Stop spam calls and texts on Android

Turn on spam call filtering

Most Android phones come with spam protection in the Phone app. Which steps you follow depends on whose Phone app you have.

Google Phone app (Pixel, Motorola and many others):

Phone › ⋮ › Settings › Spam and Call Screen

1. Open the Phone app and tap the three dots (⋮) at the top.
2. Tap Settings, then Spam and Call Screen (called Caller ID & spam on some phones).
3. Turn on See caller and spam ID and Filter spam calls.

Samsung Galaxy:

Phone › ⋮ › Settings › Caller ID and spam protection

1. In the Phone app, tap ⋮ then Settings.
2. Tap Caller ID and spam protection and turn it on.
3. Turn on Block spam and scam calls, then choose Block all spam and scam calls.

Menu names vary a little by phone maker and app version. If you can't find these, search "spam" in your Phone app's settings.

Let Call Screen answer unknown numbers

On Pixel phones and some others, Google can pick up calls from unknown numbers, ask who's calling, and show you a live transcript. You decide whether to answer.

Phone › ⋮ › Settings › Spam and Call Screen › Call Screen

1. Open Call Screen from the same settings page.
2. Choose a protection level. The strongest setting screens all unknown numbers automatically.
3. When a call comes in, you can also tap Screen call yourself.

Call Screen isn't on every Android phone or in every country. Samsung phones have their own call assistant on newer models.

Turn on spam protection for texts

Google Messages, the default texting app on most Android phones, flags likely spam and scam texts and warns you.

Messages › profile picture › Messages settings › Protection & Safety › Spam protection

1. Open Messages and tap your profile picture at the top right.
2. Tap Messages settings, then Protection & Safety.
3. Tap Spam protection and make sure Enable spam protection is on.

It's usually on already. Samsung Messages users can find a similar setting under Messages › ⋮ › Settings › Block numbers and spam.

Block unknown numbers (optional, stricter)

If you only want calls from people in your contacts, you can block everyone else. Callers you block won't ring at all, so use this only if you rarely get calls from new numbers.

1. Samsung: Phone › ⋮ › Settings › Block numbers › turn on Block calls from unknown numbers.
2. Google Phone app: Phone › ⋮ › Settings › Blocked numbers › turn on Unknown.

Report and block what still gets through

1. Spam text: tap Report spam on the warning, or long-press the conversation and choose Block. You can also forward it to 7726 (SPAM).
2. Spam call: in your call history, tap the number, then Block / report spam.

Don't reply to spam texts, even with STOP, unless you recognize the company. A reply tells the sender your number is real.