Google’s Call Screening Feature Finally Coming to Pixel Phones in India
Google appears to be finally preparing to introduce its highly-requested Call Screening feature for Pixel phones in India, one of the world’s most spam-affected markets. According to an APK teardown of the “Phone by Google” app conducted by Android Authority, internal files strongly indicate that development is underway to bring the powerful spam-fighting tool to Indian users.
For years, Pixel owners in India have been without access to Call Screening, a signature feature that allows users to have the Google Assistant identify unknown callers and their reasons for calling before the user answers. Despite India being a key market with over a billion mobile users, the feature’s absence has been a notable gap in the Pixel experience.
New Evidence of Call Screening Unearthed in App Code
The breakthrough comes from an analysis of a recent version of the Phone by Google app. Buried within its internal data folders, Android Authority discovered a batch of audio files in Hindi related to Call Screening and its smart reply functionality. This discovery of localized assets is a critical first step and the strongest evidence yet that Google is actively working on an Indian rollout.
When asked about the feature’s absence in a previous interview with Android Authority, Mike Abary, Google’s VP of Devices & Services Business for APAC, acknowledged the need for the feature in India. “The delay is less about technical challenges and more about policy-related hurdles, which we are working to address,” Abary had stated.
Manual Screening Likely for Indian Market
Based on the initial findings in Android apk files, the Indian implementation of Call Screening may differ from the version available in the US. Instead of an automatic screening process, it appears the feature will be manual. This would require users to tap a “Screen call” button when receiving an incoming call to initiate the process.
While the feature was successfully activated through developer methods, it is clearly still a work in progress, as it has not yet recognized Hindi speech despite being able to generate replies in the language.
Given that India has 22 officially recognized languages, Google still faces a significant localization challenge. However, these findings suggest the company is finally making concrete progress toward overcoming regulatory and technical hurdles to launch one of its most valuable features in a market that desperately needs it.
