to sending certain things off device.
So, I have several legacy Google Assistant compatible devices that do not work with Google’s new AI. As a result I haven’t switched over to Gemini for pretty much anything and I probably won’t. I’m currently building a Home Assistant system to take the place of Google Assistant when it finally sunsets but the going is slow (I have limited time to dedicate to that specifically at the moment). But for phone specific use, I’m taking the wait and see approach.
Home Assistant is such an awesome tool. I use it every day and shamefully have it linked to my Google Home so Gemini can turn on and off devices when prompted. Aside from that, I could just go the route of setting up a local LLM on my server and having Home Assistant be my new assistant on device so it doesn’t use Google at all.
I definitely recommend Home Assistant though, between the iPhone users and now myself on Android in our home, it makes everything appear native to the end user. Now I just use Zigbee and Zwave devices for everything since they’re more reliable and much cheaper.
My biggest issue right now is trying to figure out what I need/want to work vs things I don’t need. This list is one I’ve been keeping of things that I want it to do/be compatible with:
Weather Calendar News/RSS Feed Light Panel Media Panel Search Query Panel Use of Voice controls Singular touchscreen hub and android phone Works with Google home max speakers and Google nest mini speakers Chromecast equivalent functionality
It’s based on the things I use Google Assistant for daily or at the very least weekly. Most all of it can be done with an android tablet and my raspberry pi. But implementing it to be the way I want isn’t as simple (hasn’t been as simple for me) and I think that’s down to following guides for a lot of things that weren’t necessarily intended to work together cohesively.
You can get most of these features with a Google voice number and use it on any forwarded number
I have a Google voice number. You actually can’t. You can get spam filtering which works sort of but definitely not in the same way. I have never had a Voice call use Google’s call screening on graphene os for instance because it doesn’t work. I have graphene os running on a pixel 8 pro for the purposes of seeing what works and doesn’t work to see if I can ever daily drive it. I like graphene os a lot but rely too much on certain Google specific android features and that’s what my first comment was generally talking about.
This isn’t really anything new. https://signal.org/
Great, more AI bloat from Google that is now listening in on my calls? How do I disable?
Disable? No. But call everyone and everything cunts to poison the AI? Works for me.
Try removing via ADB, maybe?
Dumb as I am, I have a Pixel… the good thing though? Graphene OS is an option.
Last I checked it’s only an option on non Verizon pixels or has Verizon stopped fucking things over.
…is this some sort of joke my Nordic brain can’t understand? I need to go hug a councilman.
Kinda cool, on device and hopefully doesn’t call back to Google then I’m fine with it
And? Google’s been listening to you for years and not only in english.
More AI testing…
Most people here: Yes, I bought an advertiser’s device, hooked up in a million ways to that advertiser’s services, who’s well known for monitoring every aspect of the life of every person they can, but how dare they monitor this part?
I have graphing OS. I still get a ton of spam phone calls a day.
I’m apparently not enough of a software developer to figure out how to use SpamBlocker app. Anybody have any suggestions?
is this really official? seems like a fake site
when i had a pixel5a, i would get multiple scam calls a day without fail, and almost always at the exact same time. with my new non-pixel, non-samsung and non-iphone i dont get as many as before, google is most likely selling your data to the very same scammers. i got a OP12R instead.
That really doesn’t make any sense at all
I had a pixel 5 for 4 years and this wasn’t my personal experience.
I just looked up OP12R. Looks cool but comes with android. Are you using a different OS?
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If people need to be warned that they might be scammed by someone with an Indian voice asking them for gift cards, I think that they should be reclassified as AI mounts instead of people at that point.
People do become more senile as they get older, but they need to recognize it as well as prepare ahead of it in time. Who knows, maybe being an AI pet mount then wouldn’t be so bad, as long as it was with an offline localized LLM-like AI vetted openly and widely, not the transparent excuse for abuse this is.
get a load of this: those people are allowed to vote. they cant follow a phonecall but feel entitled to make decisions about their country. cant make that up. go water plants with mountain dew!
No, no, Fuck You, no!!
I will have no phone that employs “Counterfeit Conciousness” to listen to every fucking word of every fucking conversation leading to (among others):
- Further training
- Data retention of complete call content somewhere (waiting to be hacked)
- Possible reports to LEO (or worse)
- …whatever else I can’t think of just now…
Fuck right off with this.
This solidifies for me I will never own a Pixel phone.
And, if this becomes ubiquitous in Android, I’ll have to rethink that, too.
Doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily go to iOS; more likely completely rethink having a phone at all.
Fuck Google entirely. Don’t be Evil my ass.
🙄 🤡 🖕 🖕
Pixel is the only device that is supported by GrapheneOS (sadly), so you can own Pixel just for installing grapheneOS on it.
We got baited by piece of shit journos
It’s a local model. It doesn’t send data over.
If they want call data they can buy it straight from service providers anyway
We got baited by piece of shit journos
It’s an official announcement written by Google.
So, it’s on device, which negates many of the above worries. Does that change things? I’m all good with private AI, personally. Slippery slope and all, though…
Doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily go to iOS; more likely completely rethink having a phone at all.
Man cuts off nose to spite face; news at 11
Additionally, just fucking stop scammers from using fucking gift cards.
Surely it’s not that hard to detect that a gift card sold in Australia is being activated in Russia.
The gift card people have absolutely no motivation to fix this problem. They are making bank.
They need to be given motivation, through legal obligation.
Obviously.
This solidifies for me I will never own a Pixel phone.
Sounds like a pixel phone is exactly what u want just u want GrapheneOS on it.
Never recc that again, Linux phone or nothing
Bro what’s wrong with GrapheneOS?
Linux phones don’t really exist as a practical thing you can replace android with.
Fxtec pro comes loaded with the users choice of android, Ubuntu touch, sailfish or lineage. Choices exist. Though I’ll have to find a bank that has a working app or a good website
Fuck Android. Run Calyx or Graphene. it’s not difficult for any PC enthusiast.
unfortunately both of those have a very small list of supported devices.
This ☝️, which nobody tells you, and then about 20 other things nobody tells you except that one Indian vlogger who installs everything on everything.
TL;DW - if you have a relatively recent Pixel, you’re probably good. Everything else, get out the forum posts, an old POS windows box you don’t mind trashing and start finding out what doesn’t work. You might get some Samsung to mostly work ok.
And next phone same person buys is the latest same pay by installments piece of lock downed shit hardware. And continue to complain on lack of support for shitty hardware, shitty firmware and shitty software. Stop buying shit , custom roms have been around since android 1.1 . GOS and Calyx aren’t recent inventions either.
Lineage official supports a fuckton of devices as well. Including every single pixel made. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/ So quite well documented.
Which include pixels
yeah, it’s all about individual priorities
Can’t back up everything on my phone without root and cant root without wiping the phone so…
How have you managed to save things on your phone you cannot back up without root?
You’re just straight fucked if this is true. Don’t save permanent things to your phone. Your phone is transient. Phones are not permanent.
edit: so the “phone shit is permanent” crew came out early on this one? Bruh, your phone can be taken from you in an instant. It’s transient.
Still based on garbage android. Android is just shit pilled on shit.
Linux can’t manage the cellphone blobs yet. I’ll be using linux on a phone when it works well.
I mean, I would own a pixel phone… with linux on it…
Since it’s processed on device they don’t (necessarily) need to transmit and store your conversations in some central location. I guess theoretically this could be done in a secure way.
Counterfeit consciousness
I like that
