Pixel Phone app real-time Scam Detection is rolling out in Beta

Remember that awesome real-time Scam Detection feature Google demoed at I/O 2024 back in May? Well, it’s finally rolling out to Google’s phones from Pixel 6 and newer – in the beta version of the Google Phone app, anyway. This is a pretty big-time addition to the Pixel’s anti-spam arsenal, and it’s going to make it way harder for scammers to fool users.

Scam Detection uses some seriously clever tech to listen for what Google calls conversation patterns commonly associated with scams. Think of it as having a trained AI assistant in your pocket that can spot a scammer a mile away. If it detects something fishy, it’ll give you an audio and haptic alert, basically nudging you to pay attention. Then, you’ll see a visual warning on your screen that says Likely scam along with a handy End call button. Of course, if it’s a false alarm, you can mark it as Not a scam, too.

How it works in a real-world scenario

Let’s say a scammer calls pretending to be from your bank, claiming your account’s been compromised and urging you to transfer money immediately. Google’s new real-time Scam Detection will analyze the conversation as it is happening and, based on the caller’s language and tactics, determine if it’s likely a scam.

Google says that all of this happens on your device and that no conversation audio or transcription is stored on the device, sent to Google servers or anywhere else, or retrievable after the call. Plus, the feature is off by default, so you have complete control over whether you use it or not. You can even disable it during a specific call if you need to. On the Pixel 9 series, Scam Detection is powered by Gemini Nano, Google’s latest on-device AI model. Older Pixel devices (Pixel 6 – Pixel 8a) use “other robust Google on-device machine learning models.”

Roll-out schedule

For now, Scam Detection is rolling out to English-speaking Phone by Google public beta users in the U.S. with a Pixel 6 or newer device. If you’re eligible, you can enable it by going to your Google Phone app Settings > Scam Detection. If you aren’t yet in the Beta subset of users, you can get in on that right here.