Android Call Screening

Android Call Screening is known by various terms such as Google's Call Screen, Google Pixel's Call Screen, Screen Call, etc. all the terms refer to the same things. Android Call Screening, or Google's Call Screen, is one of the best features of Pixel phones that lets you know who is calling you and why even before you answer the phone. This feature makes Google Assistant respond to phone calls and gives a transcript of the request on time.

Google Assistant lets you know who the caller is and the purpose of calling. Based on the response of Google Assistant that takes from the caller, you can decide even on more information, pick up the call or tell them you are unavailable. But remember that Call Screen or Android Call Screening only works for numbers not saved in your contacts list.

The "Call Screen" feature is only available in Google Pixel phones. But we can also expect this feature to be available on other Android smartphones in the future.

Where Call Screen is available

While all Pixel phones support the Call Screen feature, even Google regionally restricts the availability of this feature. It is automatically turned on in Pixel phones in the US. Manually you can enable in the below-listed countries:

• Australia
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Spain
• UK
• US

Note: Manually enabling Call Screen only works with the SIM card in the countries where this feature is available.

In which Pixel phone Call Screen feature is available

Google launched its first Call Screen feature in 2018 for the Pixel 3 phone. Later, it is provided in every Pixel phone, including the Pixel 6 Pro, the mid-range of Pixel 6a, and the Pixel 7 series. However, some older models of Pixel devices might need help to take advantage of each setting and feature.

How to Set Up Call Screen

There are two ways to set up Call Screen on your Android phone (Pixel phone), i.e., automatic and manual. Check out below both of them one by one:

Set up automatic call screening

First, note that the Call Screen feature doesn't work with a third-party call recorder and screen recorder apps. So, it is suggested to turn off such apps to use Call Screen on your Android phone.

1. Ensure that you are using the updated version of the Phone app on your device. If it needs an update, do that.
2. Open the Phone app on your phone.
   
3. Tap on the more option (three vertical dots) > Settings and then Spam and Call Screen.
   
4. Toggle on the option See caller and spam ID.
5. Tap on the Call Screen option.
   
6. Under the "Unknown call settings," choose the types of callers you want to screen.
7. If you want to screen them automatically, select Automatically screen. Decline robocalls. Some other options to choose from are:
   
   • Ring phone
   • Automatically screen. Decline robocalls.
   • Silently decline
8. Optional: One optional choice is to Save the Call Screen audio if you want to save the audio of screened calls.
   • If you enable the option "Save Call Screen audio," only caller-side audio gets recorded. Your call is not recorded.

Set up screen calls manually:

1. When you get a phone call on a Pixel phone, tap on the Screen call.
   
2. The Google Assistant screens the call automatically and asks who is calling and why. When the caller responds to Google Assistant, you will get a real-time transcript on your device.
   
3. You can decide what to do with the suggested response, like pick up the call or hang up. Here are some actions you can select and what the caller hears:
   • Is it urgent?: "Do you need to get a hold of them urgently?"
   • Report as spam: "Please remove this number from your mailing and contact list. Thanks, and goodbye."
   • I'll call you back: "They can't talk now, but they'll give you a call later. Thanks, and goodbye."
   • I can't understand: "It's difficult to understand you at the moment. Could you repeat what you just said?"

Not find an option to Screen Call manually:

If you do not see and find the "Screen Call" option manually on your device, you need to perform some additional settings to activate Call Screen. Follow the below-given steps:

1. Open your device's phone app, and tap on the more option (three vertical dots).
2. From the available option, tap Settings and then Call Screen.
3. To set up Call Screen on your phone, go through the steps on the screen. If you can't see any steps to follow, your phone can't support Call Screen.

Older Pixels and other phones

If you are using an older version of Pixel phones, i.e., below Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Plus version, you can also access the Call Screen function. You can screen a call each time a call comes from a number not saved in the phonebook list. Follow the below-given steps:

1. Open the Phone app of your device.
2. Tap the more option (three dots) present at the upper right.
3. Tap on the Settings option > Caller ID & spam.
   
4. Here, you will set up and enable/disable three call options:
   
   • See caller and spam ID: enabling this option identifies business and spam numbers;
   • Filter spam calls: enabling this option prevents you from suspecting spam calls to disturb you;
   • Verified Calls: enabling this option allows you to see the call ID of verified businesses.

Get Google's Screen Call Transcripts

Google saves the transcripts of all screened calls on your phone. You can review them later by getting them from your Pixel device. You will get it from call details of a screened call, and Pixel phones also save an audio record of a Screen Call. If you don't want to store transcripts records in your phone, delete them by removing the call log of that phone number.

To get the transcript of your Call Screen, go through the steps below:

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Go to the Recent section.
3. Tap on the screened call.
4. Now, tap on Transcript or Transcript and audio. If you can't see such options, tap on History and look for See transcript.

If you don't want to save the transcript and recording, you can delete them from your phone. Long-press the screened call, and when a popup appears, tap Delete.

How Android Call Screening (Call Screen) works

"Call Screening" works based on the number saved on your phone. It uses the contacts stored in your phone directory to choose whether to screen a call or not. It screens the call on numbers that are not saved or stored on your contacts list. If you want to not screen any number, save it in your phonebook.

The phone also identifies the spam calls and robocalls for the number stored in Google's spam database. But not all spam calls and robocalls are identified because such numbers are continuously increasing.

If you are using a call forwarding function on your phone, it is recommended not to use automatic call screening. Screened calls are not get forwarded.

Frequently asked questions related to Google's Call Screening or Call Screen:

How do I turn off Google call screening?

If you do not want to screen calls on your phone, you can stop it. To stop call screening, turn off the automatic call screening feature. Here is how you can: launch your Phone app and tap on the more option. Now, choose Settings and Spam and Call Screen; finally, turn off the See caller and spam ID. Tap on the Call Screen and make sure that the "Automatically screen. Decline robocalls." is not enabled.

Is there call screening on an iPhone?

No, there is no call screening feature available on an iPhone. However, there are third-party call-screening apps available in App Store. Besides, an iPhone has a filtering feature and a way to detect and block spam. You can turn on Silence Unknown Callers feature to stop phone numbers that are not saved on your contact list. Just open Settings and go to the Phone; now turn on Silence Unknown Callers.