Google's new anti-scam tools for Android: What's up?
Google just dropped some fresh security features for Android users in India, announced at their safety forum in New Delhi.
The big highlights? Real-time scam detection on Pixel phones and instant alerts for digital arrest scams—well ahead of the upcoming India AI Impact Summit.
How do these features help you?
Pixel phones now use Gemini Nano to spot scam calls right on your device—no recordings, no data sent out.
If you're on Android 11 or newer, you'll get pop-up warnings about digital arrest scams and can hang up fast if things feel off.
Plus, Google's Enhanced Phone Number Verification (ePNV), built with Navi and Paytm, ditches old-school SMS OTPs for a safer SIM-based login.
Why is this a big deal?
Google is teaming up with IIT Madras's CeRAI and the CyberPeace Foundation to boost privacy tech under India's new data protection law.
Already, Google Pay blocks over a million sketchy transactions each week, and Play Protect has stopped 115 million risky app installs in India.
Google is enhancing its focus on user safety and responsible AI to improve online security.