Verizon has released an update to its call filtering system that automatically categorizes and fights spam/robot calls and spam texts. Carrier customers are starting to see category labels like “Healthcare” or “Public Service” for more context about unknown callers.
Verizon announced the news in a press release today:
“It’s not just spam that is a nuisance: bot calls can be pests, too. That’s why we’re doing more to help customers know who’s calling with new call filtering improvements. When customers receive a call from a phone number not saved in their contact list The call filter will soon label calls with a category such as healthcare or public service. This new feature will help customers decide whether or not to answer the call.”
Verizon has also detailed its progress in dealing with unwanted text messages and calls. In 2021, after processing 267 billion texts, Verizon systems blocked 11 billion spam messages. The carrier blocked 26.5 billion robo/spam calls in total.
Verizon shared a reminder that it’s easy to report spam by forwarding it to 7726 (spam). iOS also provides an option to flag texts as junk when they are deleted.
While Verizon hasn’t just shared an exact timeline of when it rolls out new category labels for unknown callers, we’ve seen the feature go live for many of us here at 9to5Mac. If you haven’t seen it already, expect to see it soon.
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