5 ms·

Google is working on a 'lookup' button for unknown callers on Android

15 points by mfiguiere 3y ago

ALittleLight 3y ago
I have extremely low confidence in Google's ability to do anything. This is a problem that's been around for years and they're getting around to telling people that they're working on this? This makes me think of how I get a notification for every spam text message. It's the most enraging thing. I'd rather just get the spam text and ignore it myself than get a notification that I got a spam text and have to ignore or read it. My point is - once upon a time Google had the confidence to develop features. Imagine getting a notification every time your Gmail gets spammed. You don't because Google is confident they can detect spam. I'm still getting spam text notifications on my Android because Google isn't confident and I think that's the same reason they haven't already solved unknown callers.
- Dorcy64 3y ago
  > I'm still getting spam text notifications on my Android because Google isn't confident and I think that's the same reason they haven't already solved unknown callers. I just checked my messages on my phone running Android 14 and it seems like there is a "spam and blocked" section, of messages that never made it to me and didn't come up as notifications. Would be nice if they gave me the ability to make spam-likely calls not ring or appear.
  - xnx 3y ago
    > Would be nice if they gave me the ability to make spam-likely calls not ring or appear. I'd mute all calls, but Android doesn't let you mute ring volume without also muting notification volume.
    - xethos 3y ago
      Then set your ringtone to a "silence.ogg" track. All calls play the ringtone still, but the ringtone is dead air - and this has no effect on notifications.
  - gs17 3y ago
    They don't come up as "real" notifications, but I get a silent notification that something was sent to the spam SMS inbox.
- gs17 3y ago
  That's not just Google. My university uses Outlook and however they've set it up, I don't get spam, I get an email that I got a spam email. If I want to see the filtered email, I have to click a link in that email to a different webpage which takes a long time to load and requires multiple steps to view the message. The email also is sort of a digest so it's delayed, which is very frustrating when it decides a colleague's urgent message was spam.
- slake 3y ago
  And you know Google is using it's spam filter only so that they become the gatekeeper to your email. It's like SMS. First google added a spam filter for text messages and used our help to train it. Now I get "Verified by google" spam messages from companies that I didn't give my number to. Beware the free spam filter it's primarily a way for google to sell you more verified ads.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
syngrog66 3y ago
sounds like an optimization on a workflow I already have to do manually all the time: who called me from phone number X? related: its frustrating/farsical that phone number search is still not a SolvedProblem in 2024
- gregmac 3y ago
  The vast majority of the time, though, the spam calls are spoofing numbers. So even when you look it up, if it actually has a hit (IME most don't), it's almost certainly not what the call is. Extremely few cases exist that I ever would stop whatever I'm doing to take an unsolicited voice call, except from close family/friends. I can't believe this was ever a thing society accepted.
michael_vo 3y ago
Why don't we use another protocol that isn't so unsafe? Why are we still on SMS. Actually once you start travelling outside the USA you realize that everyone uses whatsapp for texting friends and businesses. No one uses SMS. At least with whatsapp you get the profile picture and a bio - which is a little more trustworthy. Such a protocol should allow people to report whether this number is trustworthy or a scam.
- xnx 3y ago
  Is SMS related to spam calls (which might involve caller id spoofing)?
  - BuildTheRobots 3y ago
    SMS also suffers massively from sender id spoofing and quite happily lets senders use an arbitrary text string as the "from" address.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
  > Why don't we use another protocol that isn't so unsafe? Why are we still on SMS. Because everything else is worse. > Actually once you start travelling outside the USA you realize that everyone uses whatsapp for texting friends and businesses. Case in point. Maybe giving a communications monopoly to a single private company that's completely unaccountable isn't a great idea? This is how we get https://xkcd.com/743/ https://xkcd.com/743/
  - michael_vo 3y ago
    I agree it's not a good idea to have that power. I wanted to highlight that the user experience is better than SMS. For example when I add a phone number I have a higher level of trust that it's a verified business. Having read status feature is also good. Last online tells me if this is an active business number.

