Summary
- Google revealed, and then subsequently removed, a March 2025 release timeline for its Scam Detection features on Pixel phones.
- The Scam Detection feature, which has undergone a three-month beta test, utilizes on-device machine learning (including Gemini Nano on the Pixel 9) to analyze calls and messages for fraudulent patterns. References to it coming in March were found in a post about Gemini Nano.
- Despite the confusion surrounding the release date, the extended beta testing and the upcoming March Pixel Feature Drop suggest that Google intends to roll out these enhanced scam protection capabilities to Pixel users in the near future.
Your Google Pixel offers several protective measures to safeguard you from spam, including the likes of Hold for me and Call Screening that can help you avoid unnecessary conversations. Similarly, to combat scams, Google announced two new Scam Detection features back in November, however, those have since been stuck in beta.
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Google’s Scam Detection features scan phone calls in real-time to spot signs of fraud, essentially by identifying “conversation patterns commonly associated with scams.” After testing the feature in beta for over three months, it looks like it might be ready for prime time.
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As pointed out by 9to5Google, a recent Google blog post talking about Gemini Nano and its ability to power AI functions without the need for an active internet connection also dropped a release timeline for Scam Detection to hit stable.
“Scam Detection in calls and messages arrives on Pixel phones in March 2025,” is what the blog post read until recently. Surprisingly, though, mentions of the feature arriving have since been removed from the blog post, and it almost looks like Google wasn’t supposed to announce the feature today, realized that it messed up, and deleted the reference. Wayback machine wasn’t able to scrape the blog post quickly enough, but ironically, Google Search did, as seen in the screenshot below.
Scam Detection might arrive with the March Pixel Feature Drop
The fact that the feature’s arrival was mentioned in a post about Gemini Nano makes sense. Scam Detection runs completely on-device, with no audio or transcriptions sent or stored to Google’s online servers. With the Pixel 9, Scam Detection will run completely on Gemini Nano with multimodality. The preventive features will also be available on all other Pixel devices, including the Pixel 6 series, though powered by “other Google machine learning models.”
The feature will run via the Phone app. Even so, it is currently unclear if it will make its way to other Android devices that support on-device AI. Scam Detection for calls will be disabled by default, and users will be able to enable it by heading to Phone app → Settings → Scam Detection.
Elsewhere, in the context of scams via messages, Google Messages will be able to analyze texts that pertain to package delivery and job offers. If it suspects a message to be a targeted scam, it will move the message to your spam folder and push out a warning. Detection via Messages, too, is completely on-device, though we’re uncertain if it is powered by Gemini Nano.
While Google walking back on the March 2025 release timeline does create uncertainty, Scam Detection being in beta for over three months, paired with March being a Pixel Feature Drop month does give us hope regarding the feature’s imminent arrival.
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