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For some reason, spam calls and robocalls have been on the rise lately. No one likes them (at least no one we’ve ever met) and we’re all for a way to cut them out of our lives. Fortunately, Samsung has a way to accomplish the task and it’s known as Samsung Smart Call. Here you will find everything you want to know about the service.
Samsung is the only OEM working to make your life easier, as Google offers a similar service on your phone through the Google app. We’ll walk you through everything Smart Call does and then show you how to make sure it’s active on your phone. Ready to get started?
Smart Call is a joint effort between Samsung and Hiya to prevent fraudulent calls and spammers from your Galaxy device. It leverages Hiya’s automated detection generation to triage calls as soon as your phone starts ringing. Your phone will divide all incoming calls into 4 categories: caller ID, non-suspected spam, suspected spam, and potential fraud.
You can technically answer calls from any of the four categories if you really want to talk to a scammer. If you’d rather keep life simple, Samsung offers a button at the bottom of your screen to block and report numbers easily.
However, Smart Call goes even further than keeping unwanted calls at bay and providing caller ID. Your phone can use the same generation to identify those searched calls and, in some cases, provide the explanation of the reason for the call. For example, if you’re painting your car, Smart Call can let you know when you call the shop and let you know what to expect.
You can also use Smart Call to call your favorite restaurants. It’s a smart search feature that allows you to search for local places and takes you directly to touch data if you want to make a reservation.
As mentioned, Smart Call is the result of a partnership between Samsung and Hiya. The two corporations have a partnership that will run until 2025, so we can expect to see Smart Call on many future devices. Hiya provides physically powerful automated sensing while Samsung supplies the hardware.
To some extent, the feature relies on other users reporting and blocking numbers. After all, a spammer has to start somewhere. In many cases, Smart Call can prevent calls from reaching your phone in the first place.
Enabling Smart Call on your Samsung Galaxy device couldn’t be simpler, and there are several tactics to do so. It’s up to you whether you prefer to allow notifications or in your phone’s app. Here’s how to use either method:
While you’re on the phone app, here’s what you want to do if you want the local search feature to work:
You can also activate the local search feature by opening the Places tab in your dialer app.
Now that you know pretty much everything about Samsung Smart Call, you’re eager to get started. The good news is that Samsung Smart Call with Hiya has been provided on all new devices since the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series. That means you’ve already got it on board any new, ready-to-use Galaxy S23 series device.
If you’re not lucky enough to own one of the newest Galaxy devices, don’t worry. Smart Call is also available on older Galaxy phones, adding the S8, S9 and more. You can also set it to the more affordable Galaxy A. series devices, but you want to make sure your software is up to date.
Samsung doesn’t offer an official list of compatible devices, so your bet is to check your phone’s dialer app and move to the settings menu as described above.