With real-time spam and scam protection, Google Messages makes chatting easier and safer. Spam and scam protection identifies different types of spam and harmful content like scams and phishing attempts.
Spam and scam protection has two modes: standard and enhanced.
Standard protection works with your message data on your device to detect spam and scams. Enhanced protection can also analyze message data in Private AI Compute, so your data is encrypted and processed in a secure dedicated space. In both protection modes, your message data is kept private to you and not available to anyone else, including Google. Chats between users of Google Messages and Apple Messages are end-to-end encrypted when RCS is enabled, subject to availability.
Messages detected as spam or scams can be dropped and senders can be suspended when found to violate the Google Terms of Service.
How spam and scam protection works
How we protect your data
When spam and scam protection is on, Google Messages filters spam by using machine learning models that operate on your device to detect known spam patterns in your messages from unknown senders. If a message contains a URL, it uploads that URL to Google to verify that the link is safe. If the sender is not in your contact list, Google Messages also checks if the sender has been identified as a spammer by our system. Even when you don’t have a data connection, Google Messages can detect spam on your device.
Google uses data without personally identifying you:
- Spam information is sent anonymously to improve protection.
- Google temporarily stores phone numbers of messages received from non-contacts and other non-identifying information.
- Google doesn't store any data on persistent identifiers like your name or phone number, which means Google doesn't know who you're messaging.
- Only reported messages and anonymized metadata are used to train AI models to improve detection.
Enhanced protection offers the highest level of protection against complex scams, which allows your data to be processed in Private AI Compute and benefit from powerful cloud Gemini models. This analysis stays private and your data is encrypted and processed in a secure dedicated space—keeping it private to you and not available to anyone else, including Google.
Learn more about reporting spam or blocking a number.
You're in control
Spam protection is turned on in standard protection mode. You can choose stronger protection by upgrading to Enhanced protection or turn it off anytime in your settings:
- Open Google Messages
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At the top right, tap your Profile picture or Initials.
- Tap Messages settings
Protection & Safety
- You'll find "Spam & scam protection" if it's available on your device.
- Choose between Enhanced protection, Standard protection or No protection.
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Protection & Safety