It looks like Google may have finally heard one of the bigger complaints of Android users since smartphones became the trend – that is, the lack of a smart call blocking feature in Android. From what the people over at XDA, it looks like Android P will finally be incorporating a usable call blocking feature, and this brings joy us. It means that you would now be able to block unknown, private, and payphone numbers calling your mobile.
A new set of commits has shown up in the AOSP gerrit, and they relate to a new feature in the default dialer app. This new feature apparently gives users the ability to block calls from unknown numbers, private numbers, pay phones, or any numbers not in your contact list. On any current version of Android, you cannot block calls on a per number basis – that is, you can only block calls after the number has called you once.
It seems that in this new feature in Android P, you can choose to block calls according to these strings:
- The phone number is not in your contacts list
- The phone number is not disclosed by the caller (Private)
- The phone number is from a pay phone
- The phone number does not have any caller ID information (Unknown/Unidentified)
If this becomes a part of Android P, then a lot of Android users will be happy. The last caveat, though, is that the call blocking feature might only be available if your network or carrier allows it. This is sad, as we can imagine some carriers trying to “sell” you this feature which should be available in the first place. Here’s hoping that it actually makes it to Android P.
SOURCE: XDA
