Google's Phone app will tell you why businesses are calling

[SansVarnic]

Summary

Apparently Google will be adding a feature to the calling app to help better identify as to why a business is calling you. I am not sure how they purport to do this but in general bussiness will be able to become "verified" through a process that tell the system who and what they do so that information is presented to the receiver.

 

Quotes

Quote

 If you’re using Google’s Phone app, you’ll soon be able to know why a business establishment is calling before you even pick up.

Quote

Businesses that choose to go through and pass Google’s verification process will be able to send the dedicated Verified Calls server their phone number, your phone number and their reason for calling, such as “Scheduling your internet installation” or “Your food delivery.” Google will then show all that information on your Phone app.

Quote

The feature is switched on by default, but it won’t work if you haven’t added your phone number to your Google Account

My thoughts

I am not 100% sure how I feel about this but if it helps to better identify Spam and Scam calls than I am all for it. 

I have a Samsung phone so I get pre-installed Hiya and it does a pretty fair job as is but its not full proof of course.

 

Sources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/google-s-phone-app-will-tell-you-why-businesses-are-calling/ar-BB1631TY?ocid=msedgntp

[minibois]

Cool, now I know why I wouldn't answer my phone

Caller ID to the next level

[Mad153]

Considering call screening still isn't a thing on pixel devices in Europe, we'll see this here in about 10 years time.

[Rybo]

I'm generally against Google getting Yet More™ of my personal information nowadays (even if they Do Not Collect Any Personally Identifiable Information™®), so I hope this is an opt-in feature.  

[TempestCatto]

As a millennial it's very simple. Phone rings? Don't answer. If it's important, they'll leave a message. If not, they've already fucked off.

[SansVarnic]

2 minutes ago, Rybo said:

I'm generally against Google getting Yet More™ of my personal information nowadays (even if they Do Not Collect Any Personally Identifiable Information™®), so I hope this is an opt-in feature.  

From the article it says it is on by default, so I am going to assume it is able to be turned off in settings.

1 minute ago, TempestCatto said:

As a millennial it's very simple. Phone rings? Don't answer. If it's important, they'll leave a message. If not, they've already fucked off.

Yeah pretty much.

[Guest]

Such a great idea. I used to work for a healthcare company, we call up people when we need their details and inform them about their surgery and our decision regarding funding. So many people simply don't trust a blocked ID, and we can't use it for obvious reasons. It's usually a pretty important call, used to hate it when people hung up or refuse to give their details just because its a blocked ID. 

3 hours ago, TempestCatto said:

As a millennial it's very simple. Phone rings? Don't answer. If it's important, they'll leave a message. If not, they've already fucked off.

No one checks their voicemail. Pick up yo dam phone its not scary. 

[lewdicrous]

20 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

No one checks their voicemail. Pick up yo dam phone its not scary. 

You obviously don't hear the voices coming from the other side, I mean, there's no one else in my house but I still hear people talking when I pick up the phone... /s

[captain_to_fire]

I don’t think it’ll help against pranksters. Maybe against telemarketers it might. 

 

[xAcid9]

So like Truecaller app? 

[Arika]

App: hey <company> is apparently trying to call you about your account, there is an issue

 

Actual call:  hey, we want to upsell you useless shit. 

 

 

If they have to be verified to use this service, there had better be a way for the receiver to confirm if the company selected the correct option for why they are calling, otherwise it will absolutely be abused

[strajk-]

I just use the community driven app Should I Answer? Works great here in Switzerland, dunno about the rest of the world. 

Set it up in a way that it automatically "blocks" any calls or messages from negatively rated numbers or Anonymous ones. 

 

Block in quotation marks because this app acts as a replacement to the default Phone App which in turn just won't show the call at all if the number rates negative in the filtering you set up. 

 

You can also set it up in a way that you still see the number calling you, simply won't ring or give a notification that a negatively rated number called, giving you the option to whitelist it. 

 

Companies here even started using that community service to get verified, shadier companies go there and review bomb it positively which so far always backfires because the community review bombs it negative even harder. 

 

I never checked but I think it's even possible to add patterns into the blacklist, for example, block all incoming events that start with the number "043" which here in Switzerland are usually Callcenters. 

[TetraSky]

Telemarketers will totally find ways to make you think it's not a spam call to make you answer for once, isn't it.

[SansVarnic]

1 hour ago, RorzNZ said:

Pick up yo dam phone its not scary. 

I tell my wife this all the time. We grew up with land lines its nothing new, lol.

 

29 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

Telemarketers will totally find ways to make you think it's not a spam call to make you answer for once, isn't it.

Unfortunetly your correct, they will find a way, they always do.

[suicidalfranco]

can't you just:

pick up

hear half sentence

end call

[spartaman64]

9 hours ago, RorzNZ said:

Such a great idea. I used to work for a healthcare company, we call up people when we need their details and inform them about their surgery and our decision regarding funding. So many people simply don't trust a blocked ID, and we can't use it for obvious reasons. It's usually a pretty important call, used to hate it when people hung up or refuse to give their details just because its a blocked ID. 

No one checks their voicemail. Pick up yo dam phone its not scary. 

and if its a robocaller/advertiser and you pick up they will add your number to their list and you will get spammed by 20 phone calls everyday happened to me once until i stopped picking up and after a while i guess they removed my number and i stopped getting phone calls

[MageTank]

10 hours ago, RorzNZ said:

No one checks their voicemail. Pick up yo dam phone its not scary. 

 

8 hours ago, SansVarnic said:

I tell my wife this all the time. We grew up with land lines its nothing new, lol.

Sadly, you gotta be more careful nowadays. They are getting clever, calling in and asking people specifically worded questions to record your voice, then attempt to use the recordings as proof that you approved of something. There was a lady on our local news station here in Columbus Ohio that got scammed like this because they called her, used very specific questions like "with whom am I speaking?" to get her first/last name along with random questions to get the lady to say "yes" or "no" and used it to phish information through her mobile carrier. Why they'd do it is beyond me, but it's crazy that they are even doing it in the first place.

 

If I answer an unknown call, I won't utter a single sound until I hear someone speak first, and then I'll demand they tell me who they are before I attempt to continue. If it seems off at all, I'll hang up.

 

EDIT: Found the news article: https://fox8.com/news/can-you-hear-me-phone-scam-reported-in-ohio/.

[Bombastinator]

10 hours ago, captain_to_fire said:

I don’t think it’ll help against pranksters. Maybe against telemarketers it might. 

 

For a while anyway.  With limited success for some telemarketers.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, spartaman64 said:

and if its a robocaller/advertiser and you pick up they will add your number to their list and you will get spammed by 20 phone calls everyday happened to me once until i stopped picking up and after a while i guess they removed my number and i stopped getting phone calls

That is true, but they don't usually have blocked numbers. If its a foreign caller then I usually don't pick up. 

 

[cold drew]

When I had a Pixel phone earlier this year one of the things I loved was that the Google Assistant would answer calls from “suspicious” or unknown calls for me before sending the call to me.

[williamcll]

Don't care, you're not getting off my call blacklist.