Sometimes, the most annoying thing about smartphones is that they’re still phones at the end of the day. If some spammer wants to call or text you (and everyone else) about your car’s extended warranty, there’s almost nothing stopping them. However, there’s still hope, as there are a few ways that you can cut down on the amount of spam calls and texts on your Pixel, Galaxy, or other Android phone.
Blocking spam the old way
Let’s start with the traditional ways of handling spam calls and texts on Android. For starters, if you’re in the United States, you’ll want to make sure that your phone number has been added to the FTC’s “Do Not Call” registry. This will somewhat cut down on unwanted calls, but many spammers will knowingly risk penalties by not checking the registry before calling your number.
Beyond that, any time you receive an unwanted call or text message, you can simply block the number from contacting you again. For example, in the Google Phone app, you can long-press on a number in your recent calls list and select “Block.” Similarly, in Google Messages, when viewing a spam message, you can press the three-dots menu button in the top-right, choose “Details,” and tap “Block & report spam” to prevent future messages.
By reporting spam, you can even help prevent others from getting those unwanted calls and messages. Over the years, some smartphones have gotten smarter about how they handle phone calls and texts, automatically blocking any known spammers.
That said, these anti-spam systems are far from perfect. Once they start getting caught, a spammer can simply buy a different phone number and continue their assault. To truly cut down on spam calls, your best option is to take a more proactive approach.
Protect your number with Incogni
Rather than merely blocking the spammers, what if you could prevent them from obtaining your phone number in the first place? That’s exactly what Incogni is designed to do. Go to their website now to get started.
Instead of calling every possible phone number on the planet, many spammers will buy lists of valid phone numbers that belong to real people. Around the world, there are “data brokers” that obtain your personal information and sell it to anyone willing to buy. For example, this is how “people search” websites are able to have accurate details about individuals.
Incogni works hard on your behalf to identify when any of these brokers are selling your information and formally request its removal. This helps prevent your phone number from being sold to spammers or anyone else who may want to misuse it.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to ask these data brokers to remove your information and never share it again. If they can find your details again, they can be relisted and sold once more. That’s what makes an Incogni subscription so valuable. Incogni keeps tabs on the field of data brokers and repeatedly requests to have your information removed, ensuring your privacy remains protected and your phone receives significantly fewer spam calls. Use code “9to5Google” to get a 55% discount.
So, if you’d like to make “receive fewer spam calls” one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2024, now is the perfect time to pick up a subscription to Incogni. Right now, our readers can enjoy an exclusive 55% discount when purchasing an annual plan by using code “9to5Google” at checkout. Incogni even offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can see for yourself what happens when spammers can’t buy your phone number (and other details!) anymore.
Meanwhile, to keep up with the latest trends in digital privacy and security, you can follow Incogni on X/Twitter.
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How to prevent spam calls and texts on your Android phone with Incogni
