Your Android may already screen calls. Find out before you pay for anything.
On a supported Pixel, Google screens calls for free and no app will beat it. On most other Android phones you get caller ID and nothing that answers. Which one you are holding changes the entire answer.
We make one of these five. It is also the one that can conflict with a Pixel's built-in screening — so that warning is at the top of this page, not buried in it.
1 · Which Android?
2 · Where are you?
One unknown call. Three different apps.
"Spam blocker" is used for three unrelated behaviours, and picking the wrong one is why people still miss the courier. Here is the same call — an unlisted number, no reports against it — reaching all three.
It rings, unlabelled
Caller ID needs a prior report. Nobody had flagged this number, so there was nothing to display and the phone simply rang.
Silenced, and you never knew
It was the clinic with your results. A blocklist cannot tell a stranger from a spammer, so it treated both the same way.
Identified, then handed to you
No database needed. She asked, wrote it down, and flagged it as important — so you knew the same afternoon.
Caller ID needed a prior report and had none. Blocking silenced a call it could not identify. Only screening asked — which is the only method that works on a number nobody has seen before.
Five options, and who each is wrong for
Ordered by how much of the call they take off your hands. Free options first where they win.
Phone by Google
Built in · free
On supported Pixel phones, automatic Call Screen answers selected calls, asks who is calling, shows a live transcript, and hangs up on what it judges to be spam. Manual screening reaches more countries and some non-Pixel devices.
Answers and asks, free of charge
Live and saved transcript
Automatic: Pixel, 5 countries only
Conflicts with call forwarding
Pick it if › you have a supported Pixel. Nothing paid beats free.
Skip it if › you are not on a Pixel, or you need outbound calls.
OsmO
7 days free · US & Canada
Answers the calls you do not, asks who is calling and why, takes a message, and writes you a summary with the full transcript. It also places calls for you — several at once — and waits in hold queues.
Answers on your existing number
Places outbound calls, in parallel
Summary, transcript and recording
Needs forwarding · US and Canada
Pick it if › nothing on your phone answers, and you want calls made too.
Skip it if › you genuinely enjoy answering every call yourself.
Truecaller
Assistant needs Premium
The largest caller-ID database there is, plus spam SMS filtering. Decline a call to the Premium Assistant and it asks the caller questions, then shows you who it was and why they rang.
Unmatched name-before-it-rings
Filters spam texts as well as calls
Assistant: Premium, some countries
Public directory · never calls out
Pick it if › you want a name on screen before you decide.
Skip it if › you would rather not be in a searchable directory.
Hiya Spam Blocker
Basic free · Premium screening
Caller ID, basic blocking and spam reporting on the free tier. Premium adds a Call Screener that asks who is calling, plus fraud detection and advanced blocking.
Free caller ID and basic blocking
Call Screener requires Premium
Android: single active SIM only
Never places a call for you
Pick it if › you want identification without a directory being the product.
Skip it if › you are dual-SIM, or you want the call handled.
RoboKiller
Subscription
Spam filtering with audio fingerprinting, Call Screening that asks unknown callers to identify themselves, and Answer Bots that keep robocallers talking to a recording.
Answer Bots waste spammers' time
Audio fingerprinting on known spam
Screening tied to plan level
Never places a call for you
Pick it if › revenge appeals more than a polite screening question.
Skip it if › you want messages taken and real calls handled.
Nine questions worth asking
Where a row needs a condition, the condition is in the cell. No "configured incoming-call handling".
Checked against each vendor's own product and support pages, August 2026. Device support, country availability, carrier requirements and prices change — confirm on the current Google Play screen.
No app catches every spam call
Google says so about its own product, and it is true of ours. Anyone promising otherwise is selling you something. Four limits worth knowing before you install anything.
Nothing catches everything
Google states that not all spam and robocalls can be detected. Treat any published block-rate as marketing, ours included.
Transcripts can be incomplete
Speech recognition drops words on bad lines and strong accents. Read a summary as a good record, not a legal one.
Available is not the same as working
An app can install and still do nothing: screening depends on device, country, carrier, SIM count and plan.
A label is not an identity
Caller ID guesses from prior reports. Spoofed numbers borrow a clean reputation, which is why asking beats looking up.
Google reads a script. Caroline has a conversation.
Call Screen is genuinely good and genuinely free — and it is a recording that plays one fixed line, then hands you a blob of text. It cannot ask a second question, so anything that needs a follow-up dies on the doorstep. Same delivery driver, both phones.
Recorded voice
"Hi, the person you're calling is using a screening service. Please say your name and why you're calling."
I'm at the gate with a parcel and the code isn't working —
No follow-up. It cannot answer him.
Your phone starts ringing instead.
It cannot ask a second question. One recorded prompt, then it listens. A courier who needs a gate code, a clinic offering two slots, anyone mid-sentence — all of it is beyond a script.
It never speaks for you. No message taken on your behalf, no instruction passed on, no answer given. It gathers a reason and hands the call straight back.
It only ever answers. It will not ring the clinic back, sit in a hold queue, or place a single call on your behalf. Screening is the whole product.
Hi, this is Caroline, Sarah's assistant. Who's calling?
Delivery — I'm at the gate and the code isn't working.
The gate code is 4417. If nobody answers, the front desk will take it.
Great — I'll leave it at the desk then.
Perfect. I'll let Sarah know it's waiting for her.
Resolved · nothing needed from you
Parcel left at the front desk. Transcript and recording saved.
It answers the question. Your written rules already held the gate code, so the driver got what he needed without your phone making a sound.
It keeps going until it is settled. Follow-ups, callback numbers, two possible appointment times — a conversation handles what a prompt cannot.
It calls out as well as in. Bookings, price checks, chasing a refund, waiting on hold. That half does not exist on any free screening tool.
Call Screen does keep a transcript. Good luck finding it.
It lives inside the individual call entry in your history — no inbox, no notification you can read, no search across what was said, and nothing that survives clearing your recents. A transcript you cannot retrieve on the day you need it is not a record. It is a rumour.
Set up on Android in about a minute
Your number does not change. Nothing is ported, there is no SIM swap and no second line on your bill. If it is not for you, one tap removes the forwarding.
Install from Google Play
Free to download. Sign in with your number and a one-time code.
Pick your voice
Caroline or Jonathan — warm or direct. Or clone your own on Premium.
Turn on forwarding
One guided tap. Works with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Rogers, Bell and Telus.
Write your rules
Gate codes for couriers, always-connect for family, decline the rest.
One check first. If you are on a Pixel with automatic Call Screen enabled, turn it off before step three — otherwise Google screens the call and it never reaches your assistant. Keep your carrier's own spam controls on; those do not conflict.
What Android users tell us
★★★★★ 4.6 from 40 ratings on Google Play, checked August 2026. Two of them, in full:
"It screens scam callers and automatically blocked them when they refused to display their name and contact information, so they won't bother me. … Affordable to me. Thank you, 5 stars."
Google Play review
"An AI call assistant app I'd needed for a long time, with AI auto-call features that are not available in every app. Professional looking design."
App Store review
Both quotes are real published reviews, lightly trimmed for length. See the current ratings on Google Play and the App Store.
Android screening, answered
Checked August 2026 against each vendor's own pages. Device support, country availability and prices change without notice.
Related reading: Best AI call assistant apps · Best Truecaller alternative · 10 ways to stop spam calls on Android · The best RoboKiller alternative · Why am I getting so many spam calls?
OsmO
AI phone assistance
for a quieter life.
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