How to filter unwanted calls on your Pixel?

Picture: June Wan/ZDNET.

Spam is not reserved for emails. Whether it’s to sell you better insurance, convince you to vote for a party or an election, or threaten you, there has been a steady increase in unsolicited phone calls for several years.

The good news is that Google has provided its Pixel smartphones with very practical tools to fight against these phone spam. Working with Google’s frequently updated spam database, they prevent these calls from flooding your phone – or at least significantly reduce the number of them.

But Google is not going to do everything for you. To benefit from this service, you will have to modify the configuration of your Phone application. To do this, you will need a Pixel smartphone running Android 10 or later. Other smartphone models offer a similar service, but significantly less effective. If you don’t have a Pixel, check your Phone app settings to check the level of protection against spam.

So here’s how to configure your Pixel to receive fewer unwanted calls.

1. Open the phone settings

Open the Phone app on your Pixel, then tap on the three dots, in the vertical menu located in the upper right corner. In the context menu, press Parameters.

2. Check the spam options

In the application settings, go to Spam and call filtering > Call filtering.

3. Enable automatic call filtering

Activate the option Automatically filter calls.

Picture: Jack Wallen/ZDNET.

4. Refuse automatic calls

To have your phone automatically refuse calls from bots, go back to Settings > Spam and call filtering > Call filtering and select Potentially fake numbers. In the pop-up window that appears, activate the option again Automatically filter calls > Reject potentially fake numbers.

Picture: Jack Wallen/ZDNET.

How does it work?

Once you have activated these two options, when a potential spam arrives on your phone, it is automatically filtered. You can also apply this setting to numbers calling you for the first time (to be configured in the same place as potentially false numbers).

Then of course, it will not be possible to delete all phone spam. But, in my experience, this configuration significantly reduces their number.

Source: ZDNet.com