Google’s focus on Android safety and security has been pretty evident this year. From partial screen recording and private spaces to protection against juice jacking attacks, Android 15 has been quite a reassuring iteration.
Google is now injecting some more energy into that endeavor with a couple of new features that tackle the threat of scam calls and bad apps. These features are appearing first on Pixel smartphones, and will subsequently make their way to other Android phones.
First in line is Google Play Protect live threat detection, which shows real-time alerts for apps that pose a threat. “Play Protect analyzes behavioral signals related to the use of sensitive permissions and interactions with other apps and services,” says Google.
The latest upgrade allows the system to send an alert as soon as it detects that an app is engaged in unusual activities. This notice will help users take necessary action, such as revoking access or uninstalling it, before a malicious app package does more damage.
The entire risk evaluation process relies on Android’s Private Compute Core, a safe processing environment that pushes for on-device analysis. Real-time alerts, originating from activity analysis, will initially focus on apps engaged in stalking behavior, and will soon expand to other types of harmful apps.
Next, we have enhanced scam detection for calls. Once again, this is an on-device system, one that relies on AI to look for signs of suspicious behavior, such as a scammer asking for money or a code transfer.
“If a caller claims to be from your bank and asks you to urgently transfer funds due to an alleged account breach, Scam Detection will process the call to determine whether the call is likely spam,” explains Google. This feature is now available to users in the U.S. as part of a phase testing program.
Less than a month ago, Google announced enhanced scam detection for the Messages app, with the intent of preventing fraudulent and package delivery scams. As far as call scam detection goes, it’s an opt-in feature.
It will be set to “off” by default, and only when users enable it, will the AI be able to do its job. The AI in question here is the Gemini Nano model, which is running locally on Pixel 9 series phones. However, it will expand to the Pixel 6 series, as well as all the subsequent models.