15 points by mfiguiere 3y ago

I have extremely low confidence in Google's ability to do anything. This is a problem that's been around for years and they're getting around to telling people that they're working on this? This makes me think of how I get a notification for every spam text message. It's the most enraging thing. I'd rather just get the spam text and ignore it myself than get a notification that I got a spam text and have to ignore or read it. My point is - once upon a time Google had the confidence to develop features. Imagine getting a notification every time your Gmail gets spammed. You don't because Google is confident they can detect spam. I'm still getting spam text notifications on my Android because Google isn't confident and I think that's the same reason they haven't already solved unknown callers.

Dorcy64 3y ago
> I'm still getting spam text notifications on my Android because Google isn't confident and I think that's the same reason they haven't already solved unknown callers. I just checked my messages on my phone running Android 14 and it seems like there is a "spam and blocked" section, of messages that never made it to me and didn't come up as notifications. Would be nice if they gave me the ability to make spam-likely calls not ring or appear.
- xnx 3y ago
  > Would be nice if they gave me the ability to make spam-likely calls not ring or appear. I'd mute all calls, but Android doesn't let you mute ring volume without also muting notification volume.
  - xethos 3y ago
    Then set your ringtone to a "silence.ogg" track. All calls play the ringtone still, but the ringtone is dead air - and this has no effect on notifications.
- gs17 3y ago
  They don't come up as "real" notifications, but I get a silent notification that something was sent to the spam SMS inbox.
gs17 3y ago
That's not just Google. My university uses Outlook and however they've set it up, I don't get spam, I get an email that I got a spam email. If I want to see the filtered email, I have to click a link in that email to a different webpage which takes a long time to load and requires multiple steps to view the message. The email also is sort of a digest so it's delayed, which is very frustrating when it decides a colleague's urgent message was spam.
slake 3y ago
And you know Google is using it's spam filter only so that they become the gatekeeper to your email. It's like SMS. First google added a spam filter for text messages and used our help to train it. Now I get "Verified by google" spam messages from companies that I didn't give my number to. Beware the free spam filter it's primarily a way for google to sell you more verified ads.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

syngrog66 3y ago

sounds like an optimization on a workflow I already have to do manually all the time: who called me from phone number X? related: its frustrating/farsical that phone number search is still not a SolvedProblem in 2024

gregmac 3y ago
The vast majority of the time, though, the spam calls are spoofing numbers. So even when you look it up, if it actually has a hit (IME most don't), it's almost certainly not what the call is. Extremely few cases exist that I ever would stop whatever I'm doing to take an unsolicited voice call, except from close family/friends. I can't believe this was ever a thing society accepted.

michael_vo 3y ago

Why don't we use another protocol that isn't so unsafe? Why are we still on SMS. Actually once you start travelling outside the USA you realize that everyone uses whatsapp for texting friends and businesses. No one uses SMS. At least with whatsapp you get the profile picture and a bio - which is a little more trustworthy. Such a protocol should allow people to report whether this number is trustworthy or a scam.

xnx 3y ago
Is SMS related to spam calls (which might involve caller id spoofing)?
- BuildTheRobots 3y ago
  SMS also suffers massively from sender id spoofing and quite happily lets senders use an arbitrary text string as the "from" address.
yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
> Why don't we use another protocol that isn't so unsafe? Why are we still on SMS. Because everything else is worse. > Actually once you start travelling outside the USA you realize that everyone uses whatsapp for texting friends and businesses. Case in point. Maybe giving a communications monopoly to a single private company that's completely unaccountable isn't a great idea? This is how we get https://xkcd.com/743/ https://xkcd.com/743/
- michael_vo 3y ago
  I agree it's not a good idea to have that power. I wanted to highlight that the user experience is better than SMS. For example when I add a phone number I have a higher level of trust that it's a verified business. Having read status feature is also good. Last online tells me if this is an active business number.