Don't know why a business is calling? Google's phone app will soon let you know

[midian182]

In a nutshell: A lot of people don’t even answer incoming calls from numbers they don’t recognize these days, but it would help to know who is calling and for what reason. Thanks to an upcoming feature called Verified Calls in Google’s phone app for Android, you’ll soon know why businesses are trying to contact you before answering.

Android Police spotted a Google support page explaining how Verified Calls work. To be a partner in the program, businesses will need to share their phone number, the number of the person being called, and the call reason, such as" scheduling internet installation" or "food delivery time," with Google. This will be saved in a dedicated Verified Calls server before the information is sent to your Google phone app.

When a business calls you, your device will check the incoming call information against the stored data. If there’s a match, the app will show a Verified Call message along with the business name, logo, and reason for the call.

Google says that once the call is over, your phone number and the call reason will be deleted from its servers “within minutes.”

Verified Calls will be joining other features in Google's phone app

Not every business can become a Verified Caller. Each one must first pass a verification process by Google before its information can be added. The search giant says that all verification data sent between Google, the business, and your device is done so using a Transport Layer Security (TLS) encrypted network.

Verified calls will be enabled by default on the Google phone app, though users can opt-out using an option under Settings > Caller ID and Spam.

There’s no word yet on how many businesses have signed up for the Verified Calls program, which sounds like it could be a useful feature for those who don’t want to ignore every phone call they receive.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85785-dont-know-why-business-calling-google-phone-app.html

 

[p51d007]

Yeah, the "data" will be deleted. Uh huh.

 

[Arbie]

I already know why they're calling: my vehicle warranty is about to expire. I'm surprised that so many people in India would be that concerned for my well-being, but there it is.

 

[wiyosaya]

I wonder how long it will take gagme to sell the verified call moniker to anyone willing to pay enough for it.

We all know that gagme will collect and sell the reason for calling, the type of business, and the individual receiving it, however, there is certainly a substantial opportunity for abuse in this once gagme realizes they could just sell "verified caller" status to anyone they want.

Not to mention, this is certainly something that spammers will investigate exploiting.

IMO, this is just another BS effort by gagme to make themselves look good.

For me, verified caller means a message from a business that I regularly do business with left in my voice mail. I never answer calls from numbers I do not recognize; it is as simple as that. If the caller is legitimate, they will leave a message. Most calls that I skip do not do that and even some of the ones that do leave a message are spam calls.

For me, there is no need for this app. My voice mail works perfectly as it is.