Hands up if you get a lot scam/spam calls on your mobile? Keep your hand up if you also have to deal with a lot of call centres for banks, centrelink etc so you can do life admin.
If you have a Google Pixel 8 Pro phone (and some older Pixel phones) you can use two features to deal with both of those problems.
Call Screen – for unknown numbers and Spam/Scam Calls
If you have had your mobile phone number for a long time then you probably get a lot of spam/scam calls.
Call Screen is a button you can press on screen when a call pops up on screen. I use it for all unknown numbers as they could be scam/spam calls.
Google answers the call for you and usually the spammer/scammer hangs up immediately. Google transcribes what callers say to you on your screen so you can decide whether to answer the call eg: it could be a work colleague whose number you haven’t saved.
You can screen calls automatically on all Pixel phones in the US.
You can screen calls manually on Pixel phones in Australia and some other countries.
Hold For Me – no more listening to call centre music
Hold for Me is another awesome feature only available on some Google Pixel Phones.
Google advises:
Hold for Me works on the Pixel 3 and newer models in Australia, Canada, Japan, the UK, and the US. To use Hold for Me, you need the latest version of the Phone app. Hold for Me is only available in English.
If you dial the number for a call centre, choose the menu numbers you want, you can then have the phone hold for you so you don’t have to listen to the horrible hold music or boring corporate promotions on loop.
Once a call centre staff member answers the call, your Pixel phone will alert you to talk to them.
